Curators, not painters
Imagine this scenario.
A consulting team arrives at a nonprofit with a prescriptive agenda already in mind. They meet exclusively with the executive team and board members, spending a few hours collecting confirmation for approaches they've already decided to implement. They present "best practices" from their previous clients, regardless of organizational context. After a brief engagement, they retreat to their offices and return weeks later with a beautifully designed document filled with industry jargon, generic objectives, and cookie-cutter strategies that could apply to almost any organization in your sector.
Then the implementation struggles begin. Front-line staff are confused by directives that don't match their daily realities. Program managers wonder why client voices weren't considered. Community partners question why they weren't consulted about collaborative opportunities. And everyone wonders why this expensive plan feels so disconnected from the organization's true needs and capacities.
The problem isn't with strategic planning itself. The problem is with an approach that treats organizations like blank canvases waiting for an expert to paint a predetermined picture based on limited understanding.
It's no wonder only 47% of nonprofit executives feel their organizations are effective at executing strategies, according to research from the Bridgespan Group. But what if the execution problem begins with how the strategy was created in the first place?
The Painter's Approach
Traditional strategic consulting operates from what I call the "painter's approach." Consultants position themselves as the experts who will create something beautiful from scratch. They arrive with templates, frameworks, and "best practices" that have worked elsewhere, ready to apply them to your organization regardless of context.
You are commissioning a painting, so you hire a painter.
The underlying assumption? The painter knows best, and the leadership knows the rest.
This approach creates several critical problems:
It assumes a one-size-fits-all solution works for unique organizations with different histories, cultures, and challenges
It centers the consultant's expertise over the collective wisdom of the people who live and breathe the organization every day
It prioritizes executive voices while marginalizing front-line staff, program participants, and community stakeholders
It often misses critical context and nuance that can only be understood through deep, inclusive listening
It creates beautiful plans that lack authentic buy-in from the people who must implement them
It perpetuates power dynamics that can undermine genuine organizational transformation
At Good Work, we believe there's a fundamentally different way to approach strategic planning.
The Curator's Approach
Think of strategic planning not as painting on a blank canvas, but as curating an exhibition from artifacts that already exist.
Your organization already possesses all the elements needed for an effective strategic plan. The vision, challenges, opportunities, and solutions exist within your collective knowledge and experience. Some pieces might be readily apparent, sitting right on top. Others may be carefully hidden in unexpected places or held by voices not usually heard.
Our role is not to create, but to curate. We are expert puzzlers who:
Listen deeply to uncover hidden pieces
Help sort and organize the pieces you already have
Guide the process of finding connections and patterns
Facilitate collaborative assembly of the full picture
Ensure no critical pieces are missing or overlooked
This isn't just a semantic difference – it fundamentally changes how strategic planning unfolds.
What Curation Looks Like in Practice
When we begin a strategic planning engagement, we don't start by telling you what works or by solely asking leadership for their vision. We start by creating space for equitable participation – ensuring that all voices contribute to your organization's future.
1. Equitable Engagement
We deliberately disrupt traditional power dynamics by creating multiple pathways for every voice in your organization to be heard and valued equally:
Anonymous SWOT analysis surveys that create safe spaces for honest feedback from all levels
Deliberately diverse focus groups that bring together different perspectives across hierarchy, tenure, and role
One-on-one interviews with staff at every level, not just executives
Community listening sessions with the people you serve, recognizing they hold essential wisdom about your impact
Stakeholder dialogue with external partners who see your work from different angles
We believe the front-line staff member who interacts with clients every day might hold just as valuable insights as your Board Chair. We believe your newest program participant may see opportunities your executive team has missed. True wisdom emerges when all voices are heard with equal respect.
2. Collaborative Discovery
As we collect these diverse perspectives, we don't disappear to analyze them in isolation. Instead, we guide your team through a collaborative discovery process:
Sorting and organizing the raw input together so everyone can see patterns emerge
Identifying themes across hierarchical boundaries, noting where front-line perspectives align or diverge from leadership views
Mapping connections between seemingly unrelated insights
Uncovering hidden strengths that may be underrecognized within your current structure
Naming underlying challenges that may be visible from some perspectives but invisible from others
3. "Naming What Matters"
With patterns and connections visible, we facilitate a democratic process of determining priorities – what we call "naming what matters":
Structured, inclusive discussions that give everyone a voice in setting priorities
Effort-impact analysis that helps identify which initiatives will most effectively advance your mission
Voting and consensus-building exercises that break down hierarchical decision-making
Working sessions where diverse stakeholders help interpret findings through their lived experience
Small group dialogue followed by large group synthesis to ensure all perspectives influence the outcome
4. Building Your Strategic Picture
The strategic plan that emerges isn't created by consultants for leadership – it's co-created by your entire organizational ecosystem. Our role has simply been to:
Create the conditions for equitable participation
Provide frameworks that help organize collective wisdom
Facilitate processes that honor diverse perspectives
Ensure the final picture reflects the full spectrum of voices
This approach results in a strategic plan that truly belongs to everyone – because everyone helped build it.
This approach creates several powerful outcomes:
Authentic Ownership: People support what they help create
Contextual Relevance: The plan reflects your unique reality, not an imposed framework
Hidden Wisdom Surfaced: Perspectives that might have been overlooked become central
Collective Intelligence: The plan leverages the full wisdom of your entire organization
The Results Speak for Themselves
When organizations experience the curator's approach to strategic planning, the difference is palpable:
Deeper Buy-In: Staff at all levels feel ownership over the direction
More Innovative Solutions: By tapping diverse perspectives, organizations discover possibilities they hadn't considered
Greater Implementation Success: Plans built on genuine understanding of organizational realities are more likely to be implemented successfully
Sustainable Change: The collaborative process builds muscles for ongoing strategic thinking
Ready for a Different Approach?
If your organization has struggled with strategic plans that feel imposed rather than organic, perhaps it's time to try a different approach. The curator's method honors the wisdom already present in your organization and helps bring it to the surface.
Strategic planning shouldn't feel like an external exercise where experts tell you what to do. Instead, it should feel like a process of discovery – unveiling the picture that's been there all along, waiting to be assembled.
Alan Maxcy is the founder and CEO of Good Work, a consulting agency helping nonprofits do the most good through fractional solutions in grant writing and impact management.
Want to experience our curator's approach to strategic planning? Book a free 30-minute consultation to discuss how we can help your organization assemble its strategic picture.
