Strategic Visioning
It is not unusual for conflict to develop when group members struggle to articulate common ground and a common vision amidst differences and diversity.This lack of clarity almost always derails an organization’s growth, while hindering the ability to adapt to change. Louise Phipps Senft and Associates/Baltimore Mediation’s Strategic Planning expert(s), working from the transformative approach as the neutral third party facilitator(s), will assist your group with quality conversations about goals, mission, vision and action plans. Unique to your LPS facilitator is his or her ability to combine the transformative orientation (the “group members know best” approach) with the use of a graphic language that literally helps groups “see” a future roadmap for sustainable action. The experience is ideal for retreats and for specially convened meetings of 5 to 50 people. Strategic Visioning with an LPS/Baltimore Mediation facilitator can be designed for a half day or up to two full days. The group will have visuals and pictorials for decisions made, as well as a written summary.
Action Planning
Groups are often in agreement about the need for a certain direction, but could use help aligning interests, mobilizing resources and identifying tasks and deadlines. Louise Phipps Senft and Associates/Baltimore Mediation’s facilitators can custom design a half-day process to help groups meet short-term goals by completing high priority tasks. Part of the design includes working with key stakeholders ahead of time to create a responsive agenda of tasks and deadlines. The result is a quick and responsive action plan where roles and responsibilities are clear and accountability and consequences are articulated which energizes the mobilization of the group. The experience of Action Planning with an LPS/Baltimore Mediation facilitator is ideal for pulling a group together, which is already used to working together, prior to embarking on the implementation of an already articulated strategic plan.
Consensus Building
Louise Phipps Senft and Associates/Baltimore Mediation’s facilitators are called upon to assist business groups, departments, and Boards of Directors with reaching consensus around top priorities, especially where there is dissent or many diverse opinions. Consensus Building through Louise Phipps Senft and Associates/Baltimore Mediation neither assumes compromise nor middle of the road outcomes; rather, it assumes that groups that learn new information through interaction will make responsive choices that benefit and are aligned with one or more core values and needs. This daylong process respects diversity of opinion, while honoring the wisdom of the whole. When facilitating from a transformative orientation, the LPS/Baltimore Mediation facilitator helps ensure that the group reaches consensus of the whole without avoiding its diversity of opinion or experience, or diluting the individual values for the sake of compromise and consensus. The results are stronger and more viable organizations and strengthened relationships between participants as well as clarity of direction. The experience is ideal for retreats and specially convened meetings.