The NACWA member need:
Toho Water Authority sought to update and condense their previously extensive strategic plan into a higher-level plan with focused priority areas on top critical items to carry out over a 12-18 month period.
How Core Leadership consulting services were used to help:
Core Leadership consultants facilitated a process to condense Toho’s high-level strategic focus areas and revisit the highest priorities. Facilitation services were used to refine 12 to 18-month goals, strategies, and actions that weren’t too nebulous nor overly detailed, and to ensure the outcome was easy to track and manage while also having the ability to cascade down and involve others in departmental planning.
Project overview:
The project was broken down into the five phases highlighted below:
- Phase 1: Researched and gathered stakeholder insights through a series of interviews and small group discussions.
- Phase 2: Held a priority-setting workshop with Toho’s leadership team to identify goals and strategies and to gain consensus on an approach for creating departmental action plans.
- Phase 3: Developed and circulated a survey to employees to validate and confirm priorities established by the leadership team in phase two.
- Phase 4: Prepared and polished a final 2022-2023 high-level strategic plan. This involved professional design work with Core’s third-party marketing and communications partner, who captured the entire plan on one page.
- Phase 5: Provided support to department directors via a Resource Kit and training that prepared them to lead the development of departmental actions plans that cascade down from the high-level strategic plan.
Client testimonial:
We appreciate the deep water sector knowledge and experience that the Core Leadership team brings to the table. The greatest value was their resourcefulness and knowledge to create a process, structure, and overall plan to support this project. Both Maggie and Jenny are professional, they listened to our team’s objective and were able to customize an approach that worked for us. Throughout the project, they demonstrated effective communication and pivoted as needed to unexpected changes or tweaks along the way. They also managed the timeline of the project successfully, adapting to the pace when needed and helping us meet the desired deadline. A bonus to working with Maggie and her team is that they felt like a part of our team and made this important project fun!