Once we have a thorough understanding of your organization’s current landscape, we help you establish shared direction and create tools for real-time decision-making. We believe it is essential for the board and staff to collaborate during Stage 2 to ensure the entire organization aligns around a clear vision and strategic direction.
Stage 2: The North Star
We establish shared direction and create tools for ongoing decision-making.
Through a full-day retreat and/or in-depth workshops, we engage in collaborative activities to articulate the core values behind your work; develop an organizational identity statement (who, what, where, why, how); and analyze competitive advantages and future trends. Depending on the needs of your organization, we can also incorporate a deeper dive into areas like key messaging (mission statement, etc.), DEI, governance, business model, and more.
Board and staff create a Big Question, the “North Star,” that guides all decision-making and is the heart of the entire plan. Rather than a statement “our vision is X” or “our need is Y”, the question gives forward momentum: “how can we achieve X/Y?” There’s no single answer or path, so everyone can work to answer the Big Question within their roles, within the real-time activities of your organization, as new opportunities or challenges come up.
The Big Question harnesses shared vision and empowers the whole team to think strategically as individuals and as a group. You may not reach a North Star, but by continually seeking to answer the Big Question, you will find yourself heading in the right direction.
As we enter Stage 3: Road Map, we define a Strategy Screen with criteria for strategy development and tools to make strategy-aligned decisions in the planning process and beyond.
“What you pay attention to grows.” —adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy
