Organizational
Development
Strategic Planning
Burnside-Gorge
Community Association
Wave planned and facilitated a strategic planning session
with the Board of Directors and senior staff of a community association
serving a diverse residential and commercial inner-city neighbourhood.
We then prepared a strategic directions document that profiles the BGCA's
vision and outlines a plan enabling the association to achieve its goals
over the next three years.
"We found Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley's presentation and assistance
to be both professional and friendly. Dyan did an excellent job of preparation
and facilitation of our strategic planning and really helped set us on
a clear course. She has strong facilitation skills and returned a great
document summarizing the proceedings and directions and how we were going
to get to where we wanted to be. He superior organizational skills transferred
to our organization through this work and we are grateful for the time
she spent with us."
Dean Fortin, Director
Housing
Affordability Partnership (HAP)
HAP is a consortium of community, government and business
organizations promoting housing affordability in the Capital Regional
District. The associates required a strategic plan that would refocus
and direct their collaborative efforts; a plan all partners could support.
With this goal in mind, Wave planned, facilitated and documented a strategic
planning session.
"The Housing Affordability Partnership contracted WAVE
Consulting to facilitate a strategic planning session. WAVE was able to
draw out the common thinking and vision from a very diverse group, condense
the discussion into a concise usable draft, make amendments and then deliver
the final report in a timely manner. Their thoughtful, efficient and pleasant
way of working helped us to focus our work more effectively on our strengths
and on clear objectives. HAP regularly applies the wording in the report
as we continue to try to find solutions to the challenging and complex
issues surrounding housing affordability in BC's Capital Region."
Mabel Jean Rawlins-Brennan, Executive Director
Victoria Cool-Aid Society
The Victoria Cool-Aid Society engaged Wave Consulting
to plan, facilitate and document planning activities bringing together
downtown Victoria service providers and representatives of downtown businesses.
The purpose of the initiative was to create an action plan to address
issues related to homelessness in the downtown core. Two sessions were
held over a one week period resulting in an action plan outlining five
strategic directions which the organizations could collectively and individually
work on over the next few years.
"WAVE consulting through Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley,
assisted the Victoria Downtown Service Providers Group with developing
a strategic approach to the health and social issues for the downtown
street entrenched and homeless population. Dyan provided clear and supportive
facilitaiton in a span of just four hours and helped us identify, prioritize,
and define five main projects. The projects are now underway and moving
toward implementation. We look forward to working with WAVE again in the
future when we need challenging and dynamic facilitation".
Community Social Planning Council
of Greater Victoria
Wave Consulting assisted the Council's board and staff to
identify strategic directions to guide the organization over the next
five years.
"I would highly recommend Dyan to anyone looking for
facilitator for their group strategic planning session. She has a very
practical approach to planning and knows how to strike the right balance
between inclusiveness and taking charge to ensure the process yields useable
product!"
Sandra Bjola, President, Community Social Planning Council
City of
Victoria, Community Development Division
Wave Consulting was engaged to facilitate a condensed strategic planning
session with Community Development Division staff. The session looked
at the work of the division in the context of the changing external and
internal environment. The results, including potential future strategic
directions, were documented.
"Staff in the Community Development Division, of the City of Victoria's
Parks, Recreation & Community Development Department , consciously
chose to engage Wave Consulting in a review of the Division's core
business functions. Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley facilitated the session which
was fast-paced , focused and resulted in the staff setting key directions
and priorities for future work. Dyan's personal and engaging style
was identified as a definite asset in the discussions."
Wendy Zink, Manager
Community Development Division
City of Victoria,
Planning Division
Wave Consulting Ltd's Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley,
was engaged by the Victoria City Planning Division to facilitate a half
day session examining its current working environment in preparation for
an organization review. The session involved an environmental scan, clarification
of our shared values, mandate and mission and more. This ambitious, "time-challenged'
session, involving all 12 staff members took place in the city's (non-air-conditioned)
City Parks Division training room on the warmest day of the summer.
"Throughout the exercise Dyan exhibited her practical, inclusive
style. She has excellent listening skills, an ability to draw out ideas
through her perceptive questions, flexibility and adaptability. She also
demonstrated good report writing ability in her summary document - delivered
in a timely fashion.
I have no hesitation in recommending her services."
Doug Koch, Manager, City Planning Division
City of Victoria, Mayor and Council
The City Manager engaged Wave Consulting Ltd to facilitate strategic
planning sessions with the Mayor and Council to ensure the Council's
strategic plan was aligned with the objectives of downtown revitalization.
