Franklin Solutions’ Components of Local/Regional Transformation

Levers of Change

• Leadership and Leadership Team Composition
• New financial resources and supportive policies
• Agile strategy
• Agile collaboration

Narratives of Change

• Distinctive community or organizational identity development
• Compelling visions of the future for communities and institutions of the future
• Inclusiveness and democratic civic approaches

Quality of Community as Places to Live, Work and Play

• Physical infrastructure
• Inclusive, sustainable business models
• Neighborhood revitalization that is driven by citizens
•  Civic and social organizations

Economic Innovation and Employers

• Asset-driven economic development that leverages university research
• Technology-based economic development
• New firm development and entrepreneurship
• Innovation supply chains and ecosystems
• New special purpose intermediary institutions

Talent and Employees

• Seamless academic pathways
• Filling workforce readiness and talent gaps
• Formal and informal education programs
• Embedding sustainability practices through partnerships with education
• Talent attraction and stickiness strategies that couples with economic development foci

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Organizational Development Topics

Strategy

• Product/Project/Initiative Design
• Strategic Planning
• Agile Strategy and Collaboration
• New Business Model and Concept Development

Leadership

• Executive Coaching and Assessment
• Organizational Culture Climate Assessment and Optimization
• Leadership Development Workshops
• Organizational Performance Metrics

Collaboration

• Team Development
• Team Composition Assessment
•  Alchemy of Teams
• Agile Collaboration Workshops
• Disciplines of Strategic Necessity (Trust, Civility, etc.)

Transformation

• Project Management and Implementation
• Employee Engagement
• Agile Transformation and Change Management
• Process Optimization

“Tim has been very successful in his ability to organize collaborative teams, inviting in other leaders who are capable of offering supportive strategies, raising funds, and implementing ‘transformative solutions.’” 

Jerzy Nowak, Ph.D.
Department Head and Professor Emeriti
Department of Horticulture, Virginia Tech
Visionary and Founder, Institute for Sustainable and Renewable Resources, IALR

We’ll Build Your Custom Workshop

Strategy Workshops

Scaled Collaboration, Change, and Impact

For local/regional development contexts – The Scaled Collaboration, Change, and Impact workshop is designed for a cross-section of community organization leaders – including local government, business, education, non-profit organizations, and healthcare – 1) to learn about strategies for advancing economic, community, and workforce goals, 2) to deepen cross-sector collaborations, and 3) to inspire attendees about the benefits of proactive transformation.  In this workshop, participants will learn about and discuss subjects customized from the topics listed above.

Organizational Leadership and Change

For organizational development contexts – The Organizational Leadership and Change workshop is designed to accomplish organizational development goals defined by the organizational host.  It provides a means for organizational participants -- division leaders, project team members, key staff/faculty/program directors, C-suite stakeholders, and others – 1) to learn about strategies for advancing key organizational objectives, 2) to break down silos and define a common set of goals for advancing the organization, and 3) to inspire attendees about the disciplines and benefits of collaboration-driven transformation. In this workshop, participants will learn about and discuss subjects customized from the topics listed above.

“I began working with Tim and Nancy Franklin as they started to implement the vision of the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research to revitalize and transform the textile, tobacco, and furniture economy in southside Virginia. They were strategic, partnership-oriented, outcomes-oriented, and courageous. They created big ideas and recognized the importance of the details of implementation.  Their legacy of regional revitalization is alive and going strong today.”

Ted Settle, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Economic Development (retired)
Virginia Tech

Process Workshops

Strategic Doing

Offered in partnership with your institution, Strategic Doing* provides a structured approach to forming strategic collaborations and move them quickly to action.  Strategic Doing focuses teams on trust-building and strategic action through the achievement of a series of small short-term wins.  Strategic Doing has been used throughout the United States and numerous other countries to advance the well-being of communities.

Strategic Planning

The Strategic Planning workshop provides a guided methodology for creating organizational strategic plans.  This workshop grounds participants in the value of strategic planning and provides a step-by-step roadmap for building and executing a strategic plan.  Included in the workshop are recommendations for stakeholder communication and progress tracking, as well as templates and dashboards that can be employed by strategic planning teams.

Design Thinking

Design Thinking enables the development of innovative solutions by focusing on the needs and motivations of the target population to be served.   It utilizes an iterative process to identify possible solutions through brainstorming, prototyping, and testing new concepts and ideas.  Design Thinking is particularly useful in addressing ill-defined issues and is well-suited to engaging a team of people in hands-on activities to generate novel solutions.

“During my years as president of the Engagement Scholarship Consortium I could rely on Tim and Nancy to provide straight-shooting practical advice as we attempted to create an international organization and steer it toward strategic planning and more action oriented strategic doing, two of the Franklins’ many skilled areas related to organizational development.” 

Hiram E. Fitzgerald, Ph.D.
University Distinguished Professor, Emeritus
Associate Provost Emeritus
Past President, Engagement Scholarship Consortium
Michigan State University

Tool Workshops

Teaming

The Teaming workshop assists organizations in creating high-performing teams to address specific challenges by optimizing the strengths and preferences of team members.  Principles relating to the Alchemy of Teams are shared and practiced.  Team composition optimization is enabled by tools provided by Human Insight* that are designed to assess individuals’ inclinations towards innovation, optimization, relationships, tasks, focus, and complexity.  The analysis provided by the Human Insight tools enables organizations to assemble and analyze teams that are best suited to address their respective challenges.

Culture and Leadership

The culture and leadership workshop assists an organization in understanding the impact of culture and leadership on organizational goal attainment.  Organizational culture assessment and optimization is enabled by tools provided by Human Synergistics* which can be focused on the organizational unit as a whole as well as on the leadership of the organizational unit.  The analysis enabled by the Human Synergistics tools provides organizations an avenue to understand their current culture and chart a path to their desired culture.

“…big ideas are the vehicles that help transform society and make the lives of people and communities better…In addition to promoting community resilience and well-being, really big ideas typically lead to more big ideas.  They are the gifts that keep on giving… Having and implementing big ideas requires collective focus, broad collaboration, unwavering persistence and steadfast commitment from all major stakeholders.”

 “…while I was a dean at Virginia Tech's eight colleges I remember an animated conversation on campus one day with Tim and Nancy Franklin, the founding executive and senior directors of the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research regarding the potential of this new big idea. I vividly recall thinking at the time, ‘now that's what a land grant university should be doing.’”

(October 24, 2012, Comments made at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the National Tire Research Center)

 Jerry Niles, Ph.D.
Dean Emeriti and Professor, College of Health and Human Development (former name)
Interim Vice President for Outreach and International Affairs
Virginia Tech

Futures Workshops

Futures workshops are customized to need and offer depth in “know how” oriented topics that support groups of leaders in embarking on a change effort.  The Futures workshops focus on educating participants about promising practices and successful approaches to embarking on a major transformation effort.  Workshop outcomes include providing participants with a common frame of reference and preparing them for the work of defining shared goals.  Futures workshops can stand alone or be paired with a strategy of process workshop around the topics listed above.

*Franklin Solutions workshop facilitators hold the following certifications:

-       Strategic Doing Fellow

-       Strategic Doing Certified Workshop Leader

-       Human Insights AEM-Cube Certification

-       Human Synergistics Organizational Culture/Effectiveness Inventory Certification

-       Human Synergistics Leadership & Management/Impact Culture Certification

-       Creative Problem Solving – Buffalo Facilitator Certification

-       Experience Leading Design Thinking Workshops

-       Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship Member