Using a combination of strategic thinking, project planning and communication tools, I work with the leaders of public, private and nonprofit organizations to assess current conditions, evaluate options, set direction and develop practical, immediate action plans. Here is an overview of the specific services I provide:
Assessing Your Situation
- Issue Identification – What are the key questions or challenges facing your organization? Does the organization’s leadership agree with the staff about what these issues are? I can help you identify, articulate and prioritize the issues facing your organization, as a first step toward successfully addressing them.
- Confidential Stakeholder Interviews – It can be very useful to solicit feedback and advice from internal and external stakeholders on an individual, confidential basis. As an independent consultant with a reputation for honesty and discretion, I can interview key stakeholders and aggregate their comments to protect confidentiality.
- Identity & Niche Clarification – Are your organization’s core identity and “niche” clear, internally and externally? Are you making strategic decisions that strengthen or undermine that essential clarity? I can help you sharpen your organization’s core identity and make sure you stay strategically aligned as you make decisions.
- Partner & Competitor Analysis – In today’s environment of constrained resources, it is crucial to be strategic about your organization’s partners and competitors, whether real or perceived. I can help you analyze your organization’s current and potential partners and competitors.
Considering Options & Setting Direction
- Establishing Strategic Criteria – How does your organization approach critical decisions? Are you clear about your decision-making criteria and how they are weighted? Based on your core identity and organizational capacity, I can help you develop criteria that lead to decisions that play to your strengths.
- Generating & Evaluating Options – “Should we do this or not?” is often too narrow a question. There are always more than two options, but sometimes we fail to take time to identify and consider them, or we are just too close to the subject matter. I can provide a fresh perspective and facilitate this process.
- Considering Implications – Organizational decisions large and small have implications we may not recognize. Here again, a fresh perspective can help you identify and consider the potential implications of strategic alternatives, and then use that awareness to inform your decision making.
- Analyzing Capacity – Does your organization have the capacity to carry out the new strategy you’re considering? If not, what would it take to build it? What new resources might be available? I can assist you with a frank analysis of your organization’s capacity (human and financial) to take on proposed strategies.
Assigning Responsibilities & Taking Action
- Work Plan Development – Now that you’ve made the decision, what needs to happen next? Drawing on 30 years of project-management experience in a variety of organizational settings, I can help you develop a right-sized work plan that provides just enough information to keep things on track.
- Responsibility Charting – Are you clear about the roles and responsibilities of your board, management and staff for each step in a given project? I can help you develop a tool that identifies who is responsible for each important task, who is expected to help, and who has the authority to make key decisions.
- Project Management & Coordination – Do you have an important project in flight – or in your head – that you don’t have the internal capacity to manage? I can provide project management and coordination services as a virtual member of your in-house team, or coordinate a team of contractors to get the job done for you.
Getting the Word Out
- Developing a Manageable Communication Strategy – Do you feel overwhelmed by the growing demand for constant internal and external communication? I can help you develop a manageable, integrated communication strategy that will keep your key stakeholders engaged and informed without burning out your staff.
- Making Sense of the Web, Email & Social Media – What is the right mix of online, email and social-media presence for your organization? As part of your overall communication strategy, I can help you determine what is worth the effort and develop a work plan that makes it fun and easy for your staff to sustain.
- Refining Your Message – More communication is not always better; sometimes multiple and changing messages create confusion. I can help you boil down your core messages and manage how they appear across your printed, emailed and online materials to ensure consistency, clarity and impact.
- Producing High-Quality Content – Do you have a good writer/editor on staff who can produce the content you need, when you need it? Once I’m familiar with your organization I can provide efficient writing of new content – and timely editorial assistance with internally-written material – on an ongoing basis.