Bringing our experience as managers and practitioners to each client partnership, we design strategic planning processes that yield innovative and feasible results, forge broad-based commitment from internal and external constituents, and inspire action.
Strategic Visioning and Planning
Having emerged from a five-year turn-around situation with stable finances, a well-performing board, and an excellent CEO, a nationally affiliated nonprofit sought a strategic plan that would “take it to the next level” of scaling up direct services and begin to address systemic issues underlying the need for services.
Development of a comprehensive strategic plan that called for a capital campaign to allow for facility and service expansion, a branding effort that recognized the organization as the leading service provider in the community, and a public awareness and education campaign and approach to changing the conversation about the clients it serves.
Over the course of several months, Cambridge Hill Partners conducted stakeholder interviews and synthesized the information so that the planning committee could focus on the most relevant strategic questions. We gathered best practices information and created a process for members of the committee to interact with experts and practitioners in the field. Cambridge Hill facilitated a strategic planning retreat for staff and board members and assisted in the development of the final plan.
Strategic Change
Approaching its 125-year anniversary, the Board of Trustees of a small liberal arts college made the decision to undertake a significant strategic planning and change project. With increased competition for enrollment, unsustainable tuition discounting practices, and the need to maintain investments in key academic programs and infrastructure, the college’s leadership and Board realized this project would be pivotal to the future of the institution.
Development of a comprehensive strategic plan that called for a fundamental transformation of the curriculum, increased investments in student support with an eye on retention, and identification of strategies focused on realigning the college’s cost structure.
Over the course of several months, Cambridge Hill Partners conducted town halls, focus groups, and interviews with members of all constituent groups, gathered and synthesized internal operational data, and documented external trend and best practices information. The results of this phase were compiled into an interim briefing document that was used to drive a two-day strategy session, led by Cambridge Hill, followed by a short series of strategic planning committee follow-up meetings. We worked with the strategic planning committee to develop a roadmap for implementation that included goals, sequenced actions, and metrics.