Aubrey Wade
A Boundary Pushing, Positive Disrupting, Way Maker - I make good trouble
Memphis, Tennessee, United States
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Aubrey Wade is a seasoned consulting professional, speaker, certified coach and counselor, and blogger with a passion for transforming workplace relationships and driving positive change. Based in Memphis, TN, she specializes in helping organizations improve processes, build strong teams, and guide C-suite leaders in driving company-wide transformation. With a proven and successful hands-on, results-driven approach, Aubrey isn’t afraid to challenge the status quo to help companies reach their full potential.
Armed with a degree in Psychology and over 20 years of experience in technology, Aubrey has successfully partnered with multiple Fortune 300 companies to enhance team dynamics, streamline processes, and deliver consistent, successful releases. Her expertise spans organizational transformation, enterprise reporting, and optimizing performance at all levels.
Outside of her consulting work, Aubrey is a devoted wife, sister, and mother to three daughters, and she enjoys speaking and teaching across the country. Her greatest passion is helping people grow — starting with herself.
Area of Expertise
Topics
Human Code: Using the Enneagram to Optimize Team Performance
What if I told you anyone could get the best dynamics and products out of their teams with by discovering the secrets within yourself? What if you knew the vices prone to trigger your ugly side? Or the great parts of your personality that could help your career or your team?
Each of us can do this: We all fall into a particular number on the Enneagram and no number is better than the other. During this session, we will take the Enneagram assessment and break down the results in detail not just for your personal benefit, but for how you interact with others. We walk through each number, the motives, triggers, vices and virtues, and how each number impacts each other.
When people discover these items as a team, and bring the vulnerability to the forefront, something beautiful happens with their team dynamics and a new realm of possibility unlocks. This is only possible when we understand our numbers, and accept each other's.
In this session, I will explain how I used the enneagram to build my professional career, help teams in trouble build better tomorrows. I also dig into the incredible science behind the Enneagram.
Attendees will get a thorough understanding of the Enneagram, an in depth look at each number, create a "go-forward plan" for themselves and learn how to bring this back for themselves to optimize their team's performance in their own organizations.
The information we explore in this session will inevitably lead to MUCH discussion with the attendees. Because I normally do this as a 3 or 5 hour workshop, It would be very easy to break this down into 2 sessions: first session as an individual session then a part two specifically focused to Leaders to HOW they can apply this in becoming better leaders, how to guide and serve their people and focus on their specific needs to create detailed plans of action. I've given this several times and each time, feedback is EXTREMELY positive, always asking for more information.
I will have a presentation, in PowerPoint. And a handout available virtually.
Learning Outcomes:
● What is the Enneagram
● What is your number and how does it naturally react and work with others
● Understand your number’s Vices and Virtues and motivators
● How can the enneagram HELP technical teams and you to be better
● Understand how you can use the knowledge of your number to YOUR benefit!
Presentation History:
● In Spring of 2019, I led the Scrum Master group of ALSAC St. Jude thru the Enneagram self-discovery track.
● I presented this at Music City Tech 2019 in Nashville: https://musiccitytech.com/speakers/
○ The feedback received was outstanding! Only two people didn’t give me a 4 or 5 (on a 1-5 scale); both complained that it wasn’t a 3-hour conference.
● In Fall of 2019, for Dev Ops staff of AutoZone, we performed individual sessions for self-discovery work.
● November 2019, I was invited to a retreat and provided a ½ day workshop for team building and relationship management for the staff of ALSAC/St. Jude’s Regional staff.
● In early 2020, before COVID, I facilitated a team leadership workshop for the Memphis Junior League.
● Summer of 2020, one of the law firms in Memphis hosted an extended (virtual) lunch and learn Enneagram team assessment workshop – Was reviewed as extremely beneficial and a lot of fun!
● Feb 2021: Guest speaker (virtually) for the Agile 20 group out of London, UK
○ https://youtu.be/NoONM9sIhEI
● March 2021: Guest speaker (virtually) for the Memphis DevOps monthly luncheon from the Memphis Technology
The 3 legged stool: AI Won’t Fix Your Agile Problems
Agile frameworks promise adaptability and speed — but even in the AI and digital age, many teams struggle with unclear roles, brittle dependencies, and communication breakdowns that slow delivery and burn people out. The 3‑legged stool is more than a metaphor— it’s a simple systems model for understanding why agile teams succeed or fail. When roles, collaboration, and communication are balanced, teams are stable and productive. When one “leg” is overloaded, ignored, or missing, the system wobbles — no matter how good your AI is or good the tooling or framework looks on paper.
