OUR SERVICES

Executive Facilitation

Leaders in Collaborative Decision Making Processes (CDMPs)

When it’s time for designing significant system change in public policy, corporate operations or across public-private partnerships, an effectively designed and run working group or task force is often an effective forum. Understanding how to structure the group itself, the information that will be needed for the group to fulfill its mission and how to both structure the work across a continuum of conversations and to facilitate those conversations is critical to its success. We’ve managed and facilitated efforts on some of the most complex and contentious topics, finding common ground and delivering progress where other efforts have failed. While other firms rely solely on group management, we combine best-in-class facilitation with a mix of public and private sector experience few firms can match.

Strategic Planning

Turning bold visions into actionable plans

From business units or government office divisions and trade associations to legislative caucuses, state or municipal executive offices and state agencies, public private partnerships and regional collaboratives, strategic planning is critical for setting a vision and ensuring efforts, resources and actions are aligned. We have helped a variety of senior officials from county commissioners and state agency leaders to membership organizations and business leaders step back to engage in the important work of strategic planning. We can help with long-range or single year and broad, multi-office or agency plans to individual division planning to align with those higher level goals. We also work with our partners to design and facilitate periodic check-ins to examine progress, check for alignment of action and identify any needs for course adjustment or change.

Conflict Navigation

Guiding difficult conversations

There is an important distinction between the healthy, often productive, discussions of different perspectives and the more tense, counter-productive debates that can lead to internal turmoil within organizations, an unwillingness to hear or try to genuinely understand others’ experiences. The former is a key phase of collaborative processes on contentious issues. The latter is often a result of issues with highly personal or passionate feelings attached and a history of some involved not feeling they have been heard or their perspectives considered. Navigating conflicts between parties, divisions, organizations or communities requires a carefully designed process, a space for addressing the past and the current situation and a commitment to both listening and to moving forward. Our team helps government agencies, communities, private sector leaders and community organizations identify the core issues, strategically design a process for engaging all affected and we facilitate the process with respect for all involved while maintaining the structure necessary for progress.

Organizational Assessments

Helping leaders assess teams and dynamics
 

Organizations evolve, and so do the challenges they face. Whether sparked by internal change, external demands, or the pursuit of greater effectiveness, a well-designed organizational assessment can provide the insight needed to move forward with clarity and confidence. Our team works closely with leaders to understand the questions driving the assessment—whether related to structure, communication, leadership, culture, staff morale, decision-making, equity, or performance—and then designs a process to explore those questions honestly and constructively. We use a combination of stakeholder interviews, surveys, document reviews and facilitated discussions to gather insight and analyze what’s working well, where friction points exist, and what changes could improve alignment, operations or impact. Our findings are presented clearly and respectfully, offering actionable recommendations grounded in the voices and experiences of the organization’s people. Whether conducted as a standalone process or in support of a larger change initiative, our assessments are designed to help organizations see themselves more clearly and plan more effectively for what’s next.

Policy Development

Your partner in policy and system change

We understand the complexity of developing smart, sustainable policies and policy change in ways that few others can. Our team has been involved at every point from stakeholder and leadership discussions of the need to change to developing clear recommendations and seeing those advanced through legislative, regulatory or corporate action. We’ve also been on the implementation side in both the public and private sectors so have a unique appreciation for the need to get it right. We know that even the best change can look different in different economies, communities or under different leadership so we help leaders and stakeholders develop policy that considers all of the potential risks as well as the opportunities to effect meaningful and sustaining change.

Engagement & Outreach

Authentic engagement to inform action

From one-time townhalls and regional listening tours to ongoing engagement initiatives and public forums or small group discussions, authentic stakeholder engagement can be a powerful component of any policy or system change when done well. We have extensive experience designing, managing and leading stakeholder engagements of all sizes and scopes. Every engagement program is unique and designed to define the scope of inquiry, identify the impacted or involved stakeholders, ensure all voices are heard and that meetings are comfortable, accessible and productive. Depending on the input sought, the location of participants and our partners’ goals, we can use a mix of in-person large group meetings, smaller focus groups and online meetings, webinars and townhall style meetings with small group breakout discussions. We also utilize a wide variety of online tools to gather additional input recognizing that despite all best efforts, meetings may not always fit every stakeholder’s schedule.

STAKEHOLDERS ENGAGED
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WORK GROUPS/TASK FORCES MANAGED
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MEETINGS PLANNED & FACILITATED
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REGULATORY & POLICY CHANGES INFORMED
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Confluence PSG partners with government and private sector leaders to support policy and system change.