NONPROFIT · NEW LEADERSHIP · MARKET-BASED PLANNING
When you inherit a strategic plan that’s lost in the dark
A new leadership team recognized their inherited plan lacked the market context to succeed — and reset the process without losing momentum.
Is this your situation?
This engagement may resonate if your organization is experiencing any of the following:
You are new to your role and have inherited a strategic planning process already in motion — one you aren’t confident in
You risk completing a plan that will require significant revision within the first year of implementation
Your current strategic direction lacks an external, market-based perspective and feels internally focused
You need to bring legacy stakeholders along while asserting a new strategic lens — without alienating either group
The Strategic Dilemma
A stalled plan, new leadership, and a market no one had mapped
Within their first months, the new leadership team assessed a critical gap in the current strategic thinking: the organization’s long-range planning was lost in the dark. It lacked an external perspective and a market-based context to evaluate planning priorities.
If they completed the plan as it was, they knew they would have to change some of the core assumptions within the first year. The plan had been developed from the inside looking out — without a clear picture of the market the organization was striving to serve.
The challenge was compounded by politics. The new leadership could influence the strategic direction while also needing to convince those already deeply invested in the existing process to see the value in taking a few steps back. How could the organization confidently set a new direction without first understanding how it related to the market it was trying to serve?
The engagement and our approach
Market mapping across three sectors — before strategy could proceed
Focused Momentum was engaged to work with the new CEO, COO, Board President, and the legacy planning committee to redesign the strategic planning process — addressing its gaps while staying within the current planning timetable.
The complexity grew quickly: the client operated in at least three distinct market sectors, each requiring its own analysis.
Strategic Focus Market Mapping across three sectors
The FM team led three separate market sector teams to define and research each market and its dynamics — building a market map for each and identifying where competitors or partners operate within it.
Competitive analysis and positioning
Each market mapping presentation included a draft competitive analysis of where the client operated today and its relative positioning to others in each market.
Two-day Strategy Creation Session
Each market map was reviewed with all stakeholders — new and legacy — during a two-day session. Strategic priorities were set for each market segment, with the market context providing clarity on planning priorities that internal analysis alone could not deliver.
THE KEY CHALLENGE IN THIS ENGAGEMENT
The goal required clarification of where more in-depth analysis was needed AND conducting strategy sessions that allowed all stakeholders — new and legacy — to understand and digest how this market analysis could impact future success. Bringing both groups to the same understanding was as important as the analysis itself.
The Result
A new entity, significant funding, and renewed relevance
350%
Growth achieved by boutique firms engaged in the consulting relationship over 5 years.
Industry
Media recognition for an innovative approach that reshaped the sector's growth model.
The engagement led to a significant shift in strategic thinking for the final strategic plan. The most substantial outcome was the decision to form a new entity to address the challenges and opportunities revealed by one of the market mapping analyses.
The new entity, now separated from the core organization, enhanced the institution’s ability to compete against larger institutions without sacrificing focus on core operations in the legacy entity.
This new direction aided the team in securing significant funding to establish the new entity — enhancing the organization’s visibility, relevance, and renewed interest in its legacy programs.”
The market mapping work provided something the original plan had lacked entirely: the external perspective needed to make confident strategic decisions. With that foundation in place, the organization could pursue multiple fronts of its mission simultaneously.
What this means for you
The strategic principle behind this result
Strategic plans built without market context are built on assumptions. Those assumptions may be correct — but without external validation, leaders can’t know which ones to trust and which ones to challenge. That uncertainty is what makes plans fragile in their first year.
The reset in this engagement wasn’t a setback — it was the investment that made the plan worth completing. A few weeks of market analysis changed the trajectory of the organization’s next strategic chapter entirely.
If your organization is in the middle of a planning process that feels incomplete, or if you’re new to your role and inheriting a plan you don’t fully trust, a focused market mapping engagement can provide the external grounding that turns a good plan into a durable one.
Recognize your situation in this story?
Let's talk about what a strategic planning engagement with Focused Momentum would look like for your organization.