Services

You know that an effective strategy needs to include manageable goals for your organization and its people. It needs to be reflective of the basic mission and purpose of your work, be comprehensible to insiders and the public alike, and set out performance objectives which are measurable and easy to communicate.

Planning activities:  We will work with you through all stages of strategic planning to make it a productive and timely process, including initial definition of the task; preparatory meetings with executive teams, leaders, key personnel, and your clients; facilitation of planning discussions, with an accent on advance work to keep use of your team’s time to that which is necessary; and reporting in formats tailored to your needs and levels of consumer. 

Performance measures:  Performance measurement is sometimes assumed to be a technical task. Experienced managers know it is more about reaching agreement on the factors that truly reflect good performance; with such an agreement requiring that trust, patience, compromise and transparency are present. We will assist you in identifying a performance framework which reflects the goals and mandate of your organization and its key relationships, and can be sustained and built-upon by your team, your partners and your clients alike. 

Our Work

Agreement to move forward doesn’t just happen by itself. Trust is necessary: where it doesn’t exist it has to be built, and where it does exist it needs to be maintained. Doing the right work in advance means fewer surprises and more momentum. 

Building coalitions:  We recognize that as you plot a course for high-priority changes or innovations, the people you need to talk to the most may be the ones you have the hardest time reaching. We’ll work with you to define the key partnerships you need, and find ways to reach out which will allow everyone to come to the table. 

Effective preparation:  Building bridges between companies, organizations, sectors, communities or individuals can mean tackling assumptions which have acted as barriers up until now. We know that effective dialogue is built in part on good mutual understanding: understanding which can be created through effective briefings and advance materials, prepared to suit the event or process you need to create. 

Agenda building:  You need to reach the right people in your discussions, and you want those who participate to own the outcome. Building the right agenda means your stakeholders participating (and feeling heard) all the way through the process. We’ll work with you in every step along the way to a successful dialogue. 

Our Work

If you are planning a specialized event for a senior group of participants, it may well be the highest profile element of your year. Whether you are designing a private, facilitated retreat, a public consultation, or a series of client meetings across the country, there are many moving parts… and on the day, everything has to be right.  Our team has experience in leading design of over a dozen major gatherings and many more smaller events in North America and Asia, in areas as diverse as international financial crime control, business corruption, academic conferences, intelligence analysis training, dialogue amongst justice professionals,  non-profit organization planning, and charity fundraisers.

Content and participant planning:  We will support you in designing the content of a high-quality, focused event which brings in the right participants, makes good use of their time, and delivers clear, useful products. Our work includes program development, preparation of preliminary materials, speaker/panel preparation, design of discussions and breakouts, and the production of final reports and other related products. 

Event management:  Through long experience in many settings and with many types of client, we know what must go right, what can’t go wrong, and what needs to happen (and when), to manage any kind of professional gathering.  We also know your reputation, and our reputation, rests on the experience of the event participants. Let us support you in the management of your event, built on a solid understanding of whom you need to reach and what you need to achieve.

Our Work

With our team’s extensive experience in consultation, research and reporting, we can ensure you gather accurate information, assimilate expert knowledge, and hear from the right people. We’ll also ensure you communicate what you’ve learned effectively and professionally, through a high quality report built to your specifications.

Consultation:  Our team has a combined 40 years of experience in stakeholder relations and negotiation, client relationships, policy development, workforce planning, and government lobbying. Our areas of significant professional experience including policing, justice policy, health care, social science, non-profit societies, the insurance industry, education, amateur sport, and international organizations.  Over time, our network of client service has included UN and Commonwealth representatives, public organizations and private businesses, government officials from more than 20 countries and all Canadian provinces and territories, Indigenous organizations, academic bodies, and a large number of community groups. This breadth of experience allows us to support your internal or external consultation requirements from an informed background and with professionalism, discretion, and cultural sensitivity. 

Research and writing:  Our team has 25 years of practical experience in production of professional writing, including:

• government policy documents for public release
• academic (including peer-reviewed) publications and conference papers;
• grey literature studies and commissioned reports;
• sensitive reporting within the criminal justice environment, including top secret and protected information;
• police reports for disclosure in criminal trials;
• public consultation submissions;
• conference reports and summaries;
• mass media opinion pieces and invited columns; and
• “ghost-writing” of publications by senior public officials. 

Our Work