We help researchers manage complex projects and careers. We train scientists to build custom visual management systems, uncover hidden risks, communicate across disciplines and reach stakeholders—so their research finds a flow, stays on track, aligned, and impactful.
We help PhD candidates, post-docs, and tenure-track researchers stay focused, coordinate across disciplines, and communicate their impact clearly—supporting both scientific progress and academic success.
We help business owners see through complexity and act with confidence. Uncover hidden strategic, operational, and structural risks, then co-create clear countermeasures. The result: smoother operations, smarter decisions, and costly mistakes avoided. We help you see patterns and opportunities that others miss - so your business stays focused, resilient, and competitive.
Through systemic insight, creative problem-solving, and hands-on experience, we empower our clients—from startups to international businesses and academic institutions—to navigate and act, creating synergy with integrity.
Visual Management for PhD Success
Let our experienced coaches guide you in adopting a self-managed culture custom fit to your needs - boosting your organization’s effectiveness and overcoming any obstacles - together.
Our Story
By Kathryn Criston, Founder of Syntegrity.works I’ve always been a systems thinker—with an extra spoonful of creativity. That combination makes traditional research hard for me. There are simply too many fascinating topics in too many disciplines to focus on just one.
Before founding Syntegrity.works, I spent eight years as an Agile Coach, helping teams and executives navigate complexity and change. I’m also a BFA in Filmmaking with an emphasis on visuality and am a trained operatic singer and composer. My music is featured in indie games, concerts and streaming services. Outside of work, I explore bodywork and fitness—I’ve corrected a complex spinal condition through Tai Chi and strength training, and practice craniosacral therapy on friends and family.
After undergrad, I didn’t pursue graduate work—not because I lacked passion, but because I couldn’t choose. Music composition, classical voice pedagogy, microeconomics, applied math, traditional Tai Chi… I didn’t want to give up the breadth of my curiosity. When Agile (™) began to decline as the dominant framework set in organizational development, many of us who worked in that world were left asking: What now? Since 2022, I’ve been exploring that question deeply—especially for people like me. People who are natural network thinkers, who see coherence across disciplines. We don’t need help generating ideas; we need help focusing them. We need tools to weed through complexity, choose the right problems, and stick with a direction without losing what makes us unique.
I wanted to find a way of managing work—my own and others’—that honors curiosity and breadth. A way to collaborate with stakeholders that respects their time, while bridging the communication gap between visionary minds and real-world demands. Too often, visionaries see deeply into systemic problems—but can’t get traction. It’s like being from Mars, trying to talk to people on Earth about your problems. The people on earth Might not have contacts for them. they can’t directly relate and they don’t have time. or people are busy with the problems on Earth for a very good reason.
Many productivity tools and collaborative methods are designed to generate insights and get work done in a linear progression. But visionary thinkers already have insights and systemic work doesn’t get done in a linear fashion. What we need are tools to test, verify, and apply the right insights to make the impact that’s needed. We need to orchestrate our interest areas without overengineering. We also need to build bridges between our working methods and the methods of others to collaborate with amazing, capable people who don’t think like us.
That’s why I founded Syntegrity.works.
To help business owners, researchers, and organizations navigate complexity with clarity, focus, and systemic insight. We dig deep into your operational landscape, your stakeholder environment, and your regulatory context. We identify strategic, operational, and structural risks—then co-create countermeasures that work across systems. Our mission is to bring the depth of microeconomics, systems theory, and applied research into the day-to-day decisions that shape businesses and research institutions. Inspired by thinkers like Stafford Beer and Patrick Hoverstadt, we translate high-caliber research and systemic approaches into practical strategy. When you’re facing a strategic shift that could cost years of effort, millions in investment, or affect hundreds of people—what if you could bring economic and systems principles to that decision? What if someone could help you see the hidden patterns in your organizational data and market environment—the ones that others miss?
That’s the kind of high-impact, high-leverage work we do at Syntegrity.works.
Am I an expert in every domain? No. But I am a skilled generalist who sees the big picture. I collaborate with your domain experts to uncover patterns, align action, and guide your system toward meaningful, achievable change.
Would you like to talk more about how synegrity.works could help you? Send me an email - kathryn (at) syntegrity.works
Resources
[Q&A with Kathryn Criston Briskina. Disciplined leadership - how principles of discipline in music and sports can directly influence and transform.] (https://www.trusted-magazine.com/en/post/q-a-with-kathryn-criston-briskina-1) Trusted Magazine, 8 March, 2025.
Podcasts
Tune into our cutting edge organizational development podcasts, rich with inspiring transformation stories, actionable insights and practical tips to empower your journey.