Core engagement
Strategic planning that survives contact with a busy quarter.
Direction, priorities and a multi-year roadmap, built with the project discipline that decides whether any of it actually happens.
The engagement
Four phases, in order.
Every organization arrives at a different point. Some need the whole sequence. Some already know their direction and need the roadmap and the follow-through. You only pay for the phases you need.
Assess where you actually are
Before anything gets planned, the current position has to be honest. Conversations with leadership and key people, a look at what is already underway, and a clear read on what is working and what is not.
Agree the direction and the priorities
Facilitated sessions that end in decisions. The output is a short list of priorities your leadership or board genuinely agrees on, which is harder and more valuable than a long list nobody owns.
Build the roadmap
Priorities become initiatives. Initiatives get an owner, a sequence, milestones and dependencies. This is where a strategic plan turns into something a person can pick up on a Monday morning and act on.
Support the execution
Optional, and the phase that separates a plan that lands from a plan that lapses. Project management on the initiatives that need it, and a regular review cadence to keep the whole thing tracked and refined.
This is also where project rescue sits. If something important has already stalled, Mark can be brought in partway through to get it finished, which is work he has done for 25 years.
What you receive
Typical deliverables.
Scoped to your organization and agreed in writing before work starts. Every document is written to be used by your team, not filed by your team.
- A written current-state assessment
- An agreed set of strategic priorities, deliberately short
- A multi-year roadmap with initiatives, owners, timelines and milestones
- A first-90-days action plan so momentum starts immediately
- A simple way to measure and report progress
- A board-ready or member-ready summary of the plan
- An optional review cadence to keep the plan live
After the plan is delivered
The advisory retainer.
The cheapest insurance you can buy on a plan you have already paid for.
A plan reviewed once a year is a plan you find out is off track eleven months too late. On a retainer, Mark stays with your organization at a regular cadence: reviewing progress against the roadmap, adjusting what is not working, and keeping the plan present in how the organization actually runs.
It is deliberately light. Most organizations do not need another consultant in the building. They need one person who knows the plan, checks in on a rhythm, and tells them the truth about whether it is moving.
From $995 per month
Scoped to the size of your organization and the cadence you need. Agreed in writing up front, and cancellable.
What a retainer typically covers
- A scheduled review of progress against the roadmap
- Updates to the roadmap as conditions change
- A short written summary your board or leadership can read
- Access between reviews when a decision needs a second opinion
- A fixed monthly fee from $995, agreed up front, cancellable
Why this is different
Strategy sets direction. Project discipline gets you there.
Most strategic planning consultants are facilitators. They are good in a room, and then the engagement ends at the document. Most project managers are excellent at delivery but are handed someone else's plan.
Mark Lucas is a certified Project Management Professional who has spent 25 years on both sides of that line. That means the plan gets written by someone who knows what it takes to deliver it, and the delivery is run by someone who understands why each initiative is on the list.
Written to be acted on
Objectives at a level someone can own, not aspirations nobody can start.
Sequenced, not just listed
Dependencies mapped, so you are not blocked in month four by something skipped in month one.
Built to outlast the people in the room
Documented so a new director or a new manager can pick it up without losing the thread.
Reviewed on a cadence
Goals need continuous review, not one session a year. Drift is cheap to fix early.
Questions
What people usually ask.
We already have a strategic plan. Can you work from it?
Often that is the better starting point. Plenty of organizations have a perfectly reasonable plan that stalled because nothing underneath it was sequenced or owned. In that case the work is the roadmap and the follow through, not another planning day.
How much of our team's time will this take?
Less than you would expect, and it is scheduled in advance so nobody is surprised. Leadership and board time is concentrated in the sessions where decisions get made. The assessment, drafting and roadmap work happen off your team's plate.
Do you use a particular planning framework?
The framework serves the organization, not the other way around. What matters is that the priorities are few, the initiatives have owners, and progress can be measured. Mark will use whatever structure your board or leadership team will actually engage with.
Can you help deliver the plan as well as write it?
Yes. That is phase four, and it is available either as hands-on project management for specific initiatives or as a lighter review cadence that keeps the plan tracked. Get in touch to talk through which fits.
Next step
Find out whether this is the right engagement.
A short call, no cost, no pitch deck. If a different approach would serve you better, Mark will say so.