Your Scaling Roadmap
A clear, shared path from where you are today to the growth you know is possible.
We help purpose-driven organizations turn vision into a living, actionable roadmap your whole team is ready to carry forward.
The old way of planning wasn't built for how you grow now
Most strategic plans are written once, filed away, and forgotten. Leaders shape a three- to-year plan, only to watch it drift as the market shifts and the team moves on. The document is often too high-level, hard to implement, and imposed on the team so buy-in never arrives.
Plans that sit on a shelf - Big ambitions, little follow-through.
Little team buy-in - When people aren't part of the plan, they rarely commit to it.
Strategies that can't keep pace - Static plans struggle in a fast-changing environment.
A living strategic vision, built with your people
The Scaling Roadmap is a collaborative planning process that shapes a clear path for your organization's next phase of growth. We bring your leaders, staff, and the people you serve into the conversation. Together, we uncover what already works, envision what could be, and design a plan your team is genuinely ready to act on.
This is nonprofit planning made human, a growth strategy grounded in your strengths rather than in your gaps.
.
Our Positive Creativity approach draws on three practices that work as one:
The Science of Creativity
We create space for fresh thinking. Structured creative methods help you see new possibilities and move past ideas that may be holding you back.
+
Appreciative Inquiry
We start with your strengths. By exploring what your organization already does well, we build momentum from a place of confidence rather than from overwhelming problems.
+
Strategic Planning
We connect strategy to real demand. Market and stakeholder insights ground your roadmap in trends, the evolving needs of the people you serve, and opportunities that shape your growth
=
Co-Creating the Future
A unique process developed by Kim Marie McKernan, founded on the principles of Positive Creativity.
How we build your roadmap together
Step 1 - Discovery
We start with a real conversation with your Executive Director to help us understand your world. We listen first, then shape a proposal that reflects your actual scope and strategic intention.
What happens here:
Understand your organization's scope, goals, and context to design the right scope
(Optional) Bring in your Board representatives and Program Leader as needed.
Begin to frame your strategic intention to set the direction for what success looks like for your plan
Step 2 - Onboarding & Insights
Before we build anything together, we lay the right foundation. We identify the right people to be in the room, forming a diverse core team that reflects the full range of your organization. Then we gather survey feedback to inform their work.
What happens here:
Identify your core team: Diverse board members, staff, leadership, stakeholders, and those you serve
Run an engaging survey to gather insights into real successes, strengths, opportunities, and trends from diverse stakeholders beyond the core team.
Step 3 - Co-Creating the Future Workshop
This is where the vision comes to life. We bring your core team together for a guided, creative planning session, designed to surface your strengths, unlock fresh thinking, and produce a direction everyone can stand behind.
What happens here:
An engaging, collaborative workshop designed to be equally effective in person or virtually
In person: Half-day or full-day collaborative session depending on your goals
Virtual: Structured into focused sessions of two hours each
We build shared ownership by creating your strategic vision and the actions required to achieve your growth
Step 4 - Move Forward
Together, we set priorities, milestones, and next steps your team is ready to implement. We help you bring your roadmap back to your board with clarity and confidence.
What happens here:
Finalize vision, roadmap, and next steps with the Executive Director
Present findings and roadmap to leadership and team
Walk away with clarity, momentum, and a living plan that grows with you
Made for purpose-driven leaders ready to grow
Nonprofit Organizations
Ready to align your team and board around a shared direction?
Bring your people, your board, the people you serve, and your funders into the plan, and watch organizational alignment translate into real progress.
Nonprofit Startups
Building a fast-growing organization and unsure how to keep your mission aligned?
Build a scaling roadmap that evolves as your nonprofit, funders, and community change.
Purpose-Driven For-Profits
Do you feel that shaping a purpose-driven organization requires a different approach?
Growth needs to be intentional. Define a clear path that reflects your vision and moves you toward it with confidence.
Case Studies
Building a Better Future: Positive Creativity in Healthcare
CHC-Burlington was a successful Federally Qualified Health Center with a clear mission and visionary leadership seeking a facilitator for a three-year plan involving staff and partners. There was little available time from busy healthcare providers, and it needed to be presented to the board in approximately three months. Healthcare delivery for this organization is highly dynamic, with numerous different services, trends, and opportunities that will impact the future.
The Challenge
We went beyond the typical leadership roles to develop a core team made up of diverse roles and tenures tasked to complete the plan. Due to confidentiality and time constraints, we used a train-the-trainer model with the core team holding world cafe sessions involving 80 employees from all locations in sessions. We also completed the process with the board, offered an employee survey open to all employees, and interviewed 14 community partners. The two-day offsite resulted in a strategic plan that was comprehensive and widely supported by the organization.
The Solution
By leveraging the power of Positive Creativity and the voices of a wide group of employees and partners, CHC-Burlington gained clarity on their strengths and turned them into a foundation for sustainable success. This approach didn’t just transform processes, it created a culture where everyone felt heard, valued, and empowered to contribute to the collective vision.
“In prior processes, the conversation was still in the past, and the number of problems seemed overwhelming. This process helped shift our mindset from a lot of problems, to a focus on how to fix the problems, to an emphasis on how do we get into the future that we want.”
– Sam Arnold, COO
The Results
Using Positive Creativity to Transform Medical Education
New perspectives are needed to deal with changes in medical education. Topics included selecting a medical specialty, becoming a healthcare ally, and encouraging positive engagement with the community.
The Challenge
Use the Co-Creating the Future Process to create collaborative sessions to change perspectives, explore strengths, and build engagement with residents, interns, and staff. Dr. Mishra and Kim presented the work's results at several conferences, including the Appreciative Inquiry Jam and Medical Education and Educational Research Institute (MEERI) conference.
The Solution
“If you are looking for expert assistance to help you bring a group of people together around a vision, mission, goals, or action plans, you will find no one better than Kim. At an individual level, she not only meets you where you are but takes you beyond where you want to go!”
– Archana Mishra, MD, MS, FACP, FACP, Associate Professor of Medicine; Program Director, Resident Wellbeing and Advocacy Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences University At Buffalo.
The Results
Let’s kickstart your business
Meeting you where you are, and taking you where you want to go.
