Nonprofit StratOp

Empowering Nonprofits

to Grow Their Impact

What is StratOp?

More than a single day of strategic planning session, StratOp is a strategic planning system that empowers your organization for a full 12-month engagement. 

Built off the collaborative nature of StratOp, your team will craft a strategic plan unique to your organization that will provide clarity, alignment, and direction for your organization over the coming year.  Importantly, StratOp recognizes that strategic planning is more than just mission and vision; it is about transforming your mission and vision into actionable plans that deliver results.

Global Reach

StratOp is used by organizations around the globe, including…

    • Churches – StratOp is used by some of the fastest growing and impactful churches in the US to help them faithfully reach more people and shape more disciples.

    • Nonprofits – Nonprofits use StratOp to more efficiently use their limited resources to serve more people and change more communities.  Nonprofits that use StratOp serve hundreds of thousands of people globally.

    • Businesses – StratOp has been the tool used by large mission-driven corporations to small, local businesses to grow their revenue and accelerate their positive impact in the communities they serve.

The Benefits of StratOp

Clarity

StratOp provides you and your team clarity on where you are now, where you want to be tomorrow, and how to get there next.

Alignment

One of the most common listed benefits of practitioners of StratOp is alignment across the leadership team and organization on the mission and plan to push forward.

Growth

StratOp is used by some of the fastest growing churches in the US and widest reaching nonprofits to efficiently and faithfully reach more people and serve their communities more broadly.

Impact

At the heart of StratOp is the pursuit of changed lives.  StratOp is used by churches and nonprofits to accelerate their impact and improve their “impact-per-dollar.”

Collaborative and Socratic

StratOp is a collaborative and Socratic process that brings your whole leadership team together in a unified direction. 

Bringing your chosen leadership together, your StratOp Guide will guide your team through a Socratic process using the StratOp planning process that will enable your team to craft a strategic plan for your nonprofit, church, or business based on how the perspectives, experience, and gift-sets in the room best meet your vision and calling. 

Unlike many other Strategic Planning Process, StratOp builds a plan specific to your organization, not borrowed from a previous client. 

The collaborative nature of StratOp creates plans built by a nonprofit’s, church’s, or business’ leadership team that are uniquely and powerfully aligned to push forward together to grow your impact and following your calling. 

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Your StratOp Experience

What to expect during your StratOp Engagement

Prework – Setting the Stage

  • Initial Strategic Assessment: Your StratOp Guide will meet with members of your leadership team to do an initial strategic assessment.  This initial strategic assessment helps provide some context to your StratOp Guide and prepares the team for future conversations.  These sessions can be done in-person or via Zoom. 
  • Leadership Interviews: In preparation for your Phase I session, your StratOp Guide will meet with each member of the leadership team to broaden their understanding of the organization, the strategic and organization opportunities and struggles, and the dynamics of the leadership team.  These interviews also provide an opportunity for any preparations questions your team may have for your StratOp Guide. 
  • Pre-Work – 4 Helpful Lists & Thinking Wavelength: Your team will be given two tools to complete as prework for your Phase I session.  These tools can be completed individually and help prime the pump for strategic conversations during your StratOp.  Prework needs to be completed at least 3 days prior to your Phase I session in order for your StratOp Guide to review and prepare.

Phase I – StratOp Session

  • 2-3 Day Strategic StratOp Session: The ability of StratOp to bring clarity and alignment to your leadership team and organization is felt immediately in Phase I.  Phase I brings your entire leadership team together, and your StratOp Guide will lead your team through the process of collabratively crafting your unique strategic growth roadmap for your organization.  This highly collaborative, Socratic process will result in your leadership team gaining greater clarity and alignment and will include a Strategic Dashboard, Action Initiative Profiles for all prioritized projects, and a clear path forward (on top of 20+ other tools from the session).
  • Nonprofits Scheduling: Since many members of nonprofit leadership teams and boards have other professional obligations that make 2-3 day sessions difficult, your StratOp Guide will work with your team to devise a schedule to meet your teams requirements.  This allows the full leadership team to participate while maintaining the power of the StratOp process.

