Strategy Development

True Strategies Pull the Organization in the Same Direction

The importance of clear, focused strategy for an organization or a collaborative can't be emphasized enough. An effective strategy helps you know what you will do and won't do to achieve your mission. It helps you align your internal capabilities with external needs and opportunities. And it helps your board, staff, and constituents pull together to achieve your mission. When your strategy is clear and appropriate to your mission and environment, your organization surges ahead. Without it organizations can flounder.

There is no one perfect method for developing strategy
Our early work in strategic planning was captured in our first book—Bryan Barry’s Strategic Planning Workbook. This approach is still commonly used in the nonprofit sector, and works for many organizations, but not all. Our recently published book, The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution by David LaPiana, proposes a new approach to planning—"Real-Time Strategic Planning in a Rapid-Response World."

How we can help
Our consultants can help you create a strategy development process that will work for you. We will help you understand your organization's core capabilities and business model, gain greater understanding of your market and competition, and develop criteria to guide strategy decisions. And then we will help you formulate and test strategies to guide future action and decision making.

We typically do strategy consultation with organizations that are at a turning point—considering growth or major changes—or with collaboratives and networks. We can also focus the strategy work on particular questions the organization is considering, such as how to change a business model, diversify revenue, have greater community impact, or become more culturally competent to work with changing demographics.

Related resources

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For more information, please contact Gordon Goodwin at 651-556-4502 or email him at ggoodwin@fieldstonealliance.org.