Our name has its roots in music because music is something we all can understand. Each note in and of itself has a beauty and power of its own. But, how many of us can assemble the notes in our life in an order that can move and inspire us toward higher levels of performance and impact?
Symphonic Strategies™ was founded in 2004 as an independent, non-partisan organization. Since then it has grown to include a diverse team of talented professionals with expertise covering all aspects of organizational life—from strategy to technology, employee engagement to organizational development, and marketing to sales.
Symphonic Strategies works with people from all walks of life to help them harmoniously use all of the forces and talents available to them to accomplish something once thought impossible. It is the process of assembling gifts and talents that separates us from others. That is why we describe ourselves as a social movement organization because we believe that reaching a goal is not a solitary act. It is a social process.
As a company, our primary objective is to raise the overall impact and effectiveness of those who are working to bring about positive change in society—whether they are individuals or organizations. We help our clients move from insight to action. To put it metaphorically, we aim to improve the performance of the broader "orchestra" by strategically unleashing the skills, talents and gifts of each individual "musician."
Symphonic Strategies is dedicated to overcoming your obstacles with you. We won’t stop until we see measurable results, a tangible “before and after.” Our unique mix of excellence, education and humility allows us to listen as partners, determine what’s out of balance and help you perform in concert. Even a talented saxophonist understands that he or she needs the rhythm and direction of the entire band in order to shine.
Many strategic consulting firms fail to equip leaders and their organizations with real-life, put-into-practice solutions for implementing – and maintaining – change. No two organizations are alike, after all, and Gantt charts, SWOT analyses, customer value models, and other commonplace instruments don’t always get you where you need to go.
Our unique ability to interpret what you’re telling us (which, by the way, may or may not be exactly what you’re saying) helps us develop powerful, pioneering solutions tailored to your specific needs. We help you get your hands dirty, too: by empowering you to take part in the process, you become your own change agent, which is critical to the long-term success of your organization’s mission.
Our mission is twofold.
On one level, we want to work across various communities of interest to advance ideas and solutions that elevate™ the tactical and strategic agility of social actors - be they institutions, individuals, or organizations - so they can have an even greater impact on the constituencies they serve.We encourage the individuals and organizations with whom we work to focus on the things they do better than others (their gifts) and when they don’t recognize their gifts, we help them discover them.
At another level, our mission is to advance strategies that help individuals - in both public and private organizations - view complexity, not with fear and anxiety, but with a sense of purpose and clarity. We fundamentally believe that an organization, a community, a nation is only as strong as its people. We want to help build great communities, by supporting the emergence of great organizations that are comprised of great people! In many cases, that will mean providing continuous learning and growth opportunities for the two-thirds of the workforce who do not have the privileged parking space or the fancy corner office. We want to foster change at all levels of society by investing in the people who have so long been ignored and discounted.
1. We focus on the root causes—and not just the symptoms—of stalls. Have you ever heard of being “stuck on stuck?” Our emphasis is always on a vision of what can be. One of our core values is that we never fear the impossible because we focus relentlessly on the source of dissonance and not simply on the dissonance itself. Dissonance is a symptom of a greater strategic and operational challenge and we focus on the root cause of dissonance, wherever that takes us.
2. We focus on the forest without losing sight of individual trees. In everything we do, we never lose sight of the big picture; and the big picture is that individuals matter. A collective group is only as strong as its weakest member.
3. Actionable ideas. We understand that context matters. An idea is only actionable if it is contextually appropriate.
4. An interdisciplinary perspective. We believe that every idea, every solution, can be strengthened by looking for insights in untraditional places. We bring an interdisciplinary, global approach to bear on all projects.
5. A commitment to social responsibility. Everything we do must recognize and affirm the potential in the individual. We use all available communication channels to promote ideas, organizations, and policies that benefit society. We seek, simply, to democratize the process behind transformative change; to bring ideas and people together in a global, interdisciplinary movement—a harmonious dialogue.
6. We are not afraid to tackle culturally and socially sensitive issues. Since one of our core tenets is that everything we do must recognize and affirm the potential in the individual, we are not afraid to tackle sensitive issues, such as race, gender, class or lifestyle choices.
7. Time matters. We pride ourselves on recognizing windows of opportunity. We specialize in accelerating the time between the formulation of a strategy and the successful implementation of that strategy.