Phase II – Refinement and Execution

  • Review Action Initiative Profiles: With the help of your StratOp Guide, each team leader and project team will take their initial Action Initiative Profile and build a Project Action Plan for their project, including project requirements, necessary steps for completion, required resources, team member assignments, and timeline.  As needed, this will include coaching and support from your StratOp guide for your project team leaders and StratOp Champion.
  • Complete Dovetail Timeline: Once your project teams have completed their Action Plans, your StratOp Guide will work with your leadership team to review and finalize each project onto a Dovetail Timeline that provides a 30,000ft view of your entire Action Initiative Profile, including project timelines, required resources, and team leaders. 
  • Determine Ongoing Management Schedule and Begin Executing Plan: During Phase II, your teams will turn your strategic plan into action steps and start building momentum for growing your impact.

Phase III – Ongoing Management and Project Execution

  • Complete and Reload W.I.N. Wheel and AIPs: During Phase IV, your project teams will continue to complete each project on your Action Initiative Profile (AIP) designed to propel your organization forward.  As each project is completed, your StratOp Guide will guide your team through the process of reloading the Action Initiative Profiles using your Fountain of Youth and W.I.N. (What’s Important Now) project tool.  This will ensure the continued completion and momentum for your strategic plan continues to grow. 
  • Quarterly Reviews: Once a quarter, your StratOp Guide will meet with your leadership team and/or board for a strategic review.  This will ensure the teams are on track for their project deadlines and any strategic adjustments that need to be made to your plan can be built into the updated project plans, Action Initiative Profile, and W.I.N. Wheel.  The ability to flexibly adjust is one of the strengths of the StratOp process and is a necessary part of robust strategic planning. 
  • Ongoing Project Team Trainings: As needed, your StratOp Guide or StratOp Champion will be available to help provide additional coachings and trainings for project team leaders, leadership team, and board.

StratOp Testimonials

YMCA

StratOp is the underpinning of our success as we rebuilt a thriving organization post pandemic. 

It guided us to create a shared vision, clear measurements of success, alignment of our board and staff, and clarity of our biggest risks.  Our organization has never before had such clarity among its volunteers, staff, and stakeholders. 

(Story Provided by Paterson Center)

Community Foundation of Abilene

StratOp has been nothing short of revolutionary for our team. 

It’s given us a shared language and created a culture of accountability toward our overall mission.

(Story Provided by Paterson Center)

Thistle Farms

“When we started working with Paterson, our organization was experiencing the effects of a fractured, siloed leadership team and everyone was rowing in different directions.

After just 8 months, we’ve made tremendous progress in our culture and alignment, now able to shift our focus to improving operations, program delivery, and scaling our justice enterprise.”

(Story Provided by Paterson Center)

WestFall Gold

“WestFall Gold is an experience design agency and fundraising consultancy for organizations passionate about advancing good.

40% increase in revenue growth targets after 12 months of engagement. 

Successful alignment of new acquisitions into one cohesive team. 

Deployment of their Core Values into the Culture.“

(Story Provided by Paterson Center)

Laurie Sorensen

In a season of immense culture shock and navigating the familiarly unfamiliar, LifePlan helped me to make meaning from the transitions and turns my life had taken and pointed me toward a hopeful future.  Most of all, it help me find my way back to myself and a vision for who I am becoming.  I am forever grateful. 

(Story Provided by Paterson Center)

Mike Hahn

I have participated in several evaluation workshops and used multiple tools to discover my skills and personality traits.  The Paterson LifePlan is by far the best and most complete goal setting and alignment process in which I have ever participated.

(Story Provided by Paterson Center)

*StratOp and LifePlan testimonies provided by Paterson Center as a reflection of the power and impact of StratOp on its practitioners.  Some StratOp and LifePlan testimonies may be from clients served through Paterson Center directly and may not all be through Great Peaks Benefits.

The Story of StratOp

StratOp has impacted hundreds of thousands of people across the globe over the last half century.  Based on a belief in the power of perspective, collaborative planning, and the value of the process, StratOp continues to powerfully change the lives of the people and organizations that stand on Tom Pateron’s legacy.