Facing New Organizational Challenges Together

Through more than 50 years, Options Community Services (Options) has earned wide respect as a leading provider of support services and housing for vulnerable populations across the city of Surrey, British Columbia, and its surrounding communities.

Options touches over 100,000 lives every year with a program portfolio that includes some 80 community services and a newer department of housing development that is currently planning its first purpose-built, mixed-income housing site. Operating in a highly diverse, rapidly growing community with increasing complexity and significant systemic issues, such as the housing crisis, Options invited Junxion to facilitate a six-month strategic planning engagement.

The process involved the board of directors, the executive team, over 100 staff, and external stakeholders, to redefine Options’ 10-year vision and develop the new strategic plan, which is anchored in systems change, development of a learning culture, and bold, proactive community leadership.

The Challenge

Over the past five years, Options has managed great momentum and exponential growth, while navigating the increasing complexity of Surrey’s fast-growing, culturally diverse community in an under-resourced climate. Long-term systemic issues, such as the BC housing crisis, result in increasingly complex client needs, putting significant demands on the capacity, skill, and training of Options’ employees. Attracting and retaining qualified staff is a key challenge. This in turn puts pressure on Options’ organizational structure, design, culture and leadership, which must evolve as the agency works to meet its current and future objectives and growth targets. Systems and processes must be updated and renewed to meet the needs of a quickly evolving and fast-paced environment. And more intentional community outreach and leadership must further Options’ position as an agency and employer of choice. And all of this must be undertaken in the context of rapid community growth, increasingly complex community needs, and an era of limited resources.

How We Helped

Options engaged Junxion to guide them through the development of their new strategic plan, using our proprietary TurningPoint^TM approach. We conducted focus groups and interviews with the leadership team, staff, and board members. This initial data gathering, coupled with a market and materials review, including an external stakeholder survey, enabled Junxion to surface key opportunities and challenges for Options to consider.

From there, Junxion translated the workshop outcomes into a draft plan with three overarching strategic priorities and four key capability areas that will drive Options’ forward. The plan was reviewed and edited with the executive team and presented to the board of directors for further refinement and finalization.

Measuring Success

With Junxion’s guidance, Options developed a profoundly aspirational 10-year vision for the communities it serves, and an agile strategic plan that identifies the key capabilities and priority projects necessary for success. The process itself was an opportunity for Options to pause and reflect at a critical time of its development. It allowed for and confirmed the need for more engagement and collaboration across the organization, and offered staff across Options opportunities to engage in the process.

Junxion continues to support the executive team, as they navigate the COVID-19 crisis, with an agile implementation approach. Training with the executive team and the development of a quarterly scorecard of priorities is complete and currently continues with senior leadership and their program teams. This ensures the strategic priorities meaningfully cascade across the organization, with each program area anchoring their goals and projects to the overarching plan.