Core Values

Your Obstacles Are Our Obstacles

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.

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.

Why We Stand Out

Here's why we stand out

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.

Research

We use research to help you generate the insight necessary to gain a clear and deep understanding of your situation. 

Below, you will find some of our most recent research initiatives.

A Market Analysis of Parent Engagement Programs in Washington, D.C. (2009)

This report presents the conclusions from a market research study we conducted in 2009 on the supply of, and demand for, parental leadership programs in the District of Columbia. The study involved in-depth interviews and focus groups with parents, conversations with seasoned parent trainers, and an intensive review of leading parental leadership programs across the country. The central conclusion of our study is that a significant percentage of parents in economically distressed communities do not have the necessary skills to actually assume effective leadership roles that help to shape the future for their children, family, school, and community. Investing in resources and programs that combine leadership skills with the knowledge about the mechanics of systemic change is the next frontier in the movement to empower parents as partners. Download report (.pdf).

Strategy & Innovation

By developing the right strategy, we help you envision what is possible. We not only work with our clients to help them develop innovative strategies, we also work behind the scenes to promote the strategies we believe elevate.

Case Studies

Organizational Development

This case study tells the story of an independent, non-profit organization that focuses on educational and health care initiatives to ensure that all children in the nation’s capital have opportunities to learn, grow, and succeed. During the winter of 2005, the recently appointed executive director of the organization approached us because he wanted to better understand how he could leverage the organization’s financial resources to increase its impact. Download the full case study.

Developing Affiliates

Our work with this client allowed the national staff to better understand the needs of its chapter affiliates, design programmatic responses to meet those needs, and refine its operational mission of serving low-income parents and families. As a result, the client was able to refine its message, customize its marketing collateral to local concerns, and better engage its external stakeholders in coalitions. Download the full case study.

Program Expansion

In this example, we were hired by an organization that has been effectively improving the futures of low-income, high achieving youth by helping them receive a quality education, graduate from high school, and attend college. Our client received a large donation that allowed the organization to serve greater numbers of low-income, high school students. The executive director of the organization wanted to be able to better understand the various needs and preferences of low-income high school students so the organization could expand its services in the most effective manner. Download the full case study.

Learning

Our professional development tools and programs equip you with the agility to respond to change more effectively. We design full-scale leadership development programs for our clients and that includes managing the entire process, from curriculum development to program administration. 

The video below gives you an example of a customized, 6-month leadership development program that we developed and implemented for one of our clients.

Mobilizing

We build upon all of this by helping you act strategically and decisively. This means we help you put it all together!

Example: Prepare the Future

We worked with Dr. David Hornbeck, the founder of a grassroots organization called Prepare the Future, to develop his organizing strategy, refine his financial projections, and build a customized website that can meet his organizing needs. Check out his site: www.preparethefuture.org