"Dyan was very helpful in facilitating Council in the update
of the City's strategic plan. We've worked with Dyan on projects in
the past, and she is always a consummate professional with a remarkable
ability to facilitate a large group with flexibility and flair. Her
approach is accommodating and friendly yet focused on delivering results."
Joe Martignago
City Manager,
City of Victoria
City of Victoria, Urban Development Agreement
Wave Consulting Ltd was engaged by the City of Victoria to facilitate
focus group sessions with the business community and neighbourhood organizations
to define issues, interests, priorities and opportunities to support
downtown revitalization. The contract included the preparation of session
summaries.
United Way of Greater Victoria
Wave Consulting Ltd was engaged by the United Way of Greater Victoria
to plan for and facilitate a strategic planning session to assist the
Board to analyze the impact of the current environment on its strategic
plan to assist them to develop appropriate management strategies.
Pacifica Housing Society
Pacifica Housing Society engaged Wave Consulting Ltd to plan and facilitate
a day long strategic planning session with staff and produce a comprehensive
strategic action plan based on the session.
"Having participated in sessions facilitated by Dyan
Dunsmoor-Farley (Wave Consulting), I was impressed with her skills
and ability to keep groups focused on the tasks at hand. So when I
needed someone to facilitate a strategic planning session for Pacifica
Housing Advisory Association, Dyan was my choice. I wasn't disappointed
and neither were the staff. Dyan was prompt, prepared and professional.
We accomplished a lot in a short time and we had fun doing it. "
Karen French,
Executive Director, Pacifica Housing Advisory Association
Ngystle Society
The Ngystle Society located on Haida Gwaii, engaged Wave Consulting
Ltd to assist the board to develop a five year business plan. Consultants
Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley and sub-contractor, Caroline Moore, worked with
the board and key staff in Haida Gwaii, becoming familiar with the Society's
programs and conducting an extensive strategic planning session. In addition
to the site work, the consultants conducted telephone conferences to
fully develop the business plan to meet the client's objectives.
Human Resources Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)
HRSDC engaged Wave Consulting Ltd to plan, facilitate and report on
a strategic planning session with the Victoria Steering Committee on
Homelessness. The committee was comprised of federal, provincial, local
government and service agency representatives.
"The Victoria Steering Committee on Homelessness engaged
Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley in the fall of 2004 to assist the committee in
preparing a strategic plan that would guide the committee's activities
in the subsequent 12-24 months. Dyan had been highly recommended to
the committee by senior management at the City of Victoria.
This was a challenging task as the committee is made up of representatives
of all three levels of government and a broad cross-section of agencies
who work with homeless people. Working with such a diverse group under
tight time-frames requires a person to possess tact and yet to be assertive
enough at key points in order that objectives for the planning session
are realized by and for the group. Dyan was very effective in this
role and was instrumental to the overall success of the initiative.
There were two particular areas of effectiveness.
First, Dyan interviewed several members of the committee before the
strategic planning day to gain a good understanding of the issues
and personalities ‘at play'.
Second, Dyan adjusted the agenda and activities of the planning process
throughout the day to reflect the input provided by committee members.
Her flexibility in this regard was an important element in a successful
process.
I can heartily recommend Dyan for strategic planning and facilitation
work. She is thoroughly professional, hard-working, fun to work with
and - most of all - she gets results. "
Andrew Lane
Regional Manager, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
Co-chair, Victoria Steering Committee on Homelessness.
BC Housing
Wave Consulting Ltd was engaged by BC Housing to assist the Inter-Ministerial
Committee on Homelessness to develop a strategy to strengthen the existing
linkages between housing, health and other support services. Wave planned,
facilitated and provided records of decision for committee meetings.
In consultation with the committee, Wave developed a draft homelessness
strategy including the development of key principles and best practices
in addressing homelessness based on analysis of homelessness initiatives
in other jurisdictions.
"Wave planned and facilitated a two day strategic planning workshop for
the Premier's Task Force on Homelessness working group comprising provincial
government, local government and service provider representatives from
across BC. In addition to the formal strategic planning activities, the
session included site visits to five different models of shelter and
support. "
Margaret McNeil, BC Housing Direction of Operations, would be pleased
to provide more information on this project.
