Sometimes you get a little gem of a gig. That’s what the consultancy I’m undertaking with and on behalf of 185 and The Common Lot in Norwich is.
As is the norm, they’re fantastically busy and passionate in what they do, wanting to bring value to their local community whilst being creative, impactful and inclusive. Oh and complying with all the regulatory requirements of running an organisation that inherently puts people at the heart and needs to be sustainable.
So it’s strategy review time. But before embarking, head first as many of us do, into strategy, they’re pausing to reflect and look 360 and who they are, who they are perceived to be – all before they conclude who they want to be. In my book this is effective strategy preparation practice.
My involvement is quite light touch and includes the following activities with aligned questioning to help them gain that 360 picture.
- A Google survey to the some 900+ sign-ups to their newsletter to ascertain their involvement, their perception and ideas for potential.
- Face to face interviews with participants.
- Face to face interviews with facilitators.
- A half day workshop where I’ll have some data from the survey to explore their perceptions about what people think about them and then take a light-touch systems thinking approach to overlay what they do with the key stakeholders and alignment with their mission to explore the interdependencies.
After this I will complete a light-touch report on what I observed and my recommendations for the focus of their strategy.