Strategic Conversations

Do you need to revise your strate­gic plan, but don’t have time for the tradi­tional approach?

Have you consid­ered facil­i­ta­tion by someone who excels at leading “strate­gic conver­sa­tions” — an alter­na­tive that’s better suited to fast-​​paced, high-​​tech businesses?

Clients have turned to Informing Arts’ Christine Thompson to facil­i­tate strate­gic conver­sa­tions across their leader­ship teams for over 15 years. As a result of those conver­sa­tions, some of Informing Arts’ clients have become market leaders or achieved signif­i­cant exit strategy outcomes for their investors.

Here’s a recent case study: galva­niz­ing the leader­ship team to plan how to overcome a signif­i­cant revenue short­fall looming on the horizon.

Unconventional Facilitation

When facil­i­tat­ing the strate­gic conver­sa­tions, Christine exhibits an appre­cia­tive but outside-​​in perspec­tive. She’s willing to ask those tough but illumi­nat­ing questions that people whisper to each other, but are reluc­tant to pose in high-​​risk public settings.

She lever­ages Web 2.0 technolo­gies for collab­o­ra­tion and project manage­ment; and provides a frame­work for strate­gic conver­sa­tions among leaders, key contrib­u­tors and outside advisors. Christine applies game-​​storming and visual meeting techniques to enliven meetings, and spark creativ­ity and out-​​of-​​the-​​box problem solving. (Game-​​storming explained.)

Strategic Focus

Christine is adept at helping manage­ment teams grapple with strate­gic challenges relating to corpo­rate, market or product strategy — while learning to interact more effec­tively as a team. She under­stands the process, the work flow, the required deliv­er­ables, and impli­ca­tions for team dynamics.

Not an OD Firm

Unlike organi­za­tion devel­op­ment experts, Informing Arts does not perform large-​​scale “corpo­rate inter­ven­tions.” When that is required, clients should engage an OD expert.