Build Your Strategy
A collaboratively-developed and insightful strategic plan offers
enormous value to your organization.
Consider the impact if you have:
- A clear mission and a road map to achieve it
- Widespread enthusiasm for the impact you are poised to achieve
- An engaged board that understands its most efective contributions
- A professionally facilitated learning experience for your staf
that builds understanding - Awareness and goodwill amongst your stakeholders
- Support for your leaders
- A defensible reason to say ‘no’ to things
Planning is about generating a product and engaging in a learning process. We help you do both. We specialize in strategy development experiences that are informed by evidence from your stakeholders and are actually enjoyable.
Our Process
Our process includes design, facilitation and documentation of a comprehensive, collaborative strategic planning process. Rebecca will work with your team to complete all of the crucial strategic planning elements. The result is a succinct and practical report, ready for approval by your Board of Directors. The process usually includes the following phases and can be customized to suit your needs.

Governance Greatness
A customized orientation session that will unify new and seasoned directors around a unified definition of success.

Traction Package
Make your strategic plan stick! Invest in accountability, through implementation support and leadership coaching that will ensure your strategic plan gains traction over time.

Rebecca is truly gifted at helping people to clarify their own thinking, identifying and reflecting back the patterns and themes that exist within a diversity of viewpoints (further enhanced by her excellent use of cool tech tools), and helping groups to focus on what’s important to move forward rather than getting stuck or going in circles. She was absolutely the person we needed to shepherd us through our strategic planning process!
Devika Shah
Executive Director, Environment Funders Canada
Rebecca Sutherns is a qualified and experienced strategic planning professional, as well as a gifted presenter. She has an intimate understanding of group dynamics – particularly within the context of a higher educational environment. Working with Rebecca and Sage Solutions was a pleasure – one that I would be happy to repeat or to recommend to anyone requiring her services.
Peter Meehan
President and Vice Chancellor, St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo
Rebecca was an absolute pleasure to work with and guided all the respective stakeholders through the complex process ensuring we captured their respective perspectives and feedback into the process. All participants in the process shared how impressed they were with Rebecca’s facilitation skills. Her efforts resulted in the successful delivery of the project on time, receiving positive feedback from our stakeholders and with a product that will advance our organization forward in a positive direction. It was a pleasure to work with Rebecca on our project and we look forward to working with her more in the future.
Food Banks Canada
Rebecca really knows her “stuff” and is excellent at gently steering the conversations in the right direction to get results. She brings positive energy and momentum into the work, which inspired our team to work hard during more challenging conversations and resulted in creative solutions. I highly recommend working with Rebecca.
Karina McInnis
Associate Vice-President (Research Services), University of Guelph
Rebecca helped us have difficult conversations and wade through complexity to focus on what was most important. She has wonderful facilitation skills and a pleasant style that makes everyone, from front line employees to board members, feel at ease and valued.
Tracy Elop
CEO, Carizon Family and Community Services
Evidence of Wiser Decisions Faster
I’m excited to launch this series of videos showcasing the impact of collaborative planning. Check out the first episodes in the series showcasing House of Friendship, the Counselling Collaborative of Waterloo Region, and Carizon Family & Community Services.

Sightline
Even in uncertain times — perhaps especially then — we need a plan. My new book, Sightline: Strategic plans that gather momentum not dust, spells out the why and the how of collaborative strategy building.
