VISUALIZE. STRATEGIZE. ACTUALIZE.
Inclusive Strategic Planning for Mission-Driven Organizations
My strategic planning process is designed to engage a diverse range of stakeholders across roles, lived experiences, and perspectives — ensuring the final strategy reflects the full scope of your authentic mission and diverse community.
The Future Is Here.
Are You Ready to Lead It?
Most nonprofits are not struggling because they lack vision. They are struggling in a volatile environment where grants are harder to win, fundraising is more competitive, costs are rising, and staff retention is more expensive than ever.
I help organizations make sense of that complexity through strategic planning, facilitation, and business development support. I bring a process that is inclusive, accessible, and built to fit the actual needs of your team, so the work feels useful rather than overwhelming.
The goal is not just to produce a plan. It is to help you build clarity, focus, and a path forward that your team can realistically carry out.
Let’s Get Strategic AND Innovative …
Most strategic plans fall apart in the same place: the people expected to carry them out were never fully part of shaping them.
That’s where I work differently.
I don’t come in with a preset framework and push your team through it. I facilitate the room. I pay attention to who is speaking and who isn’t. I listen for what’s being said — and what’s not. I reflect patterns back in real time so your team can hear itself more clearly.
I ask questions that move the conversation forward, and I stay with it long enough to get past the surface-level answers.
This is how we get to a strategy that holds up after the meetings end.
Brave Visioning is an integral part of my process. It creates space for people across your organization to think beyond immediate pressures and speak honestly about where they want to see the organization move. Inclusive contributions that shape the scope of the future.
Because when your team recognizes their voice in the plan, they take responsibility for what comes next.
Brave YES Visioning & Strategic Planning Process
Drive Impact by Bringing Your Whole Team Together with ONE Brave Vision (and the path to achieving it)
There is nothing more powerful than a shared vision that ignites goals that drive passion and productivity for you, your team and your community of supporters. Let’s find your Brave YES Vision for what’s next in your business or organization.
Once you have a shared vision, it’s easy to move into discernment for creating and outlining goals that will either expand your scope of service or minimize your output and reduce burnout across the board.
My Brave YES Visioning & Strategic Planning Process is a framework that establishes a plan that places an emphasis on humanity, impact and passion for greater purpose and productivity.
What you can expect during the process:
- A creative, dynamic experience that fosters curiosity, possibility and positivity
- A safe and brave space established immediately to ensure everyone feels seen and heard during the process
- A compassionate facilitator who puts humanity first
- A gentle push out of your comfort zones and invitations to dream bigger and serve more boldly
HERE’S THE RECOMMENDED PATH TO SUCCESS –>
Collaborate with stakeholders on a shared vision
Establishing a solid list of diverse voices and stakeholders who are impacted by the work you do — and the work you want to do — is essential to create the right goals for your team and your organization. We’ll brainstorm who needs to be in the room for these discussions and how to ensure a brave and safe environment for all to be seen and heard in the process.
Bring the Future into View
We’ll take some time to focus on what’s unfolded and worked — and what hasn’t — but we’ll also dive deeply into the future and what it holds for you, your team, your organization and your industry. We’ll use this exercise to establish a Brave YES Edge™ that will influence your strategic plan’s tone, energy and language for the coming year(s).
Dream, Discern and Delight
We’ll gather the dreams and many diverse ideas you and your team have and put them through an alchemical process of both creative discernment and strategic distillation that creates a shared, brave vision that is resonate for everyone on the team.
Clarify Jobs to Be Done
A strategic plan should create a clear path forward on what teams need to focus on and what jobs need to be done over the course of the plan’s timeline, whether it’s a year, three years or five to 10. We’ll use fun exercises to get to the heart of the jobs to be done.
Set Goals & Paint the Vision
Once your vision is clear and the jobs-to-be-done are established, we’ll move into final goal-setting based on outcomes you want to see, objectives to aim for and strategies to implement. We close with a creative process allowing each team to paint their vision done.
“Her out-of-the-box thinking made it fun. The future is even brighter thanks to Shawn’s support.”
As a new Executive of an affordable housing non-profit, I reached out to Shawn to help update our strategic plan. While our brand is well known to most, our affiliate had a lot to focus on to ensure collaboration, change, and success within our community. Shawn went above and beyond to ensure our board retreat and strategic planning efforts stayed on task. Her skill set and personality intrigued my board and staff, ensuring a successful 8-hour day. Truthfully, her out-of-the-box thinking made it fun. The future is even brighter thanks to Shawn’s support
Natasha Kukorlo
Executive Director, York Habitat for Humanity
Dynamic Facilitation. Creative Strategy. Courageous Mindsets.
I founded Shawn Fink Strategies LLC to push boundaries, expand comfort zones and encourage GOOD change in my community and in the world.
My journey into engaging facilitation and leadership retreats began simple: Wanting to help people feel more energized and inspired at work so we can change the broken systems needed for ALL beings to thrive.
I believe it’s not the job we’re doing but the culture we’re in that determines how we feel when we walk through those doors or sign in on Zoom.
That culture encourages autonomy, courage, creativity and compassion.
That’s what every single experience I offer with my facilitation services.
She was the best speaker we have had in a very long time.
I knew as soon as I saw Shawn speak at a community event that I wanted her to speak at our strategic planning session. Shawn delivered an amazing presentation on leadership and personal growth and provided our team with valuable information and tools that will help all of us. The comments I received from our management team confirmed that she was the best speaker that we have had in a very long time. Simply put, Shawn is awesome, and I highly recommend her Lead, Rise, Flourish Leadership Retreat. We can’t wait to have her back next year.
Sue DeStephano
President/CEO at First Capital Federal Credit Union
How to Get Started
Brave YES Visioning & Strategic Planning is a done-with-you cosulting program that we build and design together based on your needs.
Here’s how to get started.
- Book a Consult Call with me — We’ll discuss your needs, timeline and priorities.
- I’ll put together a proposal based on our initial discussion.
- Once proposal is approved, I’ll invoice you the first consulting fee.
- We get started calendaring and setting up all meetings.
- Final strategic plan will be complete by the date we agree upon so long as all steps are completed in a timely fashion.
A FEW HAPPY CLIENTS …
