Yolanda Underwood

Yolanda Underwood is a fully versed leadership trainer and coach that helps organizations achieve results.  For over 20 years, she has specialized in providing teams with training and coaching sessions that are powerful and thought-provoking.  Focusing on the areas of strategic planning, performance management, and leadership development, she is able to assist organizations to realize their goals. Yolanda works with departments and cross-functional teams as well as individuals at all levels.  Her passion for helping leaders be their best is apparent in each session, through her energetic style that creates engagement and interest.

Her expertise in areas such as Effective Communication, Building Trust, Developing High Emotional Intelligence, and Creating High-Performance Teams focus on promoting a positive and productive culture.  In addition, her vast experience in the area of performance management helps organizations focus on goal-setting and staying the course to achieve those goals.  She has built Performance Management systems from the ground up, as well as helped leaders support those already in place.

Her work in a variety of industries including financial, agriculture, transportation, and the public sector makes her a knowledgeable and versatile resource.  Yolanda has extensive experience in performance management, employee relations, leadership coaching and development, curriculum development, and facilitation.  She has developed training materials on a wide variety of topics. Her work provides leaders with the tools necessary to implement performance-altering methods.  Using a very interactive approach to learning; both with proven resources, as well as real-life examples, participants are taken through material that is relevant, relatable, and applicable in everyday environments.  The focus on driving performance and creating workplace cohesiveness is a common theme in the training and coaching sessions she facilitates.

Yolanda has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.  She is fluent in Spanish and has experience working to bridge the communication gap with those who understand Spanish more accurately.  She also assists those with translation back to English.