"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. If you have built your castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them." - Henry David Thoreau

What: Perhaps you need to respond to a crisis or an opportunity. Or perhaps you want to look toward the future deliberately, to set out a vision of what could be, and develop a set of steps to get you there.

Facilitation is the art of making it easier.

Making what easier? The planning and decision making required for a group or organization to move forward.

That is strategic planning.

Who: Any group of people charged with a common task, needing to make a decision, or desiring a plan of action. We have worked with:

Management teams, project work groups, and departments within businesses, schools government or service organizations

Advisory councils, task forces, steering committees, boards, partnerships and coalitions

Why: In school, most of us sat at single desks in rows, and interacted with the expert (teacher) or people of similar age, interest, and background. Now we are being asked to 'work at round tables,' with people of different ages, often conflicting interests, and diverse backgrounds.

Since few of us developed an extensive array of skills for meeting this challenge successfully, most groups get derailed on occasion, and could benefit from an impartial and skilled 'outsider' coming in to provide the guidance for getting back on track.

How: Through a combination of discussions, meetings, interviews, and background reading, we learn about your situation and needs. We help you identify your desired outcomes, and design a sequence of steps to get your group there.

We might:

Create meaningful and relevant activities that strengthen the interpersonal relationships required for the journey of visioning and/or planning

Pose thought-provoking questions to your group, and elicit members' views in a constructive way

Guide discussion to explore issues, increasing knowledge and understanding

Help your group explore its options, identifying possible courses of action and their consequences

Create a safe place to entertain the outlandishly creative ideas that might later be seen as brilliant insights or prophetic predictions

Channel disagreement into purposeful conflict that creates alignment and commitment

Help ensure that unspoken concerns are aired and addressed, to minimize future resistance or sabotage

Forge consensus around a decision or plan of action that will guide your organization's growth

When: The scope of the decisions to be made and the amount of work to be accomplished ultimately determine how much time is required. We have facilitated everything from quick 2-hour initial meetings to more involved 2-day strategic planning meetings.

What's Next: If you give us a call:

You can learn more about us and our services.

We can learn more about your situation and goals.

And we can together determine if it would be beneficial to work together.