Strategize
We've made strategic planning within civic-minded organizations effective and fun. How have we done that? By taking the best aspects of program evaluation practices and turning them upside down into a strategy-building exercise that sets reachable goals for your organization that are consistent with your vision and mission. When you're done with us you'll have not only the benefits of strategic plan, but also a common language for developing goals and the power to talk together about improvement.
Who benefits from Strategize?
Strategize is a service designed to create a sustainable, actionable strategic plan for any organization seeking to attain a set of challenging social goals. To Strategize with OpenEye is to not only set direction but develop achievalbe interim goals as well as criteria for monitoring and evaluation. Organizations that partner with OpenEye to Strategize include those that are engaged in:
- social change programs and civil society development
- environmental projects and programs
- urban and rural development programs
- HR, educational programs and university planning
- providing funding for R&D
Example
In Seaside, California, the California State University at Monterey Bay (CSUMB) partnered with OpenEye to craft their 10 year campus strategic plan. We worked with university administrators, program staff, deans and faculty to sifting a dozen candidate major goals to four, uncover the barriers to achieving those goals, and develop strategic action plans that are carried out by a broad, decentralized team of university citizens.
Features of Strategize
4-8 facilitated meetings in workshop format, convened between a process leader within your organization, a working group appointed in consultation with OpenEye, and a panel of expert stakeholders from the field.
What is the deliverable from Strategize?
At the conclusion, your organization possesses
- a graphic depiction of the key priorities for the organization
- a set of viable goals that represent the most suitable objectives for your organization (viable goals are goals that are reachable given your organization's mandate, reach and resources)
- suggested activities and inputs to reach the prioritized objectives
- a set of indicators to determine outcomes and objectives, and an organizational learning plan that contains steps for monitoring and evaluation
How do I use the deliverable from Strategize?
Groups that Strategize with OpenEye use the deliverables as a base for making strategic decisions and planning of new and/or ongoing activities.
The documentation is valuable for crafting stakeholder agreements, proposals and other funding applications, presentations, and web pages. Organizations that Strategize find their teams better poised to tell the same story about the organization’s vision, aims and tactics.
The process
Our services are customized for each client’s unique situation and requirements. However, to give you a better understanding of the time and commitment involved, the following process outline is suggested.
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Timeline
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Activities
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Week 1-2
2-4 hours in a planning meeting with OpenEye and your organization's leadership group
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A preliminary review of material related to a project, program or activity taking place within your organization is necessary. OpenEye reviews the material before requesting a meeting with a leadership group comprised of a select few from your organization. Together we adapt and define the Focus process, and agree what success will look like for our collaboration. We also determine membership of a working group that will be empaneled for the next step.
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Week 2-4
About 6 hours of workshops (1-2 workshops) the working group
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We coach a field-based stakeholder group through a process of identifying genuine needs within the environment which the organization could address, and depict them in an approachable, graphic manner.
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Week 4-5
About 3 hours in a workshop with the leadership group
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We translate the field-based information into digestible chunks which make prioritization by the leadership group easy. In the end, the needs, problems and opportunities that are most suitable and harmonious to address are determined.
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Week 5-6
About 4 hours of workshop time with the leadership group
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We coach the leadership group to develop a plan for the organization's direction and objectives, with coherent indicators and inputs that are most likely to lead to impact.
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Week 6
2-4 hour meeting with the leadership group to deliver the documentation
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OpenEye delivers and presents the result of the work group workshops and gives recommendations.
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