Strategy Built Together
What’s possible when leadership change is paired with inclusive strategic planning?
Client: CHOOSE 180
Services: Culturally Relevant Non-profit Strategy & Planning, Staff & Board Retreat Facilitation, Leadership Transition Support, Organizational Culture Design
Focus Areas: Community-rooted Non-profits
A 5-Year Plan: Pathways to Possibility
For nearly 15 years, CHOOSE 180 has disrupted the criminal legal system by transforming how the region responds to young people. By 2030, the organization envisions a region where systems no longer respond to youth with punishment, but with pathways to possibility—where schools, courts, and communities work in partnership to ensure that young people, particularly those impacted by racism, poverty, and systemic harm, are supported and centered.
As CHOOSE 180 entered a period of leadership transition and growth, the team recognized the need for a deliberate pause: one that would allow new leadership to set direction, elevate staff and youth perspectives, and address the organizational impacts that often accompany executive change. Kinetic West, in collaboration with Co-Rippling, partnered with CHOOSE 180 to design and facilitate an inclusive, staff- and community-centered strategic planning process to guide the organization’s next five years.
A Leadership Transition at a Critical Moment
At the end of 2023, CHOOSE 180 hired its second-ever Executive Director, marking a significant transition from its founding leadership. Incoming Executive Director, Nneka Payne, sought to establish a five-year plan that reflected not only her emerging vision, but also the perspectives of staff, board members, and young people engaged with CHOOSE 180’s programs.
This transition occurred at a broader inflection point for the organization. CHOOSE 180 was concluding its previous five-year plan while navigating the internal complexity that accompanies leadership change in a mission-driven organization with a deeply engaged staff. The challenge was not simply to produce a strategic plan, but to do so in a way that strengthened internal alignment, supported transparent communication, and built trust across staff, leadership, and governance during a period of change.
Designing a Process for Shared Ownership
Kinetic West, in partnership with Co-Rippling, designed a multi-phase strategic planning process intentionally aligned to the realities of leadership transition and organizational change. The approach emphasized structured co-creation, clear communication, and iterative feedback to ensure the plan was both actionable and broadly owned.
Key elements included:
Ambassador Team (Steering Committee) Formation
Supported the selection of a representative Ambassador Team reflecting diverse roles, tenure, and departments. This group served as a core design body and a conduit for two-way communication with the broader staff.Targeted Staff and Board Engagement
Facilitated team-specific staff and board focus groups to surface insights on current organizational conditions, leadership expectations, and priorities for the future.Co-Creation Design Sessions
Led a four-part series of structured design sessions—three with the Ambassador Team and one with the full staff—to synthesize input, test emerging priorities, and maintain transparency throughout the planning process.Culminating Staff and Board Retreat
Designed and facilitated a full-day retreat bringing staff and board members together to refine the five-year plan, strengthen staff–board understanding, and initiate aligned work planning across teams.
Following completion of the strategic plan, Kinetic West and Co-Rippling partnered with CHOOSE 180 on an additional Culture Retreat, aligned to a core internal goal identified in the five-year plan. This phase included a pre-engagement survey to assess culture, trust, and organizational dynamics, followed by a facilitated retreat and the development of practical tools to support ongoing culture assessment and leadership transparency.
Clear Direction, Broad Alignment
✔ First five-year plan developed with full staff input and a formalized structure for staff co-creation throughout the process
✔ Supported the second-ever Executive Director in shaping a five-year organizational vision in partnership with staff and board leadership
✔Advanced implementation of internal culture and staff development goals, including CHOOSE 180’s first externally facilitated all-staff Culture Retreat within six months
✔ Public launch of the five-year plan with clear timelines and external messaging at the annual gala, Evening of Choice: Shifting the Narrative
Insights for the Field
Leadership transitions—particularly in rapidly scaling, mission-driven nonprofits—require more than technical planning. They require intentional process design that accounts for organizational culture, communication norms, and trust dynamics. Strategic planning can serve as both a directional and stabilizing mechanism when it is structured to elevate lived expertise, clarify decision-making, and make progress visible across the organization.
This engagement reinforces the importance of reexamining default assumptions about how strategic planning “should” work and instead designing processes that reflect the values, context, and people at the center of the organization.
In need of a planning process that supports
transition and alignment?
Is your organization preparing for or responding to leadership change? At an inflection point? Interested in learning how shared alignment brings results beyond the plan? Contact Casey White at casey.white@kineticwest.com to learn how we can help.