Get aligned.
Start the year with a clear direction.

A strategy day is dedicated time for a board or team to step back from day-to-day work and agree on the organisation’s direction. It can involve reviewing progress, exploring challenges and opportunities, deciding priorities and identifying next steps. An annual strategy and planning day focuses that discussion on the year ahead.

A strategy day can be facilitated by an internal leader, a board member or an external facilitator. The facilitator designs the process, guides discussion, makes space for different views and helps the group reach decisions. The right person depends on the purpose of the day and whether those leading the organisation also need to participate fully in the discussion.

Libby Briggs is a Melbourne-based consultant and facilitator who designs and leads strategy and annual planning days for boards, leadership teams and staff. She brings over 15 years of experience across education, learning design and facilitation, with work spanning innovation, strategy, leadership and change. Her strategy and planning work includes Cheltenham Community Centre and Anatomedia.

An external facilitator can be useful when everyone needs to take part, there are competing views to work through or the group would benefit from someone asking fresh questions. They can keep the process moving while leaders focus on contributing. An internal facilitator may suit a straightforward planning session if they have the time, skills and trust of the group. I work with you to understand the decisions you need to make and design a session around them.

Start with a clear purpose and the decisions you need to make. A useful agenda often includes a review of progress, lessons from the past year, changes affecting the organisation, key challenges and opportunities, and time to agree priorities. Finish by identifying actions, owners and how progress will be reviewed. Allow time for discussion and breaks, and keep the agenda realistic. I tailor the balance to your organisation rather than using the same agenda for every team.

Yes. I work with neighbourhood houses, community centres and other community organisations, as well as businesses, education organisations and council teams. Sessions are shaped around your purpose, community priorities, funding and available staff and volunteer capacity. My experience includes strategy and annual planning work with Cheltenham Community Centre.

I design the agenda and activities, guide the discussion and help the group work through decisions. Having an external facilitator gives your board members and staff space to participate while someone else keeps the conversation focused, invites different perspectives and captures agreed priorities and actions.

The aim is to leave with shared priorities for the year ahead and practical next steps, including who will take responsibility and how progress will be reviewed. We agree the specific outputs before the day. A written outcomes summary or support to develop the annual plan can be included in the scope.

Yes. We can build in a retrospective to examine what went well, what did not progress and why. This helps the team assess whether goals were realistic, actions were clear and measures were useful, then apply those lessons to the next annual plan.

Yes. Your existing strategic plan can provide the starting point. We can use the day to translate its priorities into achievable goals and actions for the next 12 months, rather than starting a new strategy from scratch.

A half-day can suit a focused review or a small number of planning decisions. A full day gives more room to review the year, hear different perspectives, work through priorities and develop actions. We discuss what you need to achieve before choosing the format.

Invite the people who need to contribute to the decisions and carry the plan forward. This may include board or committee members, managers and program coordinators. We can discuss whether to bring everyone together for the full session or involve different groups at particular stages.

Half-day workshops start from $1,500 + GST, and full-day workshops from $2,500 + GST. This includes a preparation meeting, review of relevant plans, workshop design and facilitation.

Written reporting and additional follow-up support can be included by agreement. Packages are available for neighbourhood houses and community organisations.

We start with a conversation about your goals, participants and the decisions you need to make. Relevant documents might include your strategic plan, current annual work plans and progress reports. I then design the session and let you know if participants need to complete any short preparation.

Email libby.briggs.consultant@gmail.com or call 0421 828 554 with your preferred timing, approximate group size and what you would like to achieve. We can discuss the right format and scope before I prepare a quote.