In this session, we’ll explore how the 3‑legged stool analogy can be used as a practical diagnostic and alignment tool across modern agile environments. Drawing on real-world experience working with teams navigating today’s increased complexity — remote work, hybrid structures, and constant delivery pressure — you’ll see how this model helps surface hidden constraints, clarify ownership, and manage dependencies more effectively.
Rather than prescribing yet another framework, this talk focuses on how to create shared understanding between engineers, product, and leadership — so teams can make better decisions inside the frameworks they already use.
Whether you’re building software, coaching teams, or leading transformation efforts, you’ll leave with a lightweight model you can immediately apply to improve team health, delivery flow, and long-term sustainability.
I never give the same talk twice and this has quickly turned into my most requested presentation. It's turned into a "state of the employee" in the workplace since AI has been pushed by leaders across the board.
Attendees will takeaway understanding of what employees are facing on dev teams, how to have productive conversations with leaders and how to make positive and sustaining change to help the longevity of their org and teams.
Each time I present this, I update it with the latest and best information available.
Previous online presentation: (not this talk) https://youtu.be/NoONM9sIhEI
Trust Is a Feature: Psychological Safety in Engineering Teams
Most engineering teams don’t struggle because of technical skill. They struggle because important things go unsaid.
- Unspoken concerns. Hidden uncertainty. Ideas that never get voiced. Risks discovered too late.
In high-performing teams, these barriers disappear because one critical ingredient is present: psychological safety.
Psychological safety allows engineers to challenge assumptions, admit uncertainty, surface risks early, and collaborate openly. Without it, teams stay quiet, problems go underground, and delivery suffers.
As an Agile Transformation coach working with organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 50 companies, I’ve repeatedly witnessed a pivotal turning point in team culture: the moment when someone finally feels safe enough to speak honestly—and the team realizes they can too.
These “AHA moments” transform how teams work together. Conversations become real. Collaboration improves. And performance follows.
In this session, we’ll explore how leaders, coaches, and facilitators can intentionally create those breakthrough moments within their teams.
Through practical techniques and real-world examples, you’ll learn how to establish psychological safety, break through cultural barriers that prevent open discussion, and help technical teams build the trust necessary for high-performance collaboration.
Attendees will leave with concrete tools they can apply immediately to foster more open, resilient, and effective engineering teams, including how to talk about this with leadership and change culture within your department and org, alike.
Learning Outcomes
After attending this session, participants will be able to:
Understand why psychological safety is a critical factor in engineering team performance
Identify common cultural barriers that prevent engineers from speaking openly
Apply practical facilitation techniques that encourage honest discussion and constructive disagreement
Create environments where risks, ideas, and concerns surface earlier, improving decision-making
Build momentum for meaningful team and organizational change
Session Outline
1. The Hidden Barrier in Engineering Teams
Why smart teams stay silent
The cost of unspoken concerns
2. What Psychological Safety Actually Looks Like
Misconceptions about psychological safety
Research and real-world observations from enterprise teams
3. The “AHA Moment” in Team Transformation
Recognizing breakthrough moments in team dynamics
Real examples from working with technical teams
4. Techniques to Build Psychological Safety
Practical methods leaders and facilitators can use, including:
Structured team conversations
Facilitating productive disagreement
Encouraging vulnerability in technical discussions
Creating environments where engineers can safely raise concerns
5. Turning Breakthrough Moments into Lasting Culture
Sustaining trust and openness over time
Reinforcing positive team behaviors
Having hard conversations with leadership
Target Audience
Engineering managers
Tech leads and architects
Agile coaches and Scrum Masters
Product leaders working with technical teams
Organizational change leaders
Session Type
Interactive talk with practical techniques and real-world examples
Experience Level
Beginner to Intermediate
How to Modernize Without Burning Down the House
Sometimes engineering teams are stuck between two bad options: maintain aging systems that can’t keep up with modern demands, or attempt risky, expensive “rip‑and‑replace” rewrites that rarely deliver as promised. Whether you’re supporting 25‑year‑old legacy code, scaling a startup built on its original architecture, or navigating a hybrid environment where new services collide with monoliths, the result is often the same—growing tech debt, slower delivery, and constant friction between product goals and engineering reality.
This session focuses on a third path.
