The Water Research Foundation

Reach: North America

Industry: Research Foundation

Size: 50+ People

“That graphic is such an aha moment for me. This is the first time someone put things together in a way that makes sense. It seems so obvious, but we’re so in the thick of it, we didn’t see it this way.”

I was facilitating a session intended to clarify the value The Water Research Foundation exists to deliver. The group in the session had a resolute commitment to serving their subscribers, who are predominantly water utilities across North America. Their subscribers not only established the organization but also make the recurring investments the organization needs to do its work. 

The Water Research Foundation heard about the value their subscribers experienced or needed through distinct vantage points, which meant that while there was total clarity on the point of the business — to deliver value to their subscribers — they often articulated the value they delivered differently.

Chief Communications Officer, Lexie Vean, reached out with a question after the session: “We’re getting ready to start on our next three-year strategic plan. Is that a process you could support? You’re already so familiar with the organization, and we want to become a truly purpose-driven business in the way you outlined it during this session.”

the status and challenges

The Water Research Foundation staff sought increased empowerment. While the Foundation had taken steps to make that happen, they felt they could do even better. 

The organization already created a strategic plan every three years. That plan — as well as a complementary one-year plan — had to be approved by their board of directors before it could be implemented.

I spoke with the CEO, Peter Grevatt, and he shared that he wanted to develop a plan that advanced the Foundation as a purpose-driven business. The organization was already doing hugely impactful work; he wanted to ensure they were articulating that clearly and fully operationalizing their purpose. He also wanted the process to resolve the misalignment they still experienced in initiatives and staff.

He was keen to ensure that the process would actively engage their staff and their board. If we did it right, the plan would have such strong board support that no further discussion would be required at the board meeting to adopt it.

the work

Using the value session as a springboard, we dove right into a larger strategic process. We engaged a staff working group, a leadership working group, and a board working group. The board working group doubled as the working group for subscribers because the Foundation board is composed of leaders within their subscriber community. The insights we gained through these groups and wider surveys guided the process of refining their core and developing their three-year plan. 

“We’ve always sought feedback from our subscribers,” shared Lexie. “But this was different. We asked better questions and dug into the value they experienced and needed from us. Our community wants to be a part of our mission, and engaging them directly in the process made their voice as important as ours.”

They also created a dedicated working group that was responsible for refining the organization’s values. Leadership wanted to empower other members of the team to do this work and create values that reflected the culture they wanted to develop moving forward. The people participating in this group hadn’t done anything like this before. After navigating some discomfort, they fully embraced the task at hand. They learned a lot about values, how they work, and what it might look like to put them into practice, and they were exceptionally thoughtful about what they put together.

After presenting the refined values and the group's reasoning for them, the CEO shared, “The values coming from our staff are more inclusive than if they only came from us. This is an organization I want to be a part of. I want to work there." 

We set the rest of the core before focusing on developing the organization's three-year and one-year plans. The leadership took the first pass then opened it up for the entire staff to respond and for the working group to compile edits to the language and substance. We included an emphasis on the capacity to execute the plan. After incorporating that input, the draft went to the subscriber working group for input before being revised and shared with the wider board of directors. We achieved the goal of having sufficient engagement and strong board support so that both plans passed without further comment. 

Once the targets were set, we shifted to developing the one-year plan, which detailed how the group planned to hit their targets and what they intended to accomplish over the next twelve months. We supported implementing cross-functional working groups to both develop and ultimately take the lead in executing the tactics they produced. 

“This was a defining moment for us as an organization,” shared Lexie. “In the past, if we were working cross-functionally, one group was pitching in to help another. Now we have cross-functional groups working toward a shared goal. Not only are they producing excellent work, getting to know each other, and understanding how their contributions impact the organization, but they’re also learning about the processes that exist in other parts of the organization. It’s a huge part of truly working together as one team.” 

Many of these groups were led by team members who weren’t also in traditional management roles. “Giving staff experts outside the management team the opportunity to lead groups has been incredibly valuable in terms of engagement as well as the growth of those individuals,” added Lexie.

We then helped to design and implement a Calibration™ process that fit the natural timing of the organization. We supported the first year of that process through facilitation and resource development. As part of that process, we onboarded the leadership to our Pulse tool so they could better review and connect the pieces we had put in place together — from their core to their outcomes measurement framework. 

We also facilitated workshops on impact storytelling, including targeted workshops to support conversations with subscribers about an upcoming rate change. 

“We now have team members talking about the why. We just created new profile pieces about our research champions and their journey in the sector and why they do what they do, including choosing to support this organization,” said Lexie. 

“And while our mission says actionable research, we spend more time talking about valuable research. Because of you and because of what you taught us. It’s a new way of thinking.”