Leonard Cheshire is the UK’s leading charity provider of services for disabled people, employing some 7000 staff, and, through Leonard Cheshire International, supporting services for disabled people in 57 countries throughout the world.
The challenge:
The trustees of the charity concluded, in November 2003, that “Leonard Cheshire does not wish to confine its activities only to being a service provider for a limited number of people, Leonard Cheshire wishes to enhance and enlarge its existing activities and to reach out and find new ways of supporting disabled people as a whole in the UK and around the world.” Responding to these conclusions, the directors identified the need to build Leonard Cheshire’s capacity to respond to this broader vision and the need to identify and implement a process or processes to develop a clear purpose and vision for the organisation, and a strategy to achieve this new vision.
The MSL solution:
Marketing Statements recommended that a small task force be formed from within the organisation to respond to the challenge. The ideas of James Collins and Jerry Porras about developing an organisation’s vision were introduced to help the task force discover Leonard Cheshire’s core purpose and envision an audacious goal for the charity. These were debated and refined in meetings with the trustees, directors, staff and disabled people. The members of the task force were encouraged to use the ideas of Robert Kaplan and David Norton to map out the organisation’s strategy, following the principles and processes of the Balanced Scorecard system.
The benefits:
Leonard Cheshire has a new vision and a strategy that, when developed, communicated and implemented, should satisfy the wish expressed by the trustees that the organisation reach out and find new ways of supporting disabled people as a whole in the UK and around the world. The research, discussions and debates required to discover the purpose of the charity, envision an audacious goal and map its strategy have served also to develop a broader leadership team that will champion change and make things happen throughout the organisation.
The testimonial:
“Thank you very much for all your hard work in bringing the Leonard Cheshire vision for the future from a pretty hazy idea into something much closer to reality over the past year or so. I know that from time to time you had to drag people kicking and screaming with you, but I am very pleased with the outcome achieved over last weekend, and it is now up to us to convert it to hard achievement.”
Charles Morland, then Chairman, Leonard Cheshire Disability
http://www.lcdisability.org/
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Are you receiving full credit and value for your services?
Charities and like not-for-profit organisations can fail to appreciate that the benefits and value of their services are often received by many people, the majority of whom may be one or two steps removed from the immediate target of the service. The discovery of these numerous other beneficiaries and the identification and understanding of the benefits and value that they receive indirectly from you can create opportunities for you, in turn, to obtain substantial additional credit and value for your services at little additional cost to you.
To arrange a meeting with Marketing Statements, please contact Jenny Patterson on 07957 473 270/020 8983 3984 or jenny.patterson@marketingstatements.com
