Strategy Development and Governance Advising

Align and Advance
Our approach to strategic planning brings the community together to create an inspiring vision for the future and taps into the power of communication to move that vision forward.

A school embarks on strategic planning to map out a journey to become the best version of itself. We facilitate a process centered on alignment, establishing a shared reality so a community can discover the most exciting and actionable opportunities for the school’s continued success.

Sometimes we unconsciously preserve “the way it used to be” even as we serve the students and families of today, creating gaps and incongruities. Once a school community shares honestly, gains clarity and comes into alignment, an impactful strategic vision emerges.

In parallel, we explore and analyze how your community communicates and connects.

Relationships are at the heart of a school’s work. So much of the relationship “glue” is found in regular communication practices — from faculty meetings to parent/teacher conferences; from the annual fund appeal to website design. But few of these practices are intentionally designed or executed to model and carry forward the core values and central goals of the school.

School communities typically struggle to ensure all members feel consistently well-informed and connected - and if this is the case, no wonder so many schools have trouble making a strategic vision come to life.

By the end of this process, the school will have:

• a strategic plan with clear, measurable goals
• a communications audit with concrete recommendations for next steps
• an implementation plan including effective communications approaches to maintain community alignment and support momentum

We are proud to collaborate with our strategic partner and Caravan Brand Partners to deliver this service.

Strategic Communications: Managing Institutional Change and Sensitive Situations
Are you planning a major tuition reset or change of mission? Are you closing or merging a campus? Is the school managing a head transition? For these and other complicated and sensitive scenarios, we can help you formulate the right communications plan.

Governance Advising and Support
Inspired organizational leadership and mission-enhancing change starts at the top with good governance practices. We take into account the complicated ways the "lanes" of day-to-day operations and governance intersect as well as the stress on trustees occupying several different roles at once within a community. Our training, advising and support, with options for stand-alone workshops and ongoing coaching, honestly acknowledges this complexity and aims to provide trustees will skills and tools to productively partner with heads of school and executive directors.