Jeffrey Axelbank, Psy.D. is a psychologist working for over 30 years in both organizational consulting and clinical roles. He has worked with businesses, schools, community groups, and organizations focused on strategic alignment - getting everyone pulling in the same direction. Jeff’s warm and engaging style is applied to issues such as developing high-performing teams, strategic planning, conflicts between subgroups, corporate culture, leadership development, and succession planning. All Jeff’s consultations are customized, based on in-depth organizational assessment, to ensure that a client’s unique needs are addressed, and the results are tangible. He is equally comfortable working one-on-one in a coaching relationship, facilitating group processes, and large group programs, all leading to successful outcomes for his clients.
Following his undergraduate education in Electrical Engineering at Cornell University, Jeff worked as an Electronic Design Engineer before transitioning to his psychology career. He earned a doctorate at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, and earned a certificate in Organizational Development and Consultation in the Organization Program at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology. He received advance training in the Dynamics of Consulting program, is certified in The Rocket Model of team assessment, and trained in Future Search. As a psychologist, Jeff has been active in professional advocacy, fighting for the rights of people seeking mental health services. For this work, he was named Psychologist of the Year in 2011 by the New Jersey Psychological Association (NJPA). In addition, he was awarded the prestigious Peterson Prize in 2013 by the Rutgers University Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology for “outstanding contributions to professional psychology.”
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Sample of Recent Consultations
Food Sustainability Team
Team Development: Assessment and retreat to help define roles and reduce conflicts
Civil Engineering Firm
Leadership Coaching: Consultation to Department Heads to assist in defining roles, reducing conflicts
Large Architecture Firm
Organizational Assessment: Leadership overwhelmed by explosive growth, question of how to reorganize to maintain and manage the expansion
Leadership Coaching: Consultation to Office Directors to assist in defining roles, managing explosive growth
Leadership Learning Groups: Facilitation of groups of leaders to create cohesiveness, clearly define roles, resolve role conflicts, develop leadership skills
Town Mayor and Council
Goals and Planning: Annual retreat starting in 2010 for Mayor and Council to decide strategic goals, and developing plans to achieve the goals
Environmental Consulting Firm
Executive Advising: Coaching of a department head
School for Autistic Students
Burnout: Assessing causes of burnout in the staff, and recommending organizational remedies
Jewish Chavurah Congregation
Strategic Planning: Bringing together the factions of the congregation to discover common ground upon which to move forward together
Ob/Gyn Residency Training Program
Conflict Resolution and Organizational development: Improving the learning environment and relations between Attending Physicians and Residents.
Public School District Business Office
Conflict Resolution: Assessing organizational roots of conflict between staff, helped implement structural solutions.
Early Childhood Education and Child-care in Economically Depressed City
Future Search: Strategic planning involving multiple stakeholder groups.
Art School
Organizational development: Helping the leadership team plan for the future and expansion, and improve management functions.
Large Law Firm
Organizational development: Improving communications between Partners and Associates and across workgroups.
Family Business
Strategic planning: Helping family members create opportunities for business growth.
Cosmetics Raw Material Manufacturing Firm
Conflict resolution: Assessed and addressed systemic issues thereby eliminating workplace strife.
Travel Agency
Conflict resolution and executive coaching: Clarified roles such that organization resumed effective teamwork; coached owner to be a stronger leader.
High School
Violence prevention: Led consulting team assessing system dynamics that contribute to violence; made recommendations to address vulnerabilities.
Charter School
Organizational assessment and Board development: Helped to heal factionalism on Board to facilitate cohesive governance
Fortune 500 Pharmaceutical
Plant closing: Guided leadership team in announcing plant closing so that violence was avoided and smooth operation continued until scheduled shutdown.
Large urban social service agency
Coaching: Helped executive to understand and better manage her relationship with the system that she leads.
(Part of a team consulting to) Large State of NJ Department
Program change evaluation: Facilitated workforce forums to assess major programmatic change and provide management feedback.
Childcare center on a university campus
Conflict resolution: Helped staff team to overcome differences and provide services more smoothly.
Retail consumers’ cooperative
Staff turnover: Reduced turnover by working on organizational dynamics that were causing excessive stress on staff.
Community mental health residence provider
Burnout prevention: Extensive organizational assessment to provide plan to management to address systemic stressors on staff.