Strategy is usually developed by a Board and / or a Senior Team or Policy writer. Its then cascaded through an organisation to ensure people know about it. If you are lucky, you may be asked for your view. There is nothing wrong with this approach, its suited companies for years.
However, at North Star we always aim to live our values of being: Creative, Courageous, and Connected. People are at the heart of what we do. This means we do things differently. Since 2013 we have developed our organisational vision in several ways. Although, one thing has remained the same – the principle that everyone has a voice, we work things out together, and nothings agreed until everyone agrees.
Our culture is based on a distributed or shared / leadership model, requiring people to be leaderful, to be more accountable and to have more influence. We all engage in development and apply our skills flexibly in a way that maximises the impact on us and the business. In North Star everyone is encouraged to be involved within the business, to provide challenge and feedback and are all influential. We are confident in trying new things and we all contribute towards improvements. We manage uncertainty and change through regular, open dialogue, focused external scanning and good planning which enables us to manage risk effectively, think quickly, be creative and remain agile and leading edge.
This is our story of developing our vision 2023 – 2026
STARTER FOR 10
In early 2022 Board approved a further iteration of the visioning process which will take North Star through to 2026.
Board agreed that the ingredients of the next strategy would include People and Culture, Customers and Communities, Growth, and Technology.
Board also set out its expectations that as many staff and tenants as possible should be involved in the development of the vision
OPEN SPACE EVENT – MAY 2022
We kick started the development of the vision to 2023 with an “Open Space” event.
https://openspaceworld.org/wp2/hho/papers/brief-users-guide-open-space-technology/
All Involved Tenants, Staff, and Board were invited. There was no agenda for the day. The question to be worked with was “What is the best that North Star can be in 2026…. What is the VERY best that we can be?
The day itself was run by staff, board, or tenants. There was a “heart in mouth” moment when the facilitator said “Ok, those with ideas come forward and get your papers and pens”…. There was a pause…. then staff, board, and tenants, shot out of their seats and ran to the papers. The rest of the day passed in a blur, with workshops attended and hosted staff, board, and tenants. At the end of the day, we had a wall covered in ideas and recommendations. Everything was collated and shared with everyone.
There were 170 recommendations made that were then sifted, by a cross functional group of staff into those recommendations that we could just crack on with, those that were in hand, and those that needed consideration for the vision.
THE WRITING GROUP
How to write up the strategic vision was a big question and one which was given real consideration – in the end we decided that the three Directors’ responsible for each critical area should be responsible for ensuring the work from the Open Space process would be translated into a coherent, enticing, and accessible document.
The principle the Writing Group applied was that they were working on behalf of everyone concerned with and connected to North Star, it was not to be owned by them, it had to be representative of the work of the whole organisation, tenants and Board.
Working collaboratively and in the spirit of North Star the Directors co-created a three-year strategy based on rigorous, extensive, and up to date external research. The plan would give a clear sense of direction for North Star.
The group conducted research to identify what were the key issues that North Star needed to pay attention to. This included visiting other companies, talking to customers, analysing insight and internal/external data, reading research, attending conferences where new ideas were being discussed, looking at the best practise and key issues arising nationally, and internationally.
KEEPING CONNECTED
The writers’ group were working on behalf of customers, staff, and board, so it was imperative that they kept connected with everyone. This was done in several ways, keeping a constant connection which ensured an iterative, to and fro process. However, everything was shared with everyone during the research phase
A Sounding Board of five Board Members helped to give the iterative work a good ‘rattle and shake’ as it emerged.
Connections with staff were maintained through meeting with conveners, the TEAMs channel, team meetings and their involvement in conducting research
Regular check ins were carried out with, and updates provided to the Involved Tenants
The entire process was messy, and iterative. It went something like this….
- Research was conducted
- This was shared with as many people as possible
- Feedback was gathered from staff, tenants, board,
- Research / Outcomes were rated as confirmed, or needs more evidence
The research continued to be distilled until it could be summarised into key points.
THE VISION
The key points were then used to develop a compelling vision of North Star to 2026.
During this stage of the approach, we kept connected as outlined above.
Everyone was involved in feeding back on how the vision performed in relation to:
- Ambition
- Realism
- Evidence based
- Excitement\enticing nature of strategy
- Recognition of NS values reflected – courage, connection, and creativity
AND THEN ……
On the 10th of February 2023, 110 people gathered to consider the draft vision. Board, Staff and Tenants heard from the CEO, the writers’ group and spent time examining the vision in detail.
Then came the moment we had all been looking forward to, and dreading in equal measure…a confidential, voting system. The question was “What’s your level of commitment to making the vision to 2026 happen?? And the results were ….99% of the audience committed to the vision, what a mandate!!!
Board approved the vision in March 2023. The first-year objectives that were developed with staff were also approved…….
“Polaris, also called the “North Star” is a constant in the sky. It’s more than just a single star, it’s a natural beacon that’s been used to navigate for centuries. It provides direction to those who are lost and without any other form of conventional navigation.
Metaphorically speaking, your North Star is your personal mission statement. It’s a fixed destination that you can depend on in your life as the world changes around you.
Stars shine, and we look to them for guidance and inspiration. Our organisation is full of North Stars’. Bright people who sparkle , achieving great things, and rising stars who shatter expectations, raise the bar and are great to be around”
Thank you to everyone who took part in all or some of the process that has helped us to get off to such a great start in 2023. Now it’s up to us to make sure we make good things happen for the great people we serve. Together we can…
