MARK MOHAMMADPOUR: TEAM FACILITATOR
Your Leaders Are Brilliant On Their Own. Help Them Win Together.
No personality colors. No letter types. No trust falls. Just real conversation and real decisions.
Trusted By:
“Mark quickly built trust and rapport with our team, as though he had been working with us for years. We highly recommend him as a facilitator.”
— College of American Pathologists
Most offsites feel great. Few change anything.
The best leaders have healthy, confident, and connected teams. But most offsites end with a nice dinner and a plan that’s forgotten by Wednesday. Mark’s end with a plan your team wants to run, and the trust to run it.
An offsite is facilitation with room to breathe. Same neutral guide, same real conversation — just more time, away from the day-to-day.
The meetings stay polite.
Everyone agrees in the room and disagrees in the hallway. Over time, that costs you people. A toxic culture predicts turnover 10 times more powerfully than pay does. (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2022)
The decisions come slow.
When trust is thin, people hedge instead of decide. Employees who trust their team leader are 12 times more likely to be fully engaged. (ADP Research Institute, Global Study of Engagement, 2019)
Your team is disconnected.
Your customers feel it before your dashboard does. Teams in the top quartile of engagement outperform bottom-quartile teams by 10% on customer ratings. (Gallup Q12 meta-analysis)
The four offsites teams ask for most.
Offsite themes
For teams seeking clarity and purpose
Gets everyone pointed at the same thing, in writing, before anyone leaves the room.
When you're merging departments, onboarding new leadership, or pivoting strategy, an offsite is the fastest way to align the compass. Mark designs the session to cut through the confusion instead of talking around it.
Why now: Across 124 organizations, only 28% of the executives and middle managers responsible for executing strategy could name three of their company's strategic priorities. (MIT Sloan Management Review)
- Before: A short team pulse and a conversation with you about what success looks like in the first 90 days.
- The offsite: Working sessions on mission, vision, and values that end in a written Team Charter.
- After: A 30/60/90-day plan and a follow-up guide, so clarity turns into consistency.
What the team walks away with:
- A shared purpose everyone can say out loud.
- Clear norms for how decisions get made and communicated.
- A foundation for a culture of well-being and accountability.
Pairs with the Lead a Healthy Culture of Well-being keynote and The Team Culture OS workshop. The keynote makes the case that culture is built through everyday decisions rather than programs. The offsite writes your team's version down. The workshop keeps it running after you leave the room.
For teams building confidence
Builds the nerve to say the thing in the room where it gets decided.
Your people are good at the work. They're less sure of themselves in the room where it gets decided. This offsite builds the confidence to speak up, be heard, and be trusted, under pressure and in front of leadership.
Why now: 61% of employees say they regularly watch colleagues stay silent rather than share a differing opinion, and 45% name psychological safety and trust as their single biggest concern at work. (Radical Candor, 2026 workplace report)
- Before: Each person picks a real upcoming conversation they're nervous about: a board update, a budget ask, a hard piece of feedback.
- The offsite: Hands-on work on influence, storytelling, and presence, ending with a live practice round in front of the group.
- After: A 90-day follow-through plan with checkpoints, so the confidence sticks.
What the team walks away with:
- Practical tools for influencing at the executive level.
- More clarity and more calm when the stakes are high.
- A team that speaks up before the hallway conversation.
Pairs with the The Buoyant Leader keynote and Leading with Clarity and Calm workshop. Confidence rests on calm. The keynote gives the room the idea and the language for it. The offsite gives them the reps, in front of people whose opinion they care about.
For executive teams and boards
Gets the hard decision made instead of postponed again.
High-stakes environments require high-stakes conversations. Mark provides the neutral structure that keeps dominant personalities from hijacking the agenda, so the hard decisions actually get made.
Why now: In a survey of more than 1,200 managers, 61% said at least half the time they spend making decisions is wasted. The strongest predictor of fast, high-quality decisions was the presence of real debate. (McKinsey & Company)
- Before: An anonymous team survey to surface where communication is strong and where it's stuck.
- The offsite: Structured work on the real disagreements, ending in a written operating agreement for how this team decides.
- After: A leadership health check at 30 and 60 days to track whether it's holding.
What the team walks away with:
- Faster decisions, because the real disagreement finally gets said out loud.
- Shared expectations and healthy boundaries.
- Stronger trust, transparency, and performance.
Pairs with the Lead With Empathy keynote and The Empathy in Action Lab workshop. Hard decisions need people who can hear the thing underneath what was said, especially when they disagree. That is the exact skill the keynote introduces and the lab drills.
For teams rebuilding after a hard year
Repairs the trust the last year quietly cost you.
A reorg. A round of layoffs. A leader who left. High turnover that never quite stopped. When a team has been through it, the work keeps going, but the trust doesn't. This offsite is about the health in healthy teams are wealthy teams: psychological safety, well-being, and repairing what got fractured.
Why now: Across 146 companies that conducted layoffs, employee confidence in the organization fell nearly 17 points, and engagement took 12 to 24 months to return to where it had been. (Harvard Business Review)
- Before: An anonymous pulse on how people are actually doing, plus a private conversation with you about what's been hardest.
- The offsite: Honest conversation about what the team has been carrying, guided so it stays safe and productive, ending in agreements on workload, boundaries, and how this team looks after each other.
- After: A well-being check-in at 30 and 60 days, so the agreements hold instead of fading.
What the team walks away with:
- Permission to say what's been hard, and a team that can hear it.
- Shared boundaries around workload and availability.
- A team that trusts each other again, and a leader they trust to keep it that way.
Pairs with the Work in Sunlight keynote and The Sunlight Series workshop. The keynote reconnects people to the work and to each other in a way that feels safe because everyone is in it together. The offsite repairs what got fractured. The series keeps belonging alive through the months that follow.
