Strategic Planning

We firmly believe in the value of strategic thinking and planning for all organizations, from the smallest to the largest. A strong plan keeps everyone – staff, board, volunteers, members, community - aligned towards a shared vision of success. A planning facilitator allows staff and board to fully engage in the planning process. The planning process we develop will be customized for your organization, its opportunities and challenges, and its resources.
 
Roberts Consulting's many strategic planning projects include...

• Abbe Museum’s strategic plan has decolonization of the museum as its core focus and goal. Laura worked with the board and staff over six months to develop the plan, which is a living document. Laura joined the museum’s executive director in a session at the 2017 American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting: Undoing Colonial Practices in Museums and Historic Sites
• Walters Art Museum’s 2015 strategic plan articulates a new vision for this important Baltimore institution: The Walters is a transformative force in our region and inspires people to connect with each other through meaningful experiences with great works of art from across the globe and throughout time. The plan Laura developed with board and staff began to reshape the museum even before planning was completed.
• The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U. S. Senate is the steward of the iconic Kennedy family compound in Hyannis MA. Working with Museum and Collector Resource, which is completing an assessment and plan for the collections, Laura developed a five year strategic plan for the use of the property in alignment with the overall mission of EMKI, recognizing the unique strengths and limitations of the house.
• Fitchburg Art Museum is fundamentally a community museum, devoted to serving the city and region’s diverse populations. Profiled in the January/February 2017 issue of Arts New England (“Can the Arts Save This Town? The Fitchburg Art Museum has a plan”) the museum’s 2016 plan views everything through the lens of community. For example, a collaborative effort with students at Fitchburg State University resulted in making one of the museum's core exhibitions accessible to Fitchburg's large Spanish-speaking population. The process Laura facilitated involved close to 100 community members, artists, and local leaders.
• And proof that planning can work... the recent strategic plan of the Frederic Remington Art Museum includes working towards an exhibition of the work of Sally James Farnham. In April 2018 the museum secured a generous gift to support the exhibition, which will add a new dimension to visitors' understanding of bronze sculpture. That news was followed by a special appropriation of $100,000 from the State of New York to help achieve another objective: upgrading the HVAC systems.

Organizational Assessment

Organizations often need to take stock, assess their policies, systems or operations and make adjustments. Laura can help you with reviewing and revising bylaws, board self-evaluation, writing ethics policies, and other fundamentals of sound management. She also organizes and facilitates accreditation self-studies and other assessments. Laura is an experienced surveyor for AAM’s Museum Assessment Program and a contributor to AASLH’s StEPS manual.
 
A variety of assessments and projects have helped organizations move forward such as...

• Laura has coordinated all of the AZA and AAM accreditation self-studies for the New England Aquarium since 2005, working with staff across the institution to develop or review policies and procedures, prepare accreditation materials, and assemble all of the required documentation.
• The late Daniel O. Morris of Ridgeland SC left the bulk of his estate in trust to create an organization that would preserve and document the heritage of the Carolina Lowcountry. Laura worked with the trustee of the Morris Foundation Trust to develop a concept for the Morris Center for Lowcountry Heritage and recruit and hire its inaugural staff.
• Woodrow Wilson Academy in Cambridge is a new graduate school designed to reconceptualize how science and math teachers are prepared for careers in elementary and middle schools. Laura worked with the staff, faculty, and students to clarify the start-up's mission and vision. 
• Laura worked alongside the Nonprofit Finance Fund to develop and assess strategic options for the American Textile History Museum before ATHM made the painful decision to close its doors and transfer its collections to other organizations. Laura also provided professional counsel to the museum’s leadership throughout the transition.

meeting and Retreat Facilitation

Roberts Consulting can organize your meetings or retreats from start to finish, from creating the agenda to writing the final report with action plans. We work with groups that include staff, collaborators, scholars, artists, board members and community representatives to think through questions related to organizational management, planning, and program development.
 
The meetings, retreats and planning charettes include...

• Naper Settlement in Naperville IL has a newly adopted strategic plan. Laura has been facilitating meetings of senior and middle management to develop strategies for operationalizing the plan.
• Following the transition to new executive leadership, Laura led a discussion of the Council of the American Association for State and Local History to develop a statement of values and goals and a plan to create an Aspirations Task Force to continue work towards a strategic plan.
• Over the years, Laura has facilitated a series of key meetings of the board of the young Museum of Durham History, beginning when the project was still an emerging concept and continuing through its first few years of public operations in a repurposed downtown bus station. The museum has attracted national attention for its innovative and community-centered programming.
• Anticipating the need for a new strategic plan as part of its AAM reaccreditation materials, the board and staff of the Allentown Art Museum created an ad hoc planning group. Laura has facilitated the group’s meetings, which were a combination of assessment and visioning. The outcome of those meetings are the four “pillars of strategy” of the museum’s plan.

Program Conceptualization

Organizations are never short of ideas, but they often lack the time to do the analysis to identify and develop the programs that will best serve their targeted audiences. We can do the assessment and research to support planning and development of new services, programs, or exhibitions.
 
Our program development projects include these assignments...

• Laura created a comprehensive education and programming plan for the John F. Kennedy Museum in Hyannis MA, identifying key audiences and incorporating goals and actions for school and teacher programs, public programs, and themes for new exhibitions.
• In collaboration with Audience Focus of Dallas TX, Laura worked with the Amelia Island Museum of History to develop a comprehensive interpretive plan for the museum’s exhibitions and programs. The project was supported by a Museums for America grant from IMLS.
• Laura worked with a committee of board, staff, and experts in the field to develop a strategic plan for interpretation for the New Hampshire Historical Society. The plan identified new audiences for NHHS and developed strategies for linking existing and new  interpretive practices more seamlessly.