Strategic Planning & Leadership Formation

Backed by Independent Research

TrueSpace, a Gallup-validated research firm, ran a five-year study of companies running on EOS, benchmarked against roughly 2,500 U.S. businesses using propensity-matched cohorts. The finding was unambiguous: companies running EOS with a professional Implementer outperformed their matched peers.

35%

more revenue growth vs. companies not running EOS with a professional Implementer

2.8x

faster growth than the matched control group over the five-year study period

118 points

higher on TrueSpace’s business health index (602 vs. 484)

Nonprofits made up roughly 5% of the organizations studied. The same pattern holds when growth is measured in mission impact rather than revenue.

Source: TrueSpace / EOS Worldwide five-year longitudinal study.

A Practitioner-Scholar, not a theorist

Thirty years leading mission-driven organizations came first. The research came after — to test what the field had taught him against something more rigorous than instinct. That research became the Nonprofit Leadership Diagnostic Study (NLDS), and its findings are the foundation of Amplifying Impact, a manuscript Jay co-authored with Joel Swanson and Curt Swindoll. The VED Framework behind the Free Diagnostic below — Vision, Execution, Diagnostic capacity — comes directly out of that study.

This is a Practitioner-Scholar's practice: learned in the room, tested against the data, taught so it transfers.

If any of this sounds familiar

You have a strategy. What you don't have is an organization executing against it.

The same problems keep cycling. Your team is talented — but not functioning as one.

Somewhere along the way you stopped leading the organization and started running it. That's a different job. A harder one. And not what you signed up for.

You've tried things. Strategic planning that generated energy and sat in a portal. Coaching that gave you frameworks that didn't transfer. You're not failing. You're operating in a structure that was never designed to support the work you're trying to do.

The gap between the leader you are and the organization you're trying to build — that's where this work begins.

What happens here

This is Dynamic Strategic Planning: a full EOS operating system, installed and run with you until your team owns it.

Over a series of sessions, we build your one-page strategic plan, clarify accountability so every seat has one owner, set quarterly priorities, and install a weekly scorecard and leadership meeting rhythm your team keeps running after I leave the room.

EOS gives your team a common language for vision, execution, and team health. I bring the facilitation that makes the tools land – naming what the team already knows but won’t say, holding the team accountable to the process, and coaching the follow-through between sessions.

The result: a leadership team that executes without you carrying it, and – because the structure finally works – the room to lead from your strengths instead of your reflexes.

Who this is for

The leaders who get the most from this work tend to arrive in one of three situations. If you recognize yourself in any of them, that recognition is worth a conversation.

Situation 1

You have a vision. It is not becoming an organization.

The strategy exists. The team can articulate it. Quarter after quarter, the same priorities appear on the list without meaningfully advancing. You are not failing. You are operating in a structure that was never designed to support the work you are trying to do.

What the work builds: A full EOS operating system — a one-page strategic plan, structured accountability, a weekly leadership meeting rhythm, quarterly priorities, a weekly scorecard. Not a better plan. An organization that can finally execute the one it already has.

What changes in the business: Priorities close on time instead of rolling forward every quarter. The scorecard becomes a real leading indicator, not a report nobody reads. Meetings produce decisions instead of updates.

What changes for the leader: The recurring conversations stop. The team knows what it owns. You reclaim the work that only you can do.

Situation 2

You have made the decision. Now you need to build what comes next.

Something shifted — a partnership that ended, a chapter that closed, a conviction about the kind of leader you will no longer be. The decision was right. What comes next is unclear.

What the work builds: A values clarification process that anchors every structural decision that follows. New operating agreements. A structure of accountability that reflects the organization you are building, not the one you are leaving behind.

What changes in the business: New operating agreements replace the ones that no longer fit. Roles and decision rights are explicit instead of assumed. The organization can move forward without re-litigating the past.

What changes for the leader: The rebuild feels coherent rather than chaotic. Every structural decision connects back to a values foundation. The organization starts to match the leader you have decided to be.

Situation 3

The team that built this cannot take it further. Not together.

Performance has plateaued. A few team members carry a disproportionate load while others underdeliver. The culture has drifted. What got you here is not what will take you there.

What the work builds: An honest assessment of the team using the EOS people assessment — the right people (values fit) in the right seats (role fit). A path forward that is direct, humane, and grounded in clarity about what the organization requires. This work often involves hard people decisions. It is done with the conviction that clarity is an act of care — for the people staying and for the people who need to find a better fit.

What changes in the business: The right people land in the right seats. Underperformance gets named and addressed instead of absorbed by the team around it. Performance trends up because the structure finally matches what the organization needs.

What changes for the leader: The weight of carrying the team lifts — because the team is finally built to carry itself. Culture reflects values rather than tolerating their absence.

Two Organizations. Different Sectors. Same Pattern.

Anonymized examples from active Dynamic Strategic Planning engagements.

For-Profit · Professional Services – 50-person firm, ~$25M revenue

Before: No structural clarity, no shared sense of direction, team health issues the leadership team couldn’t solve on its own. Accountability was informal at best.

After: 300%+ net revenue growth over two years. Structured accountability clarified. Core purpose defined and driving decisions across the organization. The leadership team now runs its own quarterly sessions without me in the room.

Nonprofit · Community Services – Regional nonprofit, ~$4M budget

Before: Leadership misaligned on priorities, high staff turnover, the organization had lost confidence in its ability to execute on its mission. Board relationships were strained.

After: Stabilized leadership team, reduced turnover, rebuilt organizational confidence. Clear 1-year and 3-year targets now guide decision-making. Board alignment restored.

What clients say

“Working with Jay has been transformative. He brought a deep understanding of both the EOS framework and the realities of nonprofit leadership. He didn’t just walk us through the process, he helped connect it to our purpose. Most of all: because of Jay, we still exist as an organization today.”

— D.J. Whetter, CEO, CiviCO (Leadership Development Nonprofit, Colorado)

“Jay is the consummate professional – probably the best in the business. The organization is growing at a clip it has never grown before. EOS led us to a place of true clarity and better business practices. It has been nothing short of remarkable – rocket fuel for our growth.”

— Saul Garlick, Founder & Partner, Unleesh

Who gets the most from this work

The leaders who do the best work here wake up asking how they're going to be better — not just more efficient, but genuinely better as a leader and as a person.

They're not looking for a system delivered and departed. They're looking for a partner who will hold them to the hardest version of what that pursuit requires.

If that's the orientation you bring, this works.

Free Diagnostic →

The first conversation is about fit — for both of us.

jay@streargroup.com · streargroup.com · Denver, Colorado

Dynamic Strategic Planning: Turn a Plan on a Shelf Into a System Your Team Runs.