Seattle Municipal Court
CASE STUDY
“CuriosityBased helped our new executive team build trust, clarity, and confidence in giving and receiving feedback.”
Client Background
The Seattle Municipal Court (SMC) serves the people of Seattle by ensuring fair, accessible, and compassionate justice. With a mission grounded in equity and accountability, the Court’s leaders oversee complex systems that touch the lives of thousands of residents each year. Their work requires collaboration, clarity, and trust—qualities essential for any high-performing team.
Challenge
The Seattle Municipal Court (SMC) is one of the busiest limited-jurisdiction courts in Washington State, serving thousands of residents each year through its mission of equitable access to justice.
When a new executive leadership team came together, they faced a common but complex challenge: how to quickly establish trust, align decision-making, and strengthen collaboration while navigating diverse leadership styles.
They sought a retreat experience that would do more than teach skills—it needed to help them practice authentic communication, real-time feedback, and systems-level thinking as a cohesive leadership team.
Goals:
- Build comfort and competence in giving and receiving feedback
- Strengthen decision-making as a unified leadership body
- Understand their organization as an interconnected system rather than isolated departments
The CuriosityBased Approach
CuriosityBased partnered with Seattle Municipal Court to design and facilitate a two-day leadership retreat focused on feedback, collaboration, and shared understanding.
Dr. Julie Pham and her team invested time up front to learn the team’s goals, dynamics, and organizational context. Drawing from CuriosityBased’s frameworks, they created a series of interactive experiences based on giving feedback that balanced learning, laughter, and courageous conversation.
Each activity was tailored to meet the team where they were:
- Facilitated dialogues that deepened understanding of how decisions ripple across the organization
- Structured exercises to practice feedback in a supportive and transparent setting
- Reflective discussions that helped leaders connect curiosity with accountability and mutual respect
In one memorable activity, participants practiced giving feedback in a group setting using the new framework—an exercise that built vulnerability and trust.
The Impact
By the end of the two-day retreat, Seattle Municipal Court’s executive team had laid the foundation for a more open, connected, and integrated leadership culture.
Participants reported greater ease in giving feedback, clearer alignment in decision-making, and a renewed appreciation for how curiosity can serve as a bridge between challenge and growth.
The team walked away with:
- A shared language and process for constructive feedback
- Improved trust and communication within the leadership team
- Stronger understanding of how each leader’s role supports the court’s broader mission
- Renewed confidence to model curiosity and respect throughout the organization
Client Testimonial
“Our experience with the CuriosityBased team was impressive and immediately effective. The CuriosityBased team helped us to assess where we were and identify the skills and behaviors we needed to learn to get to where we wanted to be.
“The best part for our executive team is that the experience was upbeat, fun, and highly motivating. The skills we learned were practical and the experience brought our team together with renewed energy and purpose.” – Chief Administrative Officer, Seattle Municipal Court
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