Designing Our Future. Together.
Jonathan J. Halperin
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Strategy
Unless you are leading a start-up, strategy rarely comes first. It is built on a history of success and failure, on goals and ambitions, and an assessment of the effectiveness of prior strategies.
For nonprofit organizations and mission-driven companies, strategy is the guiding compass and the spine of the organization. Grounded in core values, strategy puts operations in service of mission and purpose to achieve an organization's vision.
Whether collaborating with a multinational business, a progressive charter school, or a national nonprofit organization we help organizations create dynamic and executable strategies rather than static strategic plans. Matched to the particular situation of each client, our strategic services often include:
- Landscape and market assessment
- Competitive analysis
- Obstacles analysis
- Stakeholder engagement
- Attitudinal assessment of key audiences
- Over-the-horizon scenario development
- Internal execution plan, responsibilities, timelines and tools
- Alignment mapping with external communications and other core functions
- Mapping to existing KPIs or a KPI refresh
- Facilitated roll-out, internal socialization and leadership coaching
For seasoned organizations seeking to refine or amplify core purpose as part of a strategic review, we measure performance using our 10-point Markers of Corporate Purpose™. Looking across an organization at these ten key indicators, we garner insights and perspectives often invisible to internal leaders and fold them into new or refreshed strategy.
Our Markers of Corporate Purpose:
- People: staffing structure, benefits, wages, inclusion, training
- Resources: finance and human capital
- Culture: diversity, access, transparency
- Authenticity & Trust: Stakeholder engagement, regulatory and legal
- Trade-offs: patterns of decision-making
- Governance: structure, board, collaborations
- Advocacy: policy positions, campaign contributions
- Communications: lobbying, advertising, marketing, reports
- Alignment: products, purpose, operations, leadership
- Sustainability: targets, integration, reporting
When I began to unhook from SustainAbility in 2008, after 20+ years, to co-found Volans, Jonathan was working with the US end of SustainAbility — and sent the London end of the Volans team a large cardboard box of multi-colored felt rocks, which initially I couldn't make head nor tail of. I thought he was mad, or overly American.
But I have to say that, over time, those felt rocks have become a central feature of the Volans culture, thrown by team members at other team members (or guests) on the slightest provocation. That aside, he's a consummate professional, creative collaborator, skilled communicator, and keen intellect—and I am delighted both to have had Jonathan as a colleague and to now count him as a friend.
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