Stephen Gianotti has been a practitioner of individual, group and organizational effectiveness for

over 30 years with a specific focus on thinking and acting from a systems perspective.

As the founder of The Woodland Group, Stephen brings a comprehensive understanding of systems

thinking, organizational learning, diagnostics, learning/training needs analysis and assessment and an

in-depth knowledge of the learning facilitation process. For the last 21 years, Stephen has authored,

managed, and delivered learning and development programs for over 175 companies in the US and

abroad. He is also co-author for two books on Mentoring.

His background in organizational development, learning, training and coaching began when he

conducted workshops for teachers on how to teach more effectively. After working with academia he

found his way to the business world where he served as a key member of the industrial relations

department’s corporate training center for an international multi-billion dollar corporation teaching

both technical and managerial programs. His tenure there began as a union employee and quickly

advanced into the management ranks where he worked with a variety of complex union and nonunion

employee groups.

Prior to founding The Woodland Group, Stephen was Vice President of Leadership Development and

a foundational partner at a regional human resource management firm. During his tenure there he cocreated

the Corporate Consortium University where multi-industry companies participated in

extensive Leadership Development Programs realizing cross-pollination of learning and economy of

scale learning programs for his clients. He also co-authored that firm’s two premiere leadership

development programs and was a Master facilitator for their leadership programs.

While Director of Corporate Education and Training for the New Hampshire Community Technical

Colleges, Stephen was responsible for establishing Corporate Universities at two multinational

manufacturing companies that were designed to develop workplace effectiveness by increasing job

skills and to meet the demands of the corporate vision. He has created and managed learning

programs with focus on executive level issues, middle management challenges and front-line

employee needs for a variety of industries.

Additional background experience includes creating US-based for-profit training and development

centers in St. Louis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Manchester and Portsmouth,

NH. While working for an international corporation, Stephen was responsible for directing national

recruitment efforts for hundreds of thousands of new-hire employees. He created a behavioral-based

structured interview and recruitment methodology and a cost-efficient, economized process of group

screening. During his tenure there he was responsible for the training, supervision and mentoring of

over 150 recruiters that presented nationwide recruitment seminars. While there he also created

business partnerships in Canada and Italy.

Through the U.S. State Department, Stephen co-consulted on methods of how to design, deploy and

manage mobile training and education systems in Ceara, Brazil. He was recently engaged in

organizational development activities focusing on strategic initiatives for the Human Resources

division in the country of Trinidad working with the state-owned oil refinery that serves much of the

Caribbean and is a provider of natural gas to the US. He has provided services to an ISO company in

Ireland creating personality profile reports for informed structured interviewing of new hire talent.

Other international activities include creating private enterprise partnerships in Canada and Italy. He

recently completed two separate 18-month Leadership Development programs and one six-month

program that he authored and facilitated. One company is owned by one of the world’s largest

privately held corporations, a Swiss company owns the other. The third company is Chinese owned.

He has also conducted strategic on-boarding programs in Japan.

While specializing in the areas of systems dynamics and leadership development, he has developed

an innovative learning process focusing on how leaders strategically create, deliver and evaluate their

message within organizations. Incorporating a hybrid of innovative systems thinking, adult learning

and training methodologies, business practicalities and foundationalized in the theatrical sciences, he

brings a fresh and reality-based approach to any organizational intervention.

Stephen’s Executive Coaching experience spans 15 years and is a founding member of the Society

for Organizational Learning Global Coaching Community. Executive coaching comprises about 45%

of his current partnerships. Organizational diagnostics and development comprises the remaining

portion of his client work.

As an experienced facilitator and a certified trainer, Stephen has spoken at national conferences on

workforce development issues and has written articles for national and regional publications on

workforce and workplace development through strategic learning interventions. He is also a frequent

speaker at ASTD and SHRM regional/local groups and civic organizations. For 3 three years he was

a judge for “Best Firm To Work For” in the Architecture, Engineering & Environmental industries as

well as a judge for “The Best Companies to Work For” in New Hampshire.

Stephen's educational background includes a BA in Alternative Teaching Methodology. This

learning combined with his working in the corporate environment has afforded Stephen an advanced

understanding of learning and development methodologies for adults. As part of his MS in Business

Education, he wrote and implemented the first statewide corporate training survey. He continues his

own professional development with quarterly commitments to seminars, learning groups and

conferences around the country learning from industry leaders and professional colleagues.

Stephen is an active consultant member and former Council Member of the Society for

Organizational Learning (SoL) borne out of MIT where he has been fortunate to study with his fellow

systems thinking experts. His affiliation with SoL has deepened his understanding of and experience

with blending learning using Systems Dynamics and helping organizations strategize to become a

learning organization. Stephen is currently in his fourth year of apprenticeship with Dr. Daniel Kim.

Other people with whom he has studied are: Edgar Schein, Robert Fritz, Donald Kirkpatrick,

Margaret Wheatley, Benjamin Zander, Robert Kegan, Richard Bandler and John Grinder.

Stephen is the past President of the American Society for Training and Development NH Chapter

where he served for five years. He is the past president of the NH Theatre Project, past board

member of Leadership Seacoast and the New Hampshire Art Association. He is a graduate of

Leadership NH and Leadership Arts. He was recently appointed to the Board of Trustees for the

Seacoast Repertory Theatre.

Stephen is also a published photographer, published writer and poet and was a charter member of the Portsmouth Men's Chorus.