Strategy
Helping you to identify and maximise strategic opportunities to scale your impact.
Strategic Planning
A strong strategic plan is essential for the sustainability and growth of your organisation. Your strategic plan should unify and motivate your nonprofit to think big, rather than collecting dust on the shelf. This often requires making difficult decisions. Using a consultant will give you an unbiased view on how an organisation can progress.
2into3 has worked with organisations across the sector to develop strategic plans and navigate organisational change. We have the expertise and experience to guide your organisation and provide clarity when tackling the obstacles involved in moving your organisation forward.
Why develop a Strategic Plan?
The Charities Regulator now requires registered organisations to have an up to date strategic plan. Aside from this requirement there are many more benefits of having a cohesive strategic plan:
- Gives a clear sense of direction
- Identifies priorities and aids clear decision making
- Motivates your employees with a sense of purpose
- Enables your organisation to be proactive rather than reactive
How we work
We believe that a strategic plan should be a living document, which is owned by the people of your organisation and guided by their input, so that decisions reflect the stakeholder’s voice.
Our approach to strategic planning is highly participative and based on evidence from our research and experience across the sector. 2into3 will partner with your organisation, working collaboratively at Board and staff level while engaging everyone from service users to members of the community to ensure that your strategic plan is truly owned and lived by your organisation.
2into3’s Strategic Planning Process
Your outcome
After developing a Strategic Plan with 2into3, your organisation will come away with:
- A renewed sense of your organisation’s purpose and ethos
- A framework for prioritisation and focus for the coming years
- An ambitious yet achievable set of Goals and Strategic Actions
- The engagement and buy-in of your stakeholders
- Increased confidence and clarity for navigating future changes and challenges
Recent Strategic Plans
Facilitation
Running effective workshops and meetings is about so much more than gathering people in the same place, at the same time. Engaging a facilitator allows the leader to fully participate without worrying about the objectives of the meeting, the time keeping or the dynamics.
2into3 has considerable experience in facilitating tailor-made meetings and workshops on a variety of issues with mission-driven organisations. We design and enable meaningful, participative and interactive discussions to achieve successful outcomes.
How could an external facilitator help me?
Bringing in an independent expert facilitator to design and run your meeting could help transform the effectiveness of your session, whether it be:
- Strategic planning
- Horizon scanning
- Team building
- Goal setting
- Values alignment
2into3 works collaboratively with you to ensure that your meeting’s agenda, activities, and environment achieve both your hard objectives in terms of outputs and decisions, but also soft objectives around culture, dynamics and buy-in.
Trained Facilitator of LEGO®️ SERIOUS PLAY®️
Serious Play is defined as “a mode of activity that draws on the imagination, integrates cognitive, social and emotional dimensions of experience and intentionally brings the emergent benefits of play to bear on organisational challenges”.
LEGO SERIOUS PLAY methodology was born in the late 1990s initially in the context to the development of strategy. Since then, it has been developed for facilitated outcome focused processes and team building. It creates an environment of optimal learning and engagements from participants, building collective knowledge and opening opportunities for adding new perspectives in a safe and supportive environment.
Our Senior Associate, Fiona Barry, offers Participatory Strategic Development Workshops using the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method and materials.
Workshops using the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY methodology can be delivered both online and in-person for strategic planning, focus groups, team building and facilitated outcome focused workshops.
Offering interactive sessions using the innovative LEGO SERIOUS PLAY methodology helps clients gain profound insights into their organisations:
- Tactile experience enhances articulation of thoughts, challenges and emotions.
- Building models explains complex concepts.
- Tangible models aid in strategizing and progressing towards objectives, one block at a time.
“Novas was delighted to have the Fiona Barry from 2into3 facilitate an important workshop for our senior team last year as we worked on our strategic goals. In the planning of the event, Fiona took time to understand the journey we had been on in recent years, what our current challenges and opportunities were and what we were trying to build. Through interactive and engaging activities Fiona guided us through the day in a way that was respectful, let every voice be heard and help us arrive with a tangible outcome that exceeded our expectations. I would highly recommend 2into3’s facilitation work and I look forward to working with them more again.”
Recent Clients
Strategic Reviews
“How well are we performing against our strategic objectives?”
We are experienced in supporting organisations to reflect on their successes to date, gaps or challenges in delivery, and changes in their operating environment. Whether this is half way through a strategic period, or at the end of one, we can provide you with the evidence-base to identify the learnings and course corrections that will help you have an even greater impact in the future.
Why consider a Strategic Review?
-
Understand contextual changes: Critically reflect on changes in your operating environment and their implications
-
Assess strategic alignment: Determine to what extent your current activities and resources are aligned with your strategic goals
-
Review performance: Pinpoint areas where your organisation is meeting or falling short against its strategic objectives
-
Agree necessary course corrections: Make evidence-based adjustments to your ambitions
Your Outcome
-
Learn from your successes and challenges
-
Drive strategic alignment across your organisation
-
Strengthened, relevant strategic goals and targets
-
Promote accountability and transparency
Theory of Change
A Theory of Change is a logical, comprehensive yet concise description of how your organisation makes change: how your activities and services have the desired impact for your service users and for wider society.
2into3 is experienced in working with organisations and their stakeholders to develop Theories of Change which clarify and communicate their impact.
Why develop a Theory of Change?
- Define the problem your organisation is determined to solve, and how it does so
- Unpack and validate deeply held assumptions about your work
- Identify the outputs and outcomes that you will measure yourself against
- Clearly communicate your work and impact to the public
Your Outcome
- Demonstrate impact
- Align resources
- Measure progress
- Adapt and improve
Recent Clients
Mission, Vision, Values
Mission, Vision and Values are the fundamental statements of why an organisation exists and the ethos guiding how it works. They should serve as the cornerstone for strategic and operational decisions. However, these statements can sometimes be taken for granted, or not keep up with other changes in an organisation.
A Mission, Vision and Values review that involves your key stakeholders can provide an important moment of reflection, affirmation and renewal.
How we work
2into3’s Mission, Vision & Values review process is participative and creative, bringing together the voices of your key stakeholders to share – in their own words – what they consider to be your unique ambition and purpose. We can tailor consultations to your stakeholders, using a mixture of surveys, workshops, focus groups or one-on-ones.
We do this in the context of your organisation today, and the current and foreseeable developments in your operating environment.
Your Outcome
- Your new Mission, Vision and Values accurately reflect your organisation’s purpose and priorities
- Your strategic decisions are better informed by your new relevant Mission, Vision and Values
- Your organisation feels energised by its renewed Mission, Vision and Values
- Your stakeholders feel re-connected to your organisation
Get in touch
2into3 also offers a range of bespoke services including workshop facilitation, CEO mentoring, Strategy training and masterclasses. If you would like to discuss 2into3’s Strategy offerings, please contact Sheena Horgan at sheena.horgan@2into3.com.
