Results
We are proud of the results we have produced as trusted partners to clients from a wide range of sectors. Whether it’s a government agency, a global company, a growing nonprofit, a small entrepreneur, a school district, a multi-faceted community, or any combination of the above, we get to know you well and co-create a solution that gets you the results you want — plus some.
Some of our best work has happened in this sector. Our work has included leading a team of emerging leaders to future-proof their company and/or lead “from the future” rather than re-enacting patterns of the past.
Journey of Transformation: ENPRO. “I asked people to take a bet on themselves and assured them that, if they did, good things would happen. My team now is more expansive in mind, heart and body. We are more conscious of the way we communicate with each other and utilize tools and skills that you taught us everyday. We know that we can take a “Learning Journey” to another organization – inside or outside of our sector – to get new insights and perspectives on our most critical questions. The tools we introduced into our culture changed the way we think about things. I believe you opened up our eyes to see changes in the world that were not apparent before your work. In short, you taught us to listen to what the world was trying to tell us.” – Eric Vallaincourt (CEO Enpro Industries). Read more.
Stepping Into Boldness: ENERGY EFFICIENCY ALLIANCE (EEA). EEA had a reputation for punching above its weight as a small organization within the clean energy sector sphere. To reach their next level of impact, leadership knew they needed space and time to wrestle with their differences, given the complexity of the energy sector. A packed yet efficient 6 month process yielded a set of powerful pillars and refreshed mission, vision, and values statements. Read more.
MERCK. When this global pharmaceutical company was harmonizing the compensation systems of its two merged companies, they selected us to develop their Change Management strategy. Read more.
What’s different about Insyte’s approach? Engaging groups of people in conversations and experiences of consequence that lead to clear, robust plans that don’t sit on a shelf, but generate “action confidence.”
LOWER MERION SCHOOL DISTRICT: Lower Merion School District (LMSD) is a large suburban school district outside of Philadelphia that has a national reputation for its excellence in academics and outstanding standardized test scores. Read more.
BIG PICTURE PHILADELPHIA: Big Picture Philadelphia provides transformative educational experiences for under-served youth through its two school sites, Vaux Big Picture High School and el Centro de Estudiantes High School in our home city. Vaux offers small class size, individualized education plans, real world learning, internships, and advisory. El Centro is an alternative high school serving students who have previously disconnected from school. Above all, the schools are deeply committed to changing the trajectory of their students. When their long-term founding executive director was transitioning out of the organization, they hired us to facilitate their strategic positioning process. Read more.
U.S. FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION: The regulatory arm of this federal agency was under intense public scrutiny to reposition itself in light of new global realities. Funding challenges and the political environment had pitted field staff against leadership. Trust was low. Congress was asking for a strategic plan that the agency as a whole could stand behind. Read more.
Our Jewish work has evolved into three main categories:
- Working with Federations and community conveners to build the capacity to listen to all corners of their communities, activate latent networks, and generate priorities that speak to what people really care about.
- Partnering with legacy and emergent organizations to “listen from the future” and generate vision, strategy and prototypes…crossing the threshold from thinking to doing so there’s no going back to the “old ways” that no longer work.
- Supporting leaders through journeys of transformation for these times of societal rupture, individually and collectively.
Aligning Priorities Across a Whole City: HINENI HOUSTON. Jewish Federation of Greater Houston’s new CEO Renee Wizig-Barrios was committed to beginning her tenure by listening to the very diverse community that is Jewish Houston. In just a few months, 1221 Jewish Houstonians participated in 47 Listening Forums, 26 Home Gatherings and 110 Dialogue Interviews. The group aligned on 8 major priorities for the future of Jewish Houston. Listen to the Lab members share about their experience in this video produced by Federation. Read more.
North Star Alignment: JEWISH STUDIO PROJECT. “Seriously I am not exaggerating when I say that I look at our strategic plan everyday and it is literally serving as our north star for every decision we make as an organization.” – Jeff Kasowitz (JSP Co-Founder and Executive Director). Read more.
