What have you always wanted to know about Lucent?
Choosing a consultant to support your team can feel challenging… will the consultant be the right fit? Is now the best time for additional support? Do we know exactly what support we need?
Over the years, we’ve worked with dozens of wonderful teams across the social sector and helped them achieve greater social impact. Based on this experience, we’ve brought together some of the most commonly asked questions about our work.
How long does a strategy process take and what is typically involved?
A strategy takes between 6 and 9 months to deliver. For larger or more complex organisations, you may need to allow a year.
Will I need to pause new projects while we refresh our strategy?
The short answer is no.
Many of our clients have managed new projects alongside developing their strategies. But to do so, it helps to specify which elements of the work will be affected by the strategy. When you have spotted the links, you can then define the no regrets decisions that you can make now as they will hold good regardless of the final strategy and where you need to delay decisions as the strategy progresses. Our experience is that with this information in hand, people have found a good and pragmatic way to move projects forward at the same time as developing their strategy.
How long should my strategy last?
Even with the current pace of change, a 5-year timeline (or 10-year with a review midway) will work for most social change organisations.
And to be relevant over that period, your strategy needs to be focussed on the long-term direction of travel for your organisation, and what it will take to get there.
This will put you in the best possible place to respond to big long-term issues that really affect your operating environment – ageing populations, climate change, globalisation, shifting boundaries around state provision, rising inequality.
How will the strategy feed into the business plan?
We use a tried and tested five-step process to help navigate strategy reviews – the final step of this is to test and implement your new strategic direction so that you can develop a new business plan.
To help you develop a business plan, we provide the tools that help you translate your strategy into concrete activities and support you to develop new ways of working and a new organisational culture at the same time.
What sectors have you worked with before?
We work with charities and philanthropic foundations who work on a huge range of issues – from human rights to poverty and inequality to children and young people, to climate change and the environment.
How do you make sure the strategy process work is accessible and inclusive?
We co-design our projects with our clients, and design with equity and inclusion in mind.
Creating ownership and a space of psychological safety is critical through the strategy process. We take proactive steps to promote inclusion – we check-in early on with our clients on accessibility and additional needs and adapt our ways of working accordingly. We draw on tried and tested approaches that work with complex teams and boards to ensure all voices are heard.
What is distinct in Lucent’s approach and how does the team work on a strategy review?
Lucent is made up of a highly experienced team – every one of us brings a strong track record of senior executive and board leadership. We know from experience that change is a very human process and combine exceptional analysis and a strong methodology with empathy and pragmatism.
Every project benefits not only from a lead consultant and supporting consultant, but the knowledge and connections of the wider team.
We recognise that every organisation is different and we adapt our work to add most value to each client we work with. With the support of our Relationship Executive, Katy, we pay close attention to good project management and solicit feedback throughout the project so that we can lean into what works best for your team.
What is the best way to get started on my strategy review?
If you’re not sure where to start, just get in touch with our team. We have experience of what has helped deliver strategy reviews in many different settings and we’d love to share that with you.