Strategic Plan January 2022: June 30, 2023
Approximately a year and a half has passed since we embarked on our current 5-year strategic plan, covering the period from 2022 to 2027. In this blog post, we aim to provide you with an update on the progress we have made towards achieving the goals outlined in our strategic plan.
Admittedly, there are times when progress can feel a bit slow, and we find ourselves eager to move forward at a faster pace. The recent changes within our small team have also contributed to putting the brakes on several initiatives until things settle down.
However, taking a step back and reflecting on what we have accomplished over the past 1.5 years offers a valuable perspective. We can take pride in how we are shaping our organisation, despite its small size, to have a significant impact.
In the following sections, you will learn about our achievements during the past 1.5 years. We will provide detailed updates on each of the focus areas and actions that make up our strategic plan. Join us as we delve into the progress we have made so far.
Enablers
Under the enablers category, we have successfully developed and launched BeaconHQ, our intranet platform, which is gradually taking shape with the addition of relevant content related to our policies and ways of working.
We have also implemented a minimum standard for project closure, allowing us to collect structured feedback through exit surveys, ensuring a better understanding of the client experience. Furthermore, we have established an employee listening strategy, including monthly pulse checks, an annual engagement survey, and guidelines for team members to provide feedback to their managers.
Focus Area 1 — Building Our Capability
To enhance our team's performance and deliver exceptional outcomes for our client partners, we have introduced version 1 of our organisational capability framework. This framework serves as a guide for attracting, recruiting, developing, and retaining a highly-capable team. In addition, we have launched a learning and development policy, investing $2,000 per staff member to support their training and development opportunities, aligning with the capability framework and their professional development plans. We have also developed standardised approaches for project planning, scheduling, and execution, culminating in the comprehensive Beacon Playbook, an end-to-end guide for project work at Beacon Strategies. To support our operations, we have reviewed and revamped our suite of operating system documents, including writing style guides, brand style guides, and user guides for various platforms.
Focus Area 2 — Shaping Our Culture
Under this focus area, we are actively aligning our actions with our vision, mission, and values, ensuring that everything we do resonates with our "north star." We have begun discussing the connection between each new project and our vision of creating a more impactful social purpose sector as a standing agenda item at our #all-hands meeting. As part of our commitment to cultural capability, we have engaged a First Nations consultant to guide us on this journey.
Additionally, we have reviewed and revitalised our marketing and communication strategy, effectively conveying our vision, mission, and values to our key stakeholders. We are currently in the process of reviewing our organisational code, refining key principles that reflect our dedication to clients, teamwork, and work-life balance.
Focus Area 3 — Making Our Contribution
To support our commitment to making a difference, we have initiated the "Impact Breakfast" series, bringing together like-minded individuals to share knowledge and network. Following these events, we have soft-launched a LinkedIn closed group, providing a space for continued networking and conversation among Impact Breakfast attendees.
Through our marketing and communication channels, we have shared the work we do, inspiring others to make a positive impact. Furthermore, we have conducted a series of free in-person workshops in Cairns, focusing on strategic planning, co-design, and evaluation, empowering our network to drive sector change. While we have not pursued diversification or entered new markets due to organisational constraints, our dedication to delivering impact remains unwavering.
These efforts across the enablers, focus areas, and actions reflect our ongoing commitment to becoming "a boutique health and social services consulting organisation that are experts and market leaders in the work that we do. We'll genuinely partner with our clients to contribute to our vision of "a more impactful social purpose sector" while providing a positive work environment that our team loves."
For more detail on what we've achieved over the last 1.5 years, keep reading!
Enablers
We have developed and launched BeaconHQ - the Beacon Strategies intranet. It is slowly taking shape with more content being added relating to our policies and ways of working.
For now, we've established a minimum standard for closing out projects so that we are collecting structured information about the client experience through a standard exit survey.
Established an employee listening strategy, comprised of monthly pulse checks, annual engagement survey and guidance for team members to give feedback to their managers
Focus area 1 — building our capability
Action 1.1 — invest in our team so they are high-performing, autonomous and deliver exceptional outcomes for our client partners.
We've launched version 1 of our organisational capability framework guiding how we attract, recruit, develop and retain a highly capable team.
Developed and launched our learning and development policy, investing $2,000 in each staff member to purchase training and development opportunities linked to our capability framework and their PD plan
Action 1.2 — invest in our processes so they are robust and repeatable.
Developed a standard approach to developing project plans
Developed a standard approach and supporting guidance in developing project schedules
Developed the Beacon Playbook - and end-to-end guide on how to deliver project work at Beacon Strategies.
Action 1.3 — invest in our operating system so that our work is supported by sector-leading approaches and thinking.
We've reviewed and revamped our suite of operating system docs (writing style guide, brand style guide, the default approach to meetings, Slack user guide, Monday.com user guide, Google Drive user guide, and Gmail user guide.
Focus area 2 — shaping our culture
Action 2.1 — live our vision, mission and values so everything we do aligns with our “north star”.
At the commencement of all new projects, we talk about how each project links with our vision of a 'more impactful social purpose sector'.
We engaged a First Nations consultant to start our journey of raising the cultural capability of the team.
We've reviewed and revamped our externally facing marketing and communication strategy to communicate to our key stakeholders our vision, mission and values.
Action 2.2 — embrace and deeply embed our organisational code so our daily actions map to our vision and values.
We've commenced a review of our organisational code and have refined the first three principles (clients are the reason we exist, teams over individuals, work hard & go home) in late 2022
Action 2.3 — create opportunities to enjoy each other’s company so that our team is connected, energised and happy.
We invested in bringing our whole team (Cairns and Brisbane) together for the first-ever Beacon Strategies team retreat, where we took some time to reflect on how we work and what we can improve.
Our Brisbane office has been slowly making its way through a number of escape rooms
Team members have taken the opportunity to drop into the Cairns or Brisbane office (or vice versa) when travelling away from home
Focus area 3 — making our contribution
Action 3.1 — build a community of clever, like-minded and vision-aligned people to support each other to make a difference.
We've successfully commenced the "Impact Breakfast" series, where we bring together our networks so they can learn from each other.
We've soft-launched a LinkedIn closed group to invite all Impact Breakfast attendees to a space to network and keep the conversation going following the event.
Action 3.2 — meaningfully share our work with our predominant target markets so that we leverage our work to drive sector change.
We've used our marketing and communication channels to post about the work we do so that others are inspired to make an impact.
We've delivered a series of free in-person workshops for our network in Cairns, focussing on strategic planning, co-design and evaluation.
Action 3.3 — engage meaningfully in growth markets and service offerings to deliver impact in new settings.
No activity on diversification or moving into new markets due to organisational bandwidth constraints and a strategic decision to cease moving forward in this regard.
