HealthMPowers
“Amy did a fantastic job leading our team through a strategic planning process. Her attention to ensuring all voices felt heard, the final product was specific and reflected relevancy and community need and her ability to manage a communicative process with a large staff and Board was phenomenal. Amy is one of the best I have worked with in the Atlanta market and I would confidently recommend her to peers seeking a fresh, specific and focused strategy.”
Jennifer Owens joined HealthMPowers (HMP) as CEO after decades under prior leadership. The timing of this transition, within the context of COVID - placed HMP at a critical juncture in the organization’s evolution. The team decided to invest resources to develop a new strategy that would reframe HMP’s relevance and efficacy and further embed equity into their work.
the challenge
Reframing what impact looks like: Pre-COVID, HMP’s growth strategy was to expand their key education curriculum to a national scale. The team had to regroup post-COVID to radically accept and address growing unmet needs among children here in Georgia - especially around physical activity and mental health.
Building cohesion among siloes: HMP began as a series of grant-funded programs targeting different needs, audiences, and geographies. As the organization grew, it recognized the need for a cohesive approach to operations - from fundraising to data collection to impact reporting.
Equity as a strategy: Beyond diversity as a professional development tactic, HMP strives to become a true champion for health equity - embedding equity practices into all aspects of strategy and operations. HMP wanted its entire approach to being rooted in equity - to empower the team and the children they serve.
What Did It Take?
Deepening impact: The most significant strategic choice HMP made was to redefine growth: from expanding limited programs to a national footprint to deepening holistic programs to greatly improve the lives of children in Georgia communities.
Reframing and clarifying impact: To evaluate and communicate the impact of HMP’s work, we created a comprehensive theory of change. This framework explains how each strategy uniquely impacts their vision “all children are nourished and active .” In one visual, HMP’s theory of change now illustrates three strategies that drive quality of life outcomes for kids in Georgia. Thoughtfully explaining how complex change unfolds helped HMP identify several new areas of impact growth.
Doubling down on data: HMP collects primary health and wellness data as a part of their internal work. The team decided to further leverage their data to drive broader change in the ecosystem. By capturing consistent, cohesive data sets, HMP can develop deeper insights and share them broadly - helping to drive system change.
How Did We Do It?
Springboard believes that strategy should be done with organizations, not to them. We used a three-step process to co-create a plan with the team. We use a three-step framework to co-create a plan with the business owners that is unique and custom to the client’s needs.
Seasoned in operations, strategy, and facilitation, we rely heavily on interactive workshops to build plans with all organization levels. Investing in a strategic plan without alignment and buy-in throughout the experience wastes time and money.
Where are they now?
The plan has been approved by the board and HealthMPowers has begun socializing its new strategy with stakeholders and donors. The team created a metrics dashboard to track progress against goals.
President & CEO, Jennifer Ownes said, “our big bet is centering our work around youth voice.” To further this strategy, HealthMPowers has launched a youth advisory board, shifted staff resources to focus on incorporating youth voice and even added a young person to the Board of Directors.
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