Strategy Development
Modern strategy development using our Strategy by Design methodology.
Design a strategy your organization can actually use.
Most strategic plans fail—not because the ideas are wrong, but because the process disconnects vision from reality.
Our Strategy Development service uses Strategy by Design, our modern methodology that blends strategic thinking with design principles to ensure your strategy is co-created, aligned, and execution-ready.
We don’t just write strategy. We design it to work.
Why strategy development matters.
Strategic clarity drives everything—from day-to-day decision-making to long-term impact.
But too often, strategy is treated as a document instead of a designed course of action. That’s where things break down.
You might need Strategy Development if …
Your current plan is expiring or no longer reflects your reality
You’re facing internal misalignment or external pressure
Your board or leadership team is unclear on priorities
Your past plans have lacked follow-through
You want a better, more engaging process this time around
Our Method: Strategy by Design
Strategy by Design is Overlap’s modern methodology for developing strategy that lives.
We apply design thinking to the strategy process—ensuring the final product is not just visionary, but usable, understandable, and ready to implement.
Why it works:
Collaborative: built with your team, not handed down
Contextual: grounded in insights, evidence, and lived experience
Visual: delivered through elegant tools that actually get used
Execution-ready: aligned to operations and people from day one
How we do it.
Every strategy development project is tailored—but here are the core components:
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Internal and external scan of context, performance, and trends. May include strategic foresight, stakeholder interviews, and data synthesis.
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Rapid synthesis to identify patterns, insights, and principles that shape the strategic direction.
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Inclusive, structured engagement with staff, partners, clients, or community to build buy-in and surface critical insights.
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Facilitated sessions with leadership to surface tensions, set strategic ambition, and identify top priorities.
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Collaborative sessions to define focus areas, long-view objectives, and a unifying strategic direction.
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Early alignment of strategy to operations and people systems. We ask: “How will this actually work?”
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The final strategy is not a long PDF—it’s a set of visual, accessible tools: 1-pagers, diagrams, decks, and toolkits.
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Support for executive communication and board engagement to launch the strategy with clarity and confidence.
What success looks like
You walk away with a strategy that is:
Clear, memorable, and focused
Built on insight—not assumption
Supported by leadership, board, and teams
Designed to guide real decisions
Ready for implementation (via OKRs, roadmaps, team plans)
Who this is for
Executive Directors, CEOs, and Superintendents who need a renewed strategy
Boards and leadership teams who want shared priorities and direction
Organizations facing change, complexity, or momentum loss
Leaders who want a better, more human-centered process
“This isn’t strategy for strategy’s sake. It’s strategy that lives, breathes, and guides action.”
Let’s talk strategy.
Stories from Our Clients
Built to lead into execution.
Every part of the strategy development process is designed to flow directly into the next phase: operationalization.
We often support clients immediately after with OKR development, execution support, and ongoing partnership.