we help your organization to be its best and don’t just tell you what you want to hear
we don’t just facilitate – we guide and support, drawing on decades of experience
we believe that your team *must* be in the driver’s seat for your strategic plan to take root
strategic planning
we’re a little different
our services
We provide full-service strategic planning, tailored to your needs and budget.
There’s no boxed product when it comes to our full-service strategic planning.
Our work can include everything from contextual market research and stakeholder interviews to guiding multi-day retreats where we workshop the Strategic Plan with your whole team.
The goal is always a light and user-friendly 3-5 year Strategic Plan with 2-5 outcome-oriented strategic goals, one that remains nimble when unexpected losses (or wins) hit and has the buy-in of the whole staff and board.
what we believe
strategic planning works better with an external consultant
they can address the elephants in the room in a way no one on the board or staff can do
they can see the forest through the trees better than someone living the day-to-day of the organization
they have experience across a range of organizations, giving them extra insight from which your org will benefit
they can guide existential conversations that challenge, deepen, and strengthen your organization the way no insider can do
strategic planning should be owned and driven by the entire board (with full staff input) and facilitated by the external expert -- we don’t create your plan for you.
strategic plans should be around 3-5 years in length -- too short and you risk strategizing fatigue + confusing operational plans with strategy -- too long and the plan becomes irrelevant.
strategic plans should be nimble to adjust to changing opportunities and challenges.
strategic plans need an accountability mechanism.
the whole process and end results should follow best practices in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, Belonging, and Justice (DEIJB).
the process should be transformative & fun.
interactive, workshop-style board + staff retreats (in-person and virtual) to build the Plan.
revisiting mission, vision, and values and checking for alignment and forward evolution.
dusting off skeletons from the closet and facing those elephants in the room to achieve breakthroughs
it should be a plan that works, not one that grows dust on a shelf in the cloud.
we’ll help you find the balance between ambition and reality and help you determine your risk tolerance.
we’ll help hold you to what is budgetarily possible without burning out staff or cutting too many corners.
we’ll make sure you can reasonably track progress and that you have milestone moments where you check-in on whether the Plan needs adjustment as you go.
it should be tailored for your unique organization.
we’ll review your organization’s past and present, from an external and internal perspective.
we’ll review the greater ecosystem in which your organization works and its particular value add.
we’ll have regular check-ins to make sure we’re working in sync.
we’ll make sure all voices are heard with staff input survey and interviews, board survey and interviews, stakeholder survey and interviews, and, where relevant, inviting those voices directly to the table.
we’ll recommend a DEIJB audit where necessary.
we’ll do scenario planning for unexpected negative or positive shocks.