Any theme below can run as a half-day, full-day, or multi-day offsite. Mark builds the agenda around what your team actually needs.
Three ways to run your offsite.
Every offsite is designed around your team’s real challenges and facilitated by Mark, never handed to a junior associate. Each one starts with a discovery call, not a template.
Half-day reset.
For a team that needs to settle one big question. One question, one plan, done by lunch. Best for 8–15 people.
Full-Day Friction Solve
For cross-functional teams stuck on a real sticking point. Best for 10–25 people.
Multi-Day Inflection Point
For executive teams facing new strategy, new structure, new stakes. Best for 6–20 people.
“Mark brought an authentic, energizing message that truly resonated with our team during a time of change. The impact was clear in how connected, motivated, and aligned our team felt afterward.”
— Katie Davidson, DraftKings Inc.
Zero fluff. Full impact.
Here’s how Mark runs the room.
Neutral, Always.
Mark works for the outcome, not the loudest voice in the room. Every voice gets heard, not just the senior ones.
Whole Team. Whole Person.
Every offsite holds three things at once: how people are doing, how the team works together, and what the business needs.
You Leave With It In Writing
Not a feeling. A written plan with decisions, owners, and dates.
What the team walks away with:
You can see it in how the team keeps talking after Mark leaves.
Clarity
A shared read on the real problem, not the polite version.
Ownership and a Written Plan
Who's doing what, by when — in a document your team can hand to anyone who wasn't in the room.
Rhythm
A way of talking that doesn’t fall apart three weeks later.
“Working with Mark Mohammadpour has been a game-changer for the teams I’ve been on and those that I have led. He brings a rare combination of strategic communications expertise and a deep commitment to employee well-being, which shows up in every interaction.
Mark doesn’t deliver off-the-shelf content, he takes the time to understand your team, your challenges, and your goals, and then designs sessions that are highly relevant, engaging, and immediately actionable. His facilitation style creates space for honest conversation, reflection, and connection, which has strengthened trust and alignment across teams.
Mark creates an environment where people feel comfortable showing up authentically while also pushing the team toward meaningful outcomes. We’ve walked away with practical tools and clear next steps we could implement right away.
I would recommend Mark to any organization looking to invest in stronger leaders, healthier team dynamics, and more intentional communication and purpose.”
— Erin Babbo, Tacoma Public Utilities
Contact Mark about your event.
Email Mark at mark@chasingthesunpdx.com, call him at 360.609.1077, or fill out the form below.
Mark will respond to you within one business day.
Frequently asked questions:
What is a keynote facilitator?
A keynote facilitator does both jobs. They open the room from the stage, then guide the working conversation that follows. Instead of speaking for an hour and leaving, Mark sets up the idea in front of everyone, then runs the session where the team decides what they are actually going to change.
What does Mark Mohammadpour facilitate?
Mark facilitates leadership team conversations, strategic planning sessions, board retreats, and high-stakes meetings where a neutral third party is needed to keep the conversation honest and moving. He has facilitated for Fortune 50 corporations, associations, nonprofits, and mid-market leadership teams.
When should I hire a neutral facilitator instead of running the meeting myself?
Three common signals: the leader of the meeting also needs to be a full participant and cannot be in both seats; the topic is emotionally charged or politically complex; or the team needs someone outside the hierarchy to create psychological safety. In those moments, a skilled neutral facilitator is the difference between a meeting that moves the work forward and one that stalls.
How is Mark's facilitation different from a consultant or coach?
Mark does not sell recommendations or decisions. He designs the conversation and creates the space for the team to reach their own. Nearly two decades as an agency executive at Weber Shandwick and Edelman mean he knows how to hold a room full of senior leaders, and his work as Chief Well-being Officer means every session is built to feel safe enough for people to say the hard thing.
What types of sessions has Mark facilitated?
Strategic planning offsites, executive team conflict conversations, board retreats, all-hands meetings, culture and values conversations, post-merger integration sessions, and leadership succession planning. Mark tailors the method, not just the content, to the moment.
Can you facilitate a board offsite?
Yes. Board retreats are one of the most common requests, usually when a board needs to make a decision it has been circling for months. Mark runs the process so the chair can take part as a member rather than steering the room.
Do you facilitate for banks, credit unions, and financial services teams?
Yes. Mark has facilitated for credit unions, insurance carriers, and financial services leadership teams. Sessions usually focus on communication between branches and headquarters, or on leadership alignment after a merger or a leadership change.
Can Mark facilitate virtually?
Yes. Mark facilitates virtual, in-person, and hybrid sessions. Virtual facilitation uses Mentimeter and Talkadot to make sure every voice is heard, not just the loudest, and keeps remote participants as engaged as the people in the room.
How does Mark prepare for a facilitation engagement?
Every engagement starts with a discovery call to understand the challenge, the stakeholders, and the outcome you want. Mark then builds a custom agenda, runs one or two prep calls with the meeting sponsor, and where appropriate holds short pre-session interviews with participants. Nothing is improvised.
What does a typical facilitation engagement include?
A discovery and design phase, one to three pre-event strategic conversations, the live facilitation in person or virtual, and a post-session debrief and written summary. Some clients add a follow-up workshop to lock in the decisions the team made in the room.
What does facilitation cost?
The fee depends on session length, whether it is half-day, full-day, or multi-day, how much pre-work is involved, and travel. Email mark@chasingthesunpdx.com with the date, the group size, and the problem you are trying to solve, and you will have a number back within one business day.
How do I book Mark for facilitation?
Email mark@chasingthesunpdx.com with your session date, audience, and the challenge you are trying to solve. For facilitation, the typical lead time is four to eight weeks, with more runway for multi-day retreats or large executive teams.