We know that you make a plan and then life gets in the way. That’s why our strategy work is anchored in your organisation’s financial and operational reality.
We develop strategies that are ambitious and realistic, allowing you to adapt as the environment changes. To do this, we dig deep to understand your assets, the landscape in which you operate, your financial and business model.
We use a tried and tested methodology that gives you space to stand back and reflect on what matters most. Working with five powerful questions help you get to the heart of your strategy quickly. We call this approach the strategy ship and you can read about it here.
We engage the right people in the right conversations. For example, our diagnostic tool - The Lucent Compass - is an efficient and effective way of engaging the board, staff and volunteer team. This anonymous, independent survey helps us to understand what is working as well as what needs most attention. We can then engage more deeply on the issues that matter to the future of your organisation, through facilitated workshops, interviews, landscape and practice reviews.
The result of working on strategy with Lucent is a sense of clarity, unity across staff, trustees and volunteers, and a common understanding of where to focus your precious time and energy to achieve greatest impact.
In short, we have seen this process move organisations from a sense of being permanently overwhelmed, to increased confidence and focus.
Case Study
As Home-Start approached its 50th anniversary, Lucent was asked to help develop its strategy and support clear decisions about future direction.
In the words of Lin Hinnigan, Chair of Home-Start UK:
“It was a critical moment for us to come together as a whole federation, reflecting on the experiences of families through the pandemic, and what Home-Start’s distinctive offer for families was going to be in future.”
Home-Start UK was looking to build on the collective assets and strengths of more than 180 independent Home-Start charities up and down the country. The experience of the pandemic, and the need to respond quickly to support families, had bought this network of Home-Starts together leaving everyone with a strong sense of what could be achieved if everyone worked to the same goals.
When we started our work, we took a step back and asked – What are the ingredients of Home-Start’s “secret sauce”? In other words, what expertise, infrastructure, resources, relationships and values do Home Start have? And, given that there are many local and national charities who support families and children, what is it that sets Home-Start apart?
Engagement was critical in the process and we knew that the process would be enriched if the whole federation was given the opportunity to shape the future direction. We heard more than 300 voices through workshops, surveys as well as an Advisory Group that steered the whole process. We gathered new evidence to ensure that Home-Start came to an informed view, rather than one driven by received wisdom.
By understanding the landscape of organisations who were also providing services to families, Home-Start was able to hone in on what sets it apart – for example its strong local presence, 10,000 strong volunteer base and the fact that they are invited into people’s homes to provide practical, non-judgemental support to those who are in need but not in crisis.
Taking a fresh look at Home-Start’s operational model, we drew on the rich expertise of other federated charities, understanding the balance between functions held in the charity HQ and local autonomy and responsiveness. By mining charity data we discovered that Home-Start’s central functions were smaller than others and as a consequence Home-Start were missing out on some economies of scale.
Home-Start UK’s CEO Peter Grigg commented:
“The strategy process was a really important opportunity to hold a mirror up to ourselves and our current practice. Lucent expertly guided us through the process, facilitating input from across the network , through interviews from our partners and through surveys with families and volunteers. Their insights helped us move beyond anecdote to developing a clear strategy for the next stage of our journey.”