Strategy and service review
A facilitated process that takes an organisation from where it is now to an agreed direction for the next three to five years, with a set of goals it owns at the end. It works with a trustee body, a senior team or both.
For local authorities and children’s trusts we also carry out independent reviews of a service or strategy, such as early help, youth services or complaints. The review looks at what is working well, what is not and what needs to happen, with recommendations that take account of the reforms the service has to respond to.
When people come to us
- The chief executive has moved on and the board is deciding what comes next.
- The current strategy runs out next year and nobody has started the new one.
- A funder has asked for a plan and there is not one.
- The board and the staff team do not agree on what the organisation is for.
- A service needs reviewing before it is reshaped, and the people running it are too close to it.
What you end up with
Every process ends with the strategy on a page. A purpose line, three or four goals, what sits under each one, and how you will know in a year whether it is working. Behind it sits a supporting document setting out each goal in full, with timescales and measures.
Free download. Strategy on a page template (PDF), the blank version of the example below. Use it and share it freely.
Strategy 2027 to 2030 · On a page
Where we are going
Agreed by the board, March 2027.
Our vision
Families with a disabled child have somewhere to turn long before things reach crisis.
The three goals that will get us there
Goal one
Families find us earlier
What we will do
- Open two more community sessions a week
- Train volunteers to hold the first conversation well
- Work with schools so families hear about us sooner
How we will know it is making a difference
Families reach us before a crisis, and tell us they were listened to the first time.
Goal two
Young people shape what we do
What we will do
- Set up a young people’s panel with a say over part of the budget
- Design the next two services with them from the start
- Pay young people for their time
How we will know it is making a difference
Young people can point to something we do differently because of them.
Goal three
We are still here in three years
What we will do
- Bring the largest funder below a third of income
- Build unrestricted income to cover the core team
- Agree the kinds of funding we will go after
How we will know it is making a difference
No single funder holds more than a third, and reserves cover four months.
How it is sequenced
Year one
Recruit the young people’s panel. Agree with schools how families will hear about us. Set the baseline for every measure.
Year two
Two new community sessions running. First service designed with young people. Two new funders approached.
Year three
Review against every measure, and start the next strategy from what families and young people tell us.
Visioning day
Strategy development
Strategy refresh
Service review
Where the work starts
The work starts with what people have already told you. Complaints, feedback, what staff raise and what families say when something has gone wrong give an honest account of how the organisation works, and we bring them into the strategy from the start.
Alongside that, every process includes a short questionnaire to trustees, staff and volunteers. It takes ten to fifteen minutes, it is anonymous, and it asks what people think the organisation is for, where they want it to be in three years, what matters most, and what they think funds the work. Results come back broken down by group, so the board can see where trustees and staff answer the same question differently.
How we work
Thinking Differently®, our four stage model, is how we approach every piece of work.
Listen
We gather what you already have, the vision so far, the commitments you have made and the feedback you hold, and we hear from the people the decisions will affect.
Reflect
We make sense of what we have learned, reflect it back to you and check we have understood it.
Structure
We design the sessions and conversations that will settle the direction, choosing the approach that fits, including LEGO® Serious Play® where it helps.
Respond
A written proposal of goals, a session to agree them, and then the finished plan.
These are the same methods we use in facilitation, applied to setting a direction or reviewing a service.
Agreeing a direction after a change of chief executive
We worked with a small charity over three months, not long after a period of upheaval and the appointment of a new chief executive. The board and the chief executive wanted to agree where the charity was going before committing to anything else.
We ran two sessions. The first brought trustees and staff together to look at where the charity was and what was working. Between the sessions we spoke to people individually, and what came back shaped the second session, where the priorities were agreed.
The charity came out with a high level strategy for the next three to five years and a shorter list of priorities, with the board and the chief executive working to the same plan.
"After a period of upheaval the board needed to agree where we were going. James facilitated the sessions, supported us through some difficult conversations and got us to a high level strategy and plan for the next three to five years. It was the right support at the right time."
Chair of trustees
Your questions answered
How do we get started?
Get in touch and we will arrange an informal conversation to understand what you need and agree an approach.
What if we do not agree?
That is common at the start, and the first session is built for it. It finds where the real disagreement is and puts it in front of you so it can be decided.
What if we already have a strategy?
Then the work is shorter. We test whether it still holds, run a session on what has changed, and rewrite the goals that need it.
Can we just have the day?
Yes. The visioning day stands on its own, and it works best where the board has already done some of its thinking and needs somebody to run the conversation.
Who writes it?
We do. You agree the goals and sign off the finished document, and you are as involved in the drafting as you want to be. Nobody is asked to go away and write it.
What happens if it stalls?
People get stuck on one goal more often than on the whole plan. We put the stuck goal back in writing with the options set out, and bring it to the second session.
Can you support the chief executive or chair alongside the process?
Yes. Coaching or mentoring for the chief executive or chair can run alongside the strategy work, led by a CMI Level 7 qualified coach and mentor.