CONSULTING
Our partner clients are working in areas of complexity and nuance, whether it be dealing with the impacts of climate change, designing buildings in historically disinvested communities, or educating the next generation. Creating a more equitable society and improving our collective well-being takes groups of people committed to making a difference.
ONE OF THE GREATEST CHALLENGES FOR MOVING OUR SOCIETY FORWARD IS HOW WE STRUCTURE AND COMMUNICATE ACROSS GROUPS OF PEOPLE.
We believe in the power of people to work together to solve the challenges of our time, because it has worked, but it can work better and more inclusively, for all of us. Through co-creation of our organizational culture, of how we share decision-making with others, and our offerings/products, companies and institutions can create better, longer-lasting change that endures in the dynamic and fast-moving world today.
We work with organizations to transform their cultures to be in alignment with their best state of being, invigorated with new hope and possibility. We offer consulting on specific projects or on an ongoing basis. Our clients typically include higher education institutions, architecture firms and organizations, designers, planners, non-profits, and government agencies.
Our offerings include:
✔ Collective Visioning, Strategy + Action Planning
✔ Equity Advising + Policy Development
✔ Equitable Meeting Design + Facilitation
✔ Community Engagement Advising and Strategy
COLLECTIVE VISIONING, STRATEGY + ACTION PLANNING
All of our offerings are rooted in the belief that people have agency and know what they need to thrive. Instead of a consultant creating a plan based on interviews and sharing the findings after, our approach is to vision and design a plan to live that vision that invites members of the organization to be active participants in gathering their own knowledge and use it to create their preferred futures. We have found that organizations tend to follow through if they are the ones directly involved in the creation process.
WE SPECIALIZE IN STRATEGIC PLANNING WITH AN EQUITY LENS.
We are also experts in co-creating DEI strategic plans. Here’s an overview of what this process may entail:
✔ Establishing a cross-sectional core group that is representative of the organization to lead the visioning and plan development.
✔ Develop an inclusive planning process to engage organizational members in co-creating the vision for the plan.
✔ Host “Community Visioning Gathering(s)” to collect data based on shared stories of where the organization thrives and ways to expand what’s working. At this point, we can also assess if more data is needed and develop plans to have 1-1 interviews, small group gatherings, and more.
✔ A co-created data analysis, using the stories collected from the visioning gathering and co-create draft of the mission/vision, and goals.
✔ Share the draft of the mission/vision, and goals with the community for feedback.
✔ Hold “Collective Action Gathering(s)” to co-create actions, measures of success, and accountability.
✔ Co-write a future-focused plan.
✔ Celebrate having a co-created organizational roadmap!
BONUS
After the plan is developed, receive coaching on presenting it to the larger community and engaging community members in living it.
EQUITY ADVISING + POLICY DEVELOPMENT
As a complement to our “Collective Visioning, Strategy, + Action Planning”, we offer advising on individual projects/action items with a focus on team dynamics/inclusive cultures. Eligible projects include, but are not limited to:
✔ Policy equity review and advising
✔ Workplace culture planning (mission/vision, shared values, norms)
✔ Hiring practices (setting up hiring structures, unconscious bias)
✔ Diversity sourcing programming (student and employee pathways design)
✔ Research-based community engagement
EQUITABLE MEETING DESIGN + FACILITATION
Partnering with a seasoned facilitator to design and facilitate equitable and inclusive meetings can lead to a gathering where people feel their voice matters, that they are truly part of the decisions that affect them, and leave with actionable items to continue their work outside the meeting. Our team consists of seasoned community organizers with experience incorporating the impacts of racism, sexism, and others systems advantage/oppression into meeting design and facilitation, while holding a productive environment to advance group goals and objectives.
OUR HOPE IS THAT YOUR NEXT MEETING, RETREAT, OR STRATEGY SESSION—WHETHER IN PERSON OR ONLINE—IS A TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCE THAT INSPIRES ACTION AND LASTING CHANGE.
Our guiding process:
✔ Together, we’ll establish the purpose of the gathering.
✔ As facilitators, we will take care of all the prep. We’ll create templates, tools, and exercises and work with you and your team to co-create a meeting agenda that represents all the people involved.
✔ We will facilitate the meeting so you can be a full participant.
✔ At the end, we’ll provide a summary of the meeting and action items.
We can also coach you on how to create an equitable meeting you can facilitate.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ADVISING + STRATEGY
The key to making a program or initiative stick is co-creation. It’s a value and a verb that our society is recognizing the need for.
From our experience, co-creation can succeed where traditional, “well-intentioned” processes that bring people after a plan is well underway have not led to greater equity or fairness. We work with organizations who want to have authentic relationships with their community to develop a co-creation engagement plan that empowers people most affected by a program or initiative into the design process. Specifically, we’ll help you map out who your key constituencies are, think strategically about how to best engage with them, and create the structure that brings the best out of the people involved and implementing a project.
Our process includes:
✔ Co-create a draft engagement plan with staff that would include community-based organizations and members into the design process.
✔ Invite constituent members to join in the implementation of the engagement process.
✔ Support in designing and facilitating meetings to ensure an equitable process.
✔ Evaluation of team equity goals for a specific project. Translation of what equity means for engagement.
✔ Landscape mapping of key constituencies.
✔ Based on constituencies, develop a listening session to unearth key ideas/themes for an engagement plan.
