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Impact and Strategic Clarity

Define an intended impact and create a plan to achieve it

Introduction

How can we create a clear plan to achieve our desired impact?

This coaching stream helps community organizations clarify what they aim to achieve, how they will achieve it, and how they will measure their success.

Participating organizations conduct an in-depth analysis of their own program data and examine external evidence to clarify where to focus their efforts and how to test their progress.

This coaching allows organizations to:

  • Commit to achieving a defined impact
  • Identify the steps required to achieve that impact
  • Understand how to explain the organization’s direction to key stakeholders

Impact and Strategic Clarity coaching takes organizations’ management teams through a rigorous thinking and planning process. Participating organizations should be ready to reflect on their activities and desired impact and to put into action the changes that come out of the reflection process.

Impact and Strategic Clarity coaching support

A coach helps leadership teams to develop cornerstone deliverables, including:

An intended impact statement: A clear and rigorous statement of the impact that it will hold itself accountable for achieving

A theory of change: A logical flow describing how their work leads to achieving that intended impact.

A set of strategic priorities and/or action plan outlining the work required to implement the theory of change.

Organizations may develop additional products, such as a learning plan, budget forecasts, evaluation frameworks, or program-level theories of change that are designed to advance their work on their intended impact in a manner consistent with their organizational theory of change.

As part of your follow-up evaluation on the coaching stream, Innoweave will ask you to share some of the relevant deliverables you worked on with your coach.

The Innoweave self-assessment tool is designed to help you determine your organization's readiness and whether your initiative or program model is well suited for Impact and Strategic Clarity.

Self-
assessment

This assessment has 5 questions.

Please respond to each of the questions to the best of your ability by choosing the option that most accurately reflects your organizational context.

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What kinds of decisions about the future of your organization would you like to gain clarity on through the Impact and Strategic Clarity process?
What is your management team's capacity for participating in a rigorous planning process?
What is your main motivation for developing or refining a theory of change?
How much flexibility does your organization have to change activities or programs based on the findings of this process?
Has your organization recently experienced or do you anticipate experiencing periods of major change or instability that might impact your ability to focus on the work of this coaching stream?

Info Sessions

For groups interested in Innoweave’s Impact and Strategic Clarity stream, we encourage you to review our Information Session:

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Additional Resources

Coaches

Innoweave offers support to organizations that are well positioned for Impact and Strategic Clarity coaching. You can connect with a Certified Innoweave Impact Coach to help you explore and undertake this process. Then apply to Innoweave for funds to support that coaching engagement.

Sally Fazal
Lara Evoy
Robin Cory
Margot Smart
Black and white headshot of Innowave coach, Tania Cheng
Stephanie Garrow
Judith Gaudet
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Apply for support

Your organization is eligible to apply for Innoweave coaching support if you have submitted an Expression of Interest and it has been approved.

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FAQ

These are our most frequently asked questions.

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What are the selection criteria to participate?

The primary selection criteria are:

  1. Readiness to engage in the process, which includes having the internal human resources to participate in a five-month analytical process, time to dedicate to the process, and available internal data on activities.
  2. Ability to benefit from the process, including having clear questions that need to be answered at this time, and a desire to use internal and external evidence to refine their process.

We may also consider geographic and domain (issue area) distribution when selecting organizations to participate.

How long does the process take?

Participation typically begins and ends within a calendar year, with varying levels of time commitment and intensity during that period. Team members from participating organizations should anticipate 1-2 hours of work each for a period of five to six months.

Who from the organization should participate in this process?

Your team needs to include staff at the management level. The Executive Director/CEO should also be on the team, although they don’t necessarily have to be the “lead.” One or more board members should also participate. The team can also include other stakeholders from within your organization who you feel are essential to the development and execution of a clear strategic process.

Where should an organization be in their planning process to participate?

Because of the time the organization’s senior team must dedicate to do this work well, we do not recommend entering this coaching stream while other planning processes (e.g., strategic or business planning) are underway. Organizations that have just completed a strategic or business planning process may still find much value in this coaching stream. For example, it may help them dig more deeply into how various programs or activities fit together, understand the larger impact objectives to which the organization aspires or identify better metrics by which to gauge success at the organizational level. However, if you have recently completed a planning process that fully answered all of these questions, this coaching stream may not be right for you.

What is the cost to participate?

The process is offered to organizations at a rate of $16,000, which includes working sessions, bi-weekly coaching and support on materials development. Organizations may apply to Innoweave for up to $12,500 of support towards this coaching and are expected to cover the remaining $3,500 (plus applicable taxes). Any additional expenses can be negotiated with your coach and Innoweave and could include travel or additional support, as needed.

What is involved in the application process? How long does it take to complete the application?

Each coach can only accept a small number of organizations, making this a competitive application process. The application asks questions about your organizational capacity and context, as well as the type of outcome measurement you currently use. It should be completed by someone with in-depth knowledge about the organization and in consultation with other team members.