SKC facilitates strategic conversations that are interactive, rooted, and, dare-we-say, enjoyable. They help get you to where you need to be… even if you don’t know what your exact destination is yet.

Let us lead your organization through an SKC Clarity Session.

This interactive conversation process will help with strategic planning, board direction, and program ideation.

We’ll explore:

  • What is — setting the context and discussing the complexity

  • What if — identify new ideas and possibilities

  • What works — what is realistic, what achieves the best outcomes?

  • What next — how do we move forward?

The discussions will be realistic, rooted in the complexity of our world, and avoid simplistic solutions.

SKC has developed a set of sequential strategic conversation tools to help you have the discussions you need to clarify your goals, plans, and aspirations.

The sessions can be one to three days long. (Half-day sessions are available as well, but are limited in the depth they can explore.) These conversations are lively, interactive, and often old school (flipcharts, breakout groups, unique in-person tools, etc.).

We take a human-first approach. A.I. can do many things, but it can’t:

  • Read a room

  • Navigate organizational politics

  • Facilitate complex discussions

  • Make nuanced judgment calls

Sean Kelly and SKC associates will guide you through ‘6 Cs’, six sequential discussion areas with tailored activities to focus the conversations on:

Context. Conjecture. Constraints. Choices. Connections. Convergence.

The sessions use our own unique discussion tools, such as:

S.A.G.E. conversations: Situate. Articulate. Generate. Engage.

C.O.I.N. exercise: Constraints. Opportunities. Improvements. New ideas.

(Yeah, we like mnemonic devices! They help give structure and form to the discussions.)

3-N’s exercise: What are you doing for Nostalgic reasons? What is Noteworthy? Where are you a No-Show?

We are also experienced in using other traditional strategic planning tools such as SWOT, PESTEL, Problem & Solutions Tree analysis, Parallel Thinking, NOISE analysis, etc.

Guiding principles for our strategic conversations:

  • It’s better to have rough answers to the right questions than detailed answers to the wrong questions.

  • Context is usually as important as content. Insight before solutions.

  • Strategy is the journey, but complexity is the terrain.

  • We want to engage multiple perspectives, not just multiple people.

  • It’s ok to be messy, not have the right words, and make mistakes.

  • Assume we’re all coming from a place of good intentions. Let’s offer some grace to each other, and ourselves.

  • Be respectful and allow all voices to have their say. Respect each other, respect time.

  • It’s ok to disagree. Don’t rush past tension — embrace depth over speed.

  • Acknowledge the ‘curse of knowledge’ — as you become more informed you forget what it’s like to not know what you know.

  • Embrace an asset-based not deficiencies-oriented approach. Be driven by possibilities, and focus on what’s present, not necessarily what’s missing.