Western Canada Family Child Care Association of BC
Wave facilitated a one-day meeting aimed at building a working partnership
model amongst the agencies and organizations working towards enhancing
the quality of family child care. Attending the meeting were WCFCCA executive,
Westcoast Child Care Resource Society, BC Aboriginal Child Care Society,
the four Child Care Resource and Referral Regional Coordinators and the
Manager, Child Care Programs from the provincial government. Wave provided
a summary of the session.
Follow up work is underway to develop mentorship and leadership strategies
to enhance partnership opportunities.
Ministry of Health
The Communicable Disease and Addictions Prevention Branch contracted
Wave Consulting Ltd. to develop a strategic framework to guide the development
of the provincial immunization program over a five year period. As the
project consultant, Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley conducted stakeholder consultations,
facilitated strategic planning sessions, and developed the BC Immunization
Strategic Framework. The second phase of the project involved conducting
provincial stakeholder consultations to confirm the directions proposed
in the strategic framework.
Ministry of Health
Wave Consulting was contracted by the Ministry of Health to coordinate
the development of a strategic framework to renew the provincial response
to viral hepatitis and improve engagement of the populations living with
the greatest vulnerability to these diseases. This work included:
- convening steering committee sessions for the purposes of gathering
input, direction and content for a draft framework;
- development and revision of the framework as required based on input,
direction and content provided by the province, key stakeholders, and
the steering committee;
- convening 19 meetings, 3-4 hours in length, with stakeholder groups
in 17 different locations across BC in order to gather further input
and feedback on the document; and
- producing a final draft of the framework reflecting all thoughts
and ideas collected.
"Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley was the project lead on behalf
of Wave throughout the development process. Time and time again, Dyan
proved herself a significant asset to this project, demonstrating a
sizable facilitation skill set, an ability to guide complex and at
times heated discussions in an inclusive and productive manner, and
a fundamental respect for and ability to appropriately engage some
of the most marginalized individuals and population groups in our society.
Throughout a challenging and somewhat organic set of steps that
led to the final draft framework, Dyan remained highly focused and
organized. This was of particular benefit during the intensive consultation
process that involved shopping the framework out to over 17 different
communities. She was able to effectively leap into this work with little
in the way of prior content knowledge about these diseases, and help
to craft what I am convinced will be an important strategic framework
for the ministry and the province.
It is actually difficult for me to imagine how we could have accomplished
this work without Dyan's skilful assistance. "
Stephen Smith,
Manager, Blood Borne Pathogens
Communicable Disease and Addictions Prevention
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Health
The Tobacco Control Program engaged Wave Consulting Ltd to facilitate
a consultation with retail and business stakeholders regarding proposed
regulatory changes under the Tobacco Sales Act and Tobacco Tax Act. Dyan
Dunsmoor-Farley worked with program staff from Ministry of Health and
Ministry of Small Business and Revenue to develop the session program
and agenda, facilitated a half day session and prepared session notes
and a consolidated report of session findings.
Ministry of Forests and Range
The Housing Policy Branch contracted with Wave Consulting Ltd to plan,
organize and facilitate ten forums with mayors, councilors and planning
staff from across the province regarding the issue of homelessness in
their communities. Project consultant, Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley, provided
a summary of discussions for each session and produced a summary report
outlining key findings. Phase two of the project involves hosting and
reporting on web-forums with community partners across the province using
Webex web forum technology.
South Fraser Family Child Care Society
Richmond Family Child Care Association
Wave Consulting was engaged to provide one day Strategic Planning sessions
for three family child care associations in BC. The session provided
participants with the opportunity to develop long term objectives based
on strategic statements and a one-year operational plan.
Board
Development
Aboriginal Head Start Association of BC
The Aboriginal Head Start Association of BC engaged Wave Consulting
Ltd. to conduct a one day Board Development workshop. Wave provided a
presentation on roles, relationships, legal responsibilities and governance
models for not-profit societies. Participants were guided through a process
to identify and assess the Board's current governance model. The outcome
of the session was a plan to address policy and practice issues in order
to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Board's work.
Downtown Service Providers
The Downtown Service Providers is a collaborative of voluntary, government and business organizations seeking better ways of working with the homeless in downtown Victoria. Wave Consulting has assisted the organization with strategic planning activities over the past five years.
“Your help to the DSP is deeply appreciated. You helped us come to birth, and have watched us grow over the years, always guiding us, gently pushing us and yet, at the same time reminding us of our successes and the talent we have around the table.” Reverend Allen Tysick.
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