A time to decide
Strategic Planning
Choose direction together.
Good strategy begins with questions worth asking. What matters most? What are we here to accomplish? What is changing around us? And where should we invest our attention, energy, and resources?
We help people explore these questions, understand their circumstances, make thoughtful choices, and find a direction they can pursue with purpose and confidence.
Our approach
Strategic planning is an opportunity to step away from familiar demands and consider the larger picture. We begin by listening: to leaders, to people closest to the work, and, where appropriate, to those the organization exists to serve. We bring different perspectives into conversation, examine evidence, and make room for assumptions to be questioned.
We help people clarify their purpose and, when warranted, question whether a familiar vision or direction still serves it. Good strategy requires more than identifying desirable goals. It involves recognizing constraints, weighing alternatives, and deciding what to pursue, what to set aside, and what to leave behind.
We pay attention to the connections between strategy, leadership, culture, and the realities of everyday work. A promising direction may require new capabilities, different relationships, or changes in familiar practices. We help people consider not only what they hope to accomplish, but what their choices will ask of those responsible for carrying them forward.
A strategic plan matters when it helps people make decisions beyond the planning table. We help translate priorities into meaningful goals, clear responsibilities, appropriate authority, and practical ways to review progress.
Circumstances will change. A good plan helps people respond thoughtfully to what emerges, rather than holding them captive to yesterday’s assumptions.
What this can strengthen
- A clearer sense of purpose, direction, and shared priorities.
- Better-informed choices about what to pursue, postpone, or leave behind.
- Greater understanding, meaningful participation, and shared responsibility for carrying the strategy forward.
- Clearer connections between priorities, resources, responsibilities, and authority.
- Practical ways to learn from experience and adapt as circumstances change.
What the work may involve
We begin with your organization’s people, circumstances, and existing commitments. The work may include research, environmental analysis, consultation, facilitated conversations, retreats, and opportunities to explore different strategic options.
Some organizations need to revisit their vision or clarify their mission. Others have a clear purpose and need help making difficult choices, establishing priorities, or bringing their plans into closer relationship with what is actually happening.
We help people develop a plan that is understandable, useful, and proportionate to their needs. This may include a concise strategic framework, agreed priorities, goals, responsibilities, and a rhythm for reviewing progress and adjusting course.
The decisions remain with those responsible for making them. Our contribution is to help them see more clearly, deliberate well, and carry their choices into action.
People behind this work
Questions (8)
Who is Strategic Planning for?
We work with businesses, public institutions, nonprofit organizations, boards, leadership teams, and other groups responsible for setting direction.
The work may be particularly useful when an organization is entering a new season, facing difficult choices, reconsidering its purpose, or finding that its existing strategy no longer serves it well.
How is Strategic Planning different from Decision Intelligence and Operational Planning?
Decision Intelligence helps people understand their circumstances, examine evidence, and clarify the choices before them.
Strategic Planning focuses on purpose, direction, and priorities: what matters most and what an organization will choose to pursue.
Operational Planning helps translate those priorities into practical work, responsibilities, resources, and ways to review progress.
These practices are closely connected. Depending on the circumstances, an engagement may draw on more than one.
How involved will our board, staff, and other stakeholders be?
That depends on the organization, the decisions at hand, and who holds responsibility for making them.
We help clarify decision-making authority at the outset, then consider whose knowledge and perspectives should inform the process and how they can contribute meaningfully.
Good consultation is not a promise that everyone will agree or that every suggestion will be adopted. It is an opportunity to listen, learn, understand differences, and make better-informed choices.
We also encourage clients to explain what they heard, how different perspectives informed the final decisions, and why some suggestions were not adopted.
What will we have at the end?
Usually, a clear and practical account of the organization’s direction, priorities, intended outcomes, and responsibilities.
This may take the form of a concise strategic plan, a one-page summary, or other materials suited to the people who will use them. We also consider how progress will be reviewed and how the plan can remain useful as circumstances change.
The value lies not simply in the document, but in the understanding, decisions, and commitments developed through the work.
What if our leadership team does not agree on the direction?
Disagreement is not necessarily a problem to eliminate. It may reveal different assumptions, competing priorities, genuine constraints, or concerns that deserve attention.
We help people examine these differences honestly, identify what they share, and understand the choices requiring decisions. Where agreement is not possible, we help clarify how decisions will be made and how people can work responsibly with the outcome.
Can you facilitate in person or virtually?
Yes. We work in person and virtually, through live conversations and sessions, as well as consultation, reflection, and other activities between meetings.
We recommend a combination that suits the people involved, the decisions to be made, and the available time and resources.
How long does the work take, and what does it cost?
That depends on your circumstances, the scope of the decisions, the people who should be involved, and the work already completed.
After an initial conversation, we can propose an approach, timeline, and fee for consideration.
What resources do you recommend for learning more about Strategic Planning?
- Collins, J., & Hansen, M. T. (2011). Great by choice: Uncertainty, chaos, and luck—Why some thrive despite them all. HarperBusiness.
- Crossan, M. M., Maurer, C. C., Rowe, W. G., & Rouse, M. J. (2023). Strategic analysis and action (10th ed.). Pearson Canada.
- Lencioni, P. (2012). The advantage: Why organizational health trumps everything else in business. Jossey-Bass.
- Lewrick, M., Link, P., & Leifer, L. (2018). The design thinking playbook: Mindful digital transformation of teams, products, services, businesses and ecosystems. Wiley.
- Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B. W., & Lampel, J. (2009). Strategy safari: The complete guide through the wilds of strategic management (2nd ed.). FT Prentice Hall.
- Moore, G. A. (2014). Crossing the chasm: Marketing and selling disruptive products to mainstream customers (3rd ed.). HarperBusiness.
- Riel, J., & Martin, R. L. (2017). Creating great choices: A leader’s guide to integrative thinking. Harvard Business Review Press.
- Rumelt, R. P. (2011). Good strategy/bad strategy: The difference and why it matters. Crown Business.
- Wheatley, M. J. (2006). Leadership and the new science: Discovering order in a chaotic world (3rd ed.). Berrett-Koehler.
- Wickman, G. (2012). Traction: Get a grip on your business. BenBella Books.
Pay It Forward
We stand on the shoulders of giants.
Whenever possible, we offer discounted rates to under-resourced organizations.
We are grateful to servant leaders who have guided us through our own seasons of change.
In their spirit, we strive to make our services more accessible by offering discounted rates to under-resourced organizations whenever possible. We especially hope to support organizations serving 2SLGBTQI+ people, people with developmental disabilities or mental health needs, migrant workers, refugees, and youth, as well as Indigenous-led organizations and those serving Indigenous communities.
If you are an individual facing financial barriers that have kept you from accessing coaching, mentoring, or learning opportunities, we would be happy to discuss options.
Please reach out to explore how we might serve alongside you or your team.
Curious about your next steps?
Start a conversation.
Tell us what you’re facing. We’ll listen, explore what matters, and consider together whether there’s a useful way for us to help.
A first, 30-minute conversation is free of charge.
