Wendy Sharpe | Board Chair
Inkah Fischer | Board Deputy Chair
St Andrew’s Aged Care
Industry: Aged Care Business Size: 200+ employees The Opportunity: Unite the Board behind an agreed, clear, and compelling 5-Year strategic plan. Scope of Work:Strategic PlanningBoard CharterFacilitation
Wendy Sharpe, Board Chair
“As a result of the work we have completed with Thriving Minds Global to date, the business is now able to have clear direction for both the Board, CEO and the Executive Team moving forward.”
The Board of St Andrew’s Aged Care engaged the services of Thriving Minds Global in August 2024, to support the development of the organisations Strategic Plan. Our objective was to unite the Board behind an agreed, clear, and compelling 5-year strategic plan, setting the business up for success for the years to come.
With existing knowledge of our business, Gayle Pacchini from Thriving Minds Global developed a personalised Strategic Planning Roadmap to help guide the Board through what was a very comprehensive planning process.
Gayle was proactive in her approach of keeping us engaged, connected, and involved at every step along the way. We had regular check points, adjusted content and pivoted where required to ensure our objective was achieved.
· We needed to walk away with a draft strategic plan, of which we did.
· We needed to draft our Board Charter to help guide our actions and decisions, of which we did.
· We needed to be ready to walk the ELT through the draft strategic plan by February 2025 to ensure alignment and buy-in was established, of which we were.
Investing in an external partner to support us in this endeavour was a new process for St Andrew’s.
We recognised the value an external facilitator and consultant could provide at the board and executive level, allowing all Directors to be involved in the process itself, and to hold us each accountable to this process, whilst supporting to balance team dynamics and direction.
“I knew Gayle from a previous engagement and recommended her to the board for her level headedness, constructively critical lens, strategic leadership expertise, depth of emotional intelligence, and ability to meet people in a meaningful and engaging manner” (Inkah Fischer). When we finally met with Thriving Minds Global, Gayle’s approach and insights impressed us all – we knew she was the right fit for us.
Gayle was highly collaborative in her approach to workshop design and delivery, working with the team to ensure key challenges were addressed in a meaningful way, she was incredibly responsive to our needs, and struck a great balance of co-designing and leading. Her approach to facilitation was equally dynamic, with an outstanding ability to read the room and respond reflexively to participant needs. It was also a lot of fun, with great consideration in how to prompt us all to think outside the box and try new things to get maximum impact from our outputs (brain yoga anyone?!).
“A key highlight of partnering with Gayle is her professionalism in how she kept the Board on track in setting our Strategic Planning goals, keeping to the task in a teamwork environment. It would be without hesitation that I would recommend Thriving Minds Global for any future development opportunities.“
We walked away with more than a strategic document – our team was re-inspired, re-energised and re-engaged. Our capacity to collaborate as a cohesive team improved significantly through the structured, sensitive, and strategic approach to collaborative engagement that Gayle took.
The work we engaged with Gayle set St Andrew’s up for rapid success by providing us with the clarity of direction, practical objectives and strategic process. This enabled rapid expansion through a renewed confidence to seize opportunities as they arose.
We wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for this work around critical stakeholder alignment and clarification of direction.
“Great with people and great with process, it’s a 10/10 from me, and would absolutely recommend Thriving Minds Global for your business and strategic supports at any level.”
Inkah Fischer, Board Deputy Chair
Take the steps towards establishing greater alignment.
Get in touch with us and start your journey of building a great place to work.