Fostering a Humane Future
Discover how the Ottawa Humane Society embarked on a strategic journey to enhance collaboration, address community needs, and build a resilient organization. This case study highlights the effective facilitation process that guided OHS through significant organizational transformation, fostering inclusivity and long-term sustainability.
The Client
The Ottawa Humane Society (OHS) is a cornerstone in the Ottawa community, providing emergency shelter, care, and advocacy for animals since its inception in 1888. Each year, OHS touches the lives of thousands of animals and their owners, emphasizing the importance of supporting animals at both ends of the leash. With a mission to lead Ottawa in building a more humane and compassionate community, OHS serves as a critical resource for both animals and pet owners.
The Challenge
As the OHS embarked on developing its strategic plan for 2024-2029, it faced several challenges:
- Improving Collaboration and Decision-Making: The organization needed to enhance internal communication and foster a stronger team dynamic to effectively navigate a rapidly changing environment.
- Addressing a Pet Affordability Crisis: With many pet owners struggling to afford veterinary care and pet food, the OHS sought to find ways to keep pets with their families.
- Building an Inclusive Animal Welfare Movement: The organization aimed to engage a diverse range of stakeholders, including underrepresented groups, to ensure broad community support.
- Strengthening Organizational Infrastructure: OHS needed to enhance its internal systems and processes to better respond to the needs of animals and the community.
Our Approach
1. Comprehensive Community Consultation
Between July and September 2023, OHS engaged in extensive public consultation to inform its strategic plan. This included:
- Surveys of the board of directors and the general public.
- Stakeholder presentations and focus groups.
- An Ask Me Anything session on Reddit.
- Public engagement surveys distributed through various channels, including social media and partner agencies, available in multiple languages.
Our team at Sayid Consulting conducted a thorough review of existing policies and organizational frameworks. We evaluated the effectiveness of survey designs and questions to ensure they provided valuable insights for strategic decision-making.
3. Facilitated Strategic Planning Sessions
We led a series of strategic planning sessions using participatory approaches. This included:
- Pre-workshop interviews with key stakeholders to understand individual perspectives and organizational growth.
- Customized full-day sessions with the board and senior team to develop a shared vision, identify contradictions hindering progress, and define strategic directions.
- A follow-up session with the senior team to refine and polish the draft strategic plan.
The Impact
Our facilitation led to several key outcomes for the OHS
- Enhanced Collaboration and Decision-Making:
Our facilitation created a structured environment that encouraged open communication and aligned the leadership team and board. This improved decision-making processes and fostered a cohesive team dynamic, enabling OHS to navigate changes more effectively. - Building an Inclusive Animal Welfare Movement: Through our inclusive facilitation methods, we ensured diverse stakeholder engagement. We incorporated feedback from underrepresented groups, helping OHS create a strategic plan that reflects the needs and values of the entire community. This fostered broader support and participation in their initiatives
- Strengthened Collaboration Between Leadership and the Board: The strategic planning process facilitated open communication and alignment between the leadership team and the board, ensuring a unified approach to achieving the organization’s goals.
- Improved Stakeholder Engagement: Engaged over 3,000 participants in the consultation process, significantly exceeding expectations and gathering diverse perspectives to inform the strategic plan and gain buy in.
Our approach at Sayid Consulting is designed to unlock the full potential of organizations through collaborative and inclusive facilitation, tailored to address specific challenges and drive meaningful impact.
The Ottawa Humane Society is now equipped with a clear strategic direction and renewed commitment to its mission, ensuring a brighter future for all animals in the community.
Manal recently facilitated the strategic planning process for our organization. Her objectivity and thoughtful questions contributed to a rigorous and efficient process and, as a result, a strong outcome. She provided great value add throughout the process, from her feedback on our community consultation to facilitation of the Board’s strategic planning day. She has a truly engaging facilitation style, which resonated well with very different personalities and thus ensured active participation of our whole group. We especially appreciated her strong time management skills, which ensured the process stayed on track!
Sharon MikoPresident & CEOOttawa Humane Society
Manal and her team did an excellent job facilitating a strategy planning session for the OHS Board and management. Manal brought a positive energy to the role and helped the OHS team align along draft strategic goals, helping participants identify key components in an inclusive approach. I highly recommend Sayid Consulting.
