STRATEGY SERVICES

Better planning produces better outcomes.

Non-profit and for-profit strategy services to realize your vision.

Growth? Impact? Financial Health? Exit Strategy?

Define your goals, diagnose the challenges that are in your way, and develop new initiatives that make a real difference. Our process builds united leadership teams, effective plans, and clear measures of success.

Better execution? We’re here for that, too.

Why Choose Dirigo for Strategy Services?

Expert Guidance: All of our partners have years of C-level experience leading high-performance organizations. We’ve been through all of the stages of entrepreneurial growth and know what it’s like to own an organization’s failures and successes.

Methodology: We follow a carefully crafted process that is designed to engage all of your leadership team, your employees, and your broader community of clients and stakeholders. The process itself is a valuable experience that identifies root issues, ignites change, unites teams and fosters buy-in.

Customizable Experience: Our bespoke approach is crafted to match your needs, from incorporating strategic theory or market research, to teambuilding experiences, and ongoing guidance throughout the execution of your plans.

“Finding a facilitator to assist in holding and executing a strategic plan is challenging, and we were fortunate to cross paths with Dirigo in 2023. They worked with us each step of the way, challenged us to consider different perspectives and made the process easy as well as enjoyable. We appreciated Dave’s insights into our culture, especially when collecting data to back up our goals, and for the work he did in between sessions. I recommend Dirigo as a facilitator to any organization looking for fresh perspectives on leadership and a desire to challenge your organization.”

OUR APPROACH

We believe that strategy is a unified and compelling new approach that helps your organization achieve improved results.

Towards that end, we have developed a proprietary methodology incorporating elements of our strategic approach with key models from strategy experts such as Michael Porter and Richard Rumelt.

This fundamental structure enables us to guide your discovery process in a thoughtful, logical manner, while giving us the freedom to examine specific areas in varying levels of depth, depending upon your needs. In addition, we provide a framework for discussions with your leadership team, your employees, and your community of stakeholders. And we provide insights into best practices as the team develops both strategic initiatives and effective ways to measure their success.

This iterative process ensures a thorough exploration of your goals and the paths available to reach them. Moreover, it unites your team as they work together to understand root issues and to discern the most effective route to success.

DISCOVERY

Vision & Ideology

Strategy begins with a vision for the future. Organizations that have a clear ideology express their vision effectively, with messaging that seamlessly cascades into meaningful goals and strategic initiatives. In this stage of plan development, we work with you and your leadership teams to develop and express four key aspects of organizational ideology: Vision, Purpose, Mission, and Values.

DEVELOPMENT

Guiding Policy

Developing a guiding policy enables an organization to set a strategic direction without needing to spell out every action teams must take. It builds cohesion, momentum, and it empowers people to make agile changes that stay aligned with the strategic plan.

Initial Goals

We find that setting effective goals is an iterative process, which is why we break it into steps. The Initial Goals are a first draft of potential Strategic Goals, typically broad and unrefined; but vital themes to explore in the discovery process. They may change as we better understand the challenges that exist and the root causes that must be overcome.

Strategic Goals

Strategic Goals represent tangible milestones designed to help the organization move closer to fulfilling its Vision. The culmination of the iterative process that began in the Discovery Phase with the Initial Goals, they include measurable outcomes and clear timeframes for their completion.

Community Stakeholders

Using Initial Goals to identify key topics, we develop a full picture of your company by considering your stakeholders’ perspectives. Getting stakeholders’ feedback helps us to better understand how well your direction is aligned with your clients, employees, board, and broader community members, all of whom have the ability to effect your outcomes.

Strategic Initiatives

Goals represent what we want to achieve. Strategic Initiatives are the methods we will use to achieve them. For initiatives to be strategic, they need to embrace change, because doing things the same way won’t produce new outcomes. In developing strategic initiatives, we will work with you and your team to craft initiatives that align with your ideology, mitigate the challenges you face, adhere to your guiding policy, and focus efforts where they will gain the most leverage.

Challenges & Diagnosis

A crucial part of the Discovery process is gaining a thorough understanding of the challenges your organization faces. We seek input from you and your stakeholders on general market and organizational challenges, as well as specific challenges that may hinder you from reaching your goals. Then we work with you to diagnose root causes of the issues so we can craft better strategies to overcome them.

Success Measurements

Setting Leading and Lagging indicators of performance allows your team to celebrate success and adjust quickly when falling behind. Good measures are crucial to our ability to understand what is working and what needs to be tweaked before we’re off course.