Building Better Organizations Through Intelligence, Research, and Transformation.
A Human Capital Intelligence, Research, and Advisory Firm. We help leaders design and transform the structures, leadership, and workforce that drive lasting organizational performance.
One Organization. Three Integrated Capabilities.
Advisory, Research, and Technology work as a single system, so insight moves from evidence to impact.
From Where You Are to Sustained Performance.
Every engagement runs on the Ascend Framework, our operating system for organizational performance. It meets your organization where it is and charts the path forward.
Research strengthens it. Advisory applies it. Technology scales it.
Establishing the Evidenced Baseline.
Every engagement begins here. We establish a clear, evidenced baseline of the organization, its structure, operating model, leadership capability, and readiness, the facts every later decision rests on.
Building What Moves the Organization Forward.
We build the structure, governance, systems, and leadership capability that carry the organization from its baseline to a stronger, more consistent operating state.
Measuring What the Work Produced.
We measure progress against the roadmap, validate what is working, and recalibrate priorities so leadership holds a clear, evidenced view of outcomes.
Holding Performance as You Grow.
We provide ongoing advisory, governance, and leadership continuity that keep practices aligned with strategy and sustain performance as the organization grows. Ascend measures organizational health over time.
Built for Every Stage of Maturity.
We serve organizations at every stage of growth, adapting to where each one is and what it needs next.
The Research Engine of the Enterprise.
The Cascades Institute for Organizational Intelligence is the intellectual foundation of the enterprise. It is how Cascades thinks before the work begins, advancing the science and practice of organizational performance through research and evidence, not experience alone.
Rather than respond to organizational trends, the Institute works to shape them. Its insight strengthens the Ascend Framework™, informs every advisory engagement, and guides our innovation. As a collaborative platform, it welcomes partners across government, universities, foundations, and industry to advance how organizations perform.
Research, Translated Into Intelligence.
Ascend is the operating system that connects research, advisory, and technology, turning our methodology into organizational intelligence you can use. Start with the diagnostic below.
See Where Your Organization Stands
A guided 12–15 minute diagnostic of your operating model, structure, and readiness to scale, the first capability of Ascend. Complete it yourself or with our team, and receive observations and next steps.
Assessment Received
Thank you. Your responses are with the Cascades team, and a confirmation is on its way to your inbox. We'll review and follow up shortly with observations and next steps.
A Strategic Partner for Public Sector Transformation.
We help government and public sector organizations modernize how they operate, organize, and serve.
Organizations rarely struggle because of talent alone. They struggle because their systems weren’t designed to perform.
Most organizational problems are not talent problems. They are design problems, in the structures, governance, operating models, leadership, and workforce strategies never built to perform.
We bridge research, advisory, and implementation to create measurable impact, an institution built to advance how organizations perform.
Kimberly Lenoir
Cascades was founded on a conviction: organizational performance is intentionally designed, not left to chance.
After nearly two decades leading transformation and workforce strategy across the public and private sectors, Kimberly Lenoir built Cascades to unite research, advisory, and innovation. Cascades is the expression of that belief.
Let’s Build a Better-Performing Organization.
Start with the organizational diagnostic, or book a call to discuss your challenge.