PARTICIPATORY STRATEGIC PLANNING
TOP-DOWN PLANNING
A plan delivered to the team
Someone outside the team writes the plan. Leaders are asked to carry it out, even though they had little say in it.
PARTICIPATORY STRATEGIC PLANNING
The whole room builds the plan.
Plans stall when leaders disagree—or when someone outside the team writes a plan nobody owns. We help faith-based nonprofits and congregations work through those differences and build the plan together. You leave with shared priorities and clear next steps.
WHAT IT IS
Planning people can own.
Participatory strategic planning means your team helps build the plan. We use Liberating Structures—simple group exercises that make sure every voice is heard—to help leaders understand the challenge, choose priorities, and decide what to do.
We do not hand you a binder and leave. Your team makes the decisions together, so people understand the plan and their part in carrying it out.
PARTICIPATORY PLANNING
A plan built by the team
We guide the conversations. Your leaders weigh the choices together and leave knowing what they agreed to and who will do what.
WAYS TO ENGAGE
Start where the team is.
We agree on the work during a discovery call, based on the decision you face, who needs to be involved, and how far ahead you need to plan.
ENTRY
Alignment session
A focused session where leaders talk through the challenge, hear each other out, and agree on what to tackle first.
ENGAGEMENT
Multi-month planning engagement
Over several months, we guide your team as you choose a direction, set priorities, and agree on next steps. You leave with a plan you built together.
CONTINUITY
Annual refresh
We return each year to review what happened, update the plan, and make the next 90 days clear.
WHAT YOU LEAVE WITH
A plan made for use.
You leave with a short plan and clear next steps, so your team knows what matters and what to do next.
DELIVERABLE 01
Shared plan-on-a-page
One page showing where you are headed, what matters most, and what the team has agreed to do.
DELIVERABLE 02
90-day action map
A plan for the next 90 days: what needs doing, who will do it, and when you will check progress.
WHO IT FITS
For teams ready to think together.
For faith-based nonprofits, congregations, boards, and executive teams facing a big decision, a new season, competing priorities, or a plan people have not bought into.
CREDENTIALS
Grounded facilitation experience
Five years of Liberating Structures training, with applied use in program development for a statewide nonprofit.
EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVE
Strategy from inside the work
Experience serving as an executive staff member responsible for Strategy and Innovation.
PARTICIPANT WORDS
How participants described the experience.
- inspired
- well organized
- powerful
- revived my optimism for ministry
- alignment
- deeper understanding
- highly engaging
inspired