Reimagining Jewish Atlanta: THE FRONT PORCH. Insyte partnered with Jewish Federation of greater Atlanta to co-create a 21st Century template to activate Jewish life. The Front Porch engaged hundreds of Atlantans and generated a community “Framework for Action” and five reconstituted roles for Federation as the “backbone organization. Read about our Uber-Learning Journey to Israel, Prototype Boot Camp that moved us quickly from vision to action, and some of the prototypes that have gained momentum.
While we do many types of work, the standout request is designing and facilitating strategic planning journeys (sometimes day-long, sometimes a few months) where a core group has the conversations of consequence they’ve been craving and crafts a concrete strategic plan that functions as a North Star.
Nurturing the Nurturers: PROJECT HOME.“None of us are home until all of us are home.” This is the simply stated vision of Project HOME. Founded in 1989 by Sr. Mary Scullion and Joan Dawson McConnon, Project HOME has become a nationally recognized leader in the fight against homelessness. While best known for its work in providing permanent, subsidized housing for people who had been homeless, it also offers opportunities for employment, medical care and education for members of the Philadelphia community. Insyte is proud to have partnered with Project HOME, an anchor of Philadelphia’s fight against poverty for almost a decade. Read more.
Culture Co-Creation: NATIONAL MEDICAL ORGANIZATION. A year after we left, we received this note from the new CEO: “I call you “partners” and not “Partners,” because I am not referring to your corporate entity, but to the people you are who have stood beside us, guided us, supported us, and cared for us on our journey. You have been invaluable as we seek to transform ourselves. Thank you for everything you’ve done.” Read more.
One-Day Board-Staff Alignment on Strategic Plan: RODALE INSTITUTE. The Board and Executive Leadership had high hopes for their one-day strategic retreat. At the precipice of immense opportunity to expand their impact in regenerative agriculture, what they needed was alignment among the board and staff around a strategic decision-making lens–and a values re-set. After just one day together and some refinement after, Rodale completed a 5-year strategic plan that embeds the organization’s mission, vision and values into their roots as they grow. Read more.
Innovation, Inspiration, and Impact: GLOBAL COMMUNITIES. Just as COVID hit, Insyte was invited to support the merger of one of the largest international NGOs based in the US, Global Communities, with a smaller but impactful partner, PCI. Our task: change management for their merger, a new strategic plan and an intentional focus on unifying the culture. Read more.
Insyte’s most important partnership and deepest source of wisdom comes from the Presencing Institute, where we are a key partner for US-based and global projects.
GRAY FELLOWSHIP for New York City Principals. Insyte Partners, on behalf of the Presencing Institute, has supported the Gray Fellowship in offering a customized week-long Theory U-based leadership development series for New York City principals. Through dialogue, self-reflection and experimentation, the program is structured to support principals in transforming their schools. Read more.
Activating Ecosystems: SOULARIZE. How does a loose collection of people transform into a tighter, more aligned community? How do we activate an ecosystem? We explored this question in collaboration with Ashoka, CoCreative, and Soularize as we sought to catalyze a new global ecosystem of “spiritual changemakers.” By the end of a 3-day retreat, we connected 130 spiritual changemakers from over 20 countries to each other, created conditions for them to build a common agenda, and laid the foundation for individual and collective action and infrastructure to keep the fires burning. Read more.
On Behalf of the Presencing Institute: LIBERIA UN LEADERSHIP LAB. As close partners with the Presencing Institute, Insyte was lead faculty for the Liberia SDG Leadership Lab, bringing together the UN Country Team first in an extraordinary 3 days of dialogue, reflection and soul searching that resulted in the commitment to 4 strategic shifts. Two months later, together with an additional 15 leaders from civil society, we affirmed the shifts and launched 4 prototypes. Watch a brief video of the experience here.
Some of our most fun and impactful work is aligning a group of organizations that have shared purpose around common vision so they can collaborate for more impact.
GET GEORGIA READING: Leaders in Georgia, including the governor, the business community, foundation leaders and education leaders had a “stop the madness” moment and decided to place singular focus on the goal of every child reading proficiently by 3rd grade. At the time, only 30% of Georgia’s students met that mark. Read more.
DEAF EDUCATION: Read a first-person narrative about our work with leaders in deaf education in Georgia, with a focus on applying Theory U.
