Strategy + Planning

Help!! with Real Life Scenarios

We set OKRs and NO ONE is using them!!

Flip for Helia's take
VERY real!
The #1 thing you can do is build OKRs into your day to day — EVERY meeting, annual reviews, Board reports.
Read "Are You Actually Using Those OKRs?"
(Still not working? Your OKRs probably aren't quite right. Annoying — and give yourself permission to rewrite them!)

Change management is, well, hard.

Flip for Helia's take
Change always takes longer and is harder than we want. ALWAYS!!!
The secret? It's actually not more communication(!) — it's sitting alongside folks doing the work and responding fast to what's broken.
Read "Making Change Actually Stick."

We abandon the plan when something urgent comes up (which is always)

Flip for Helia's take
Responding to what is urgent matters, a lot! So does having a plan...
Orgs that stay focused are actually evolving their plan all year long. The trick is integrating it into your day to day so when things happen, you discuss and adapt live!
Get ideas in "How to Run Good Meetings."

How do I bring more voices into planning AND actually get it done?

Flip for Helia's take
YES — this is one of the most important things you can do!
Anything worth doing needs a "we." You'll get so much further when you're bringing in the wisdom of everyone around you. There are lots of ways to do this, and we start with a 360 review for the org!
Steal our process from the Discovery360 Toolkit!

We are always in reaction mode!

Flip for Helia's take
So real — especially right now.
And while you might NEED to be reactive to some extent, if you have a solid north star, it can give you the grounding to make decisions as you respond to what's needed around you.
Read "What If Your Theory of Change Is Your North Star?"

We need to change course — what do I do?!

Flip for Helia's take
Every org faces this moment - you are not alone!
Get everything on the table (finances, assets, partnerships, structure) and stay flexible. Center the work! Where you're spending your time and what you're actually doing matters most. The structure will follow.
Read "The Organization Doesn't Matter. The Work Does."

There are so many projects and everything is all over the place.

Flip for Helia's take
So real and sometimes that energy is a GOOD sign!
If it rolls up to a plan, great! This is just momentum. If nothing is connecting to anything central? It's time to pull it together. A couple days working ON (versus IN) your business will be transformative.
Read "A Strategic Plan You'll Actually Use"

We're doing this well... AND would LOVE to see what others are doing

Flip for Helia's take
Love that you're thinking about this!
Check out Chris's "Playbooks to Build Consistency and Culture" for some ideas and inspiration.
And, if you have something great that's working, share it with us. We'd love to get it out there!
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Our Collective's Strategic Planning Experts

a man smiles outside Adam Rubin Developing New Double/Triple Bottom Line Ventures Founder. Builder. Operator. Adam Rubin scales mission-driven ventures from idea to tens of millions of dollars.
Smiling woman wearing a burgundy scarf, standing in front of a colorful artistic mural. Molly Christiansen Facilitation + Exec Coaching Molly brings deep experience and care to leaders, teams, and organizations navigating complexity — drawing on 20+ years as a nonprofit leader herself, including scaling one organization from startup to 5M+ lives touched.
Katelyn McArdle Fundraising & Strategic Planning Katelyn has helped purpose-driven ventures launch, scale, and grow communities from 0 to 1,000+ supporters in months.

Want to talk to someone who’s been there?
These folks have done this work inside orgs like yours.

All Strategic Planning + Decision Making Articles

Resource Toolkit Libby’s Good Meetings Toolkit Run meetings your team will actually want to attend.
Libby Fischer Connell with Libby Fischer Connell
Article How to Run Good Meetings Stop wasting everyone's time (including yours)
Libby Fischer Connell with Libby Fischer Connell
Resource Toolkit Nicole’s OKR Toolkit Build a measurement system that actually sticks — without drowning in the spreadsheet.
Nicole Pollock with Nicole Pollock
Article How Are You Actually Using Those OKRs? How one iron rule makes everything else flexible — and why that's the whole point
Nicole Pollock with Nicole Pollock
Resource Toolkit Julia’s Theory of Change Toolkit Mapping out your North Star
Julia Matthews with Julia Matthews
Article What If Your Theory of Change Is Your North Star? Why the best theory of change gives you freedom to move
Julia Matthews with Julia Matthews
Resource Toolkit The Discovery360 Toolkit Everything you need to hear what's really happening in your organization — and do something about it.
Helia with Helia
Article A Strategic Plan You’ll Actually Use And you only need two days to create it!
Helia with Helia
Article The Organization Doesn’t Matter. The Work Does. Mergers, closures, and the structures that actually serve your mission
Kate Harris with Kate Harris
Resource Toolkit Libby’s Strategic Planning Toolkit Build a strategic plan your team will actually use — in two days, on two pages.
Helia with Helia
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