Drawing on real-world consulting experience helping teams modernize under tight constraints, this talk presents practical, incremental strategies for evolving software systems without massive rewrites or blank‑check transformations. You’ll learn how successful teams stabilize legacy platforms, introduce modern practices, and create forward momentum—while still shipping features.
Rather than abstract theory, this talk emphasizes decision-making frameworks, architectural patterns, and sequencing strategies you can apply immediately, regardless of company size or tech stack. Attendees will walk away with concrete approaches to modernize safely, reduce risk, and regain engineering velocity—right where they are today.
After this session, attendees will be able to:
Identify which tech debt is worth paying down vs. which can be strategically contained
Apply incremental modernization patterns that coexist with legacy systems
Balance short‑term delivery pressure with long‑term architectural health
Avoid common failure modes of large-scale rewrites
Create a pragmatic modernization roadmap aligned with business constraints
Note: This talk can also be tailored into an interactive workshop where attendees will work through actionable plans for their next steps.
Target Audience
Engineering leaders
Agile coaches & Scrum Masters
Product leaders
Organizational transformation leaders
People leaders managing remote or hybrid teams
404: Motivation Not Found - Troubleshooting a 'Case of the 'Mondays' in the AI Age
Across industries, leaders are facing a new kind of workforce fatigue.
Digital acceleration, AI integration, and constant context-switching have created an environment where attention is fragmented, cognitive load is high, and motivation is harder to sustain than ever. What used to feel like a simple “Case of the Mondays” has evolved into a persistent cycle of digital exhaustion and declining engagement.
This isn’t a motivation problem.
It’s a systems design problem.
Modern teams now operate inside Anthro-Complex systems—dynamic human-technology ecosystems where performance emerges from the interaction between people, AI tools, workflows, and organizational culture. When these systems fall out of alignment, teams experience tool fatigue, collaboration breakdowns, and diminishing momentum.
In this session, we’ll explore why motivation breaks down in AI-mediated workplaces—and what leaders can do to fix it.
Drawing on more than 20 years of experience working with remote, hybrid, and distributed teams, this talk introduces a human-centered framework for diagnosing and improving motivation within complex work systems.
Participants will learn practical strategies to reduce cognitive friction, improve collaboration across digital environments, and design team practices that sustain energy and performance—even in AI-heavy workflows.
Rather than focusing on theory alone, this session translates complexity into actionable leadership practices that can be applied immediately in modern technical organizations.
Takeaways
Attendees will walk away with:
A framework for diagnosing team dysfunction in complex systems
Motivation strategies that work in AI-mediated environments
Practical tools for reducing cognitive overload
Techniques for building healthy human-AI collaboration
Conversation frameworks to help leaders advocate for sustainable team performance
By the End of This Session:
You’ll walk away with actionable, tech-forward methods to energize your teams, elevate performance, and build healthier human-AI ecosystems. You’ll gain the tools to re-activate even your most disengaged employees and bring renewed momentum, clarity, and capability into your workplace.
What Participants Will Learn
Participants will leave with practical techniques to:
Reignite motivation in digitally overloaded teams
Identify systemic blockers that drain energy and engagement
Reduce cognitive friction caused by tools, automation, and workflow design
Build effective human-AI collaboration models
Design team practices that work across remote, hybrid, and distributed environments
Key Topics Covered
1. Why Motivation Is Breaking Down in present day
Digital overload and context switching
AI integration and workflow complexity
The hidden cognitive costs of modern work
2. Understanding Anthro-Complex Systems
How human and technological systems interact
Why motivation emerges from system design—not personality
3. Diagnosing Dysfunction in Team Systems
Practical methods for identifying:
Toxic micro-cultures
Misaligned incentives
Collaboration breakdowns
Tool fatigue and AI misuse
4. Designing AI-Enabled Team Systems That Work
Strategies including:
AI-supported workflow optimization
Digital rituals that strengthen collaboration
Automation practices that reduce cognitive load
Team structures that sustain focus and momentum
5. Leading System-Level Change
How to engage leadership in productive conversations about:
team wellbeing
sustainable performance
responsible AI adoption
long-term organizational resilience
Target Audience
Engineering leaders
Agile coaches & Scrum Masters
Product leaders
Organizational transformation leaders
People leaders managing remote or hybrid teams
TechBash 2025 Sessionize Event
Michigan Technology Conference 2025 Sessionize Event
TechBash 2024 Sessionize Event
Music City Tech 2019 Sessionize Event
Aubrey Wade
A Boundary Pushing, Positive Disrupting, Way Maker - I make good trouble
Memphis, Tennessee, United States
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