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Client Portfolio

Here are just a few examples of how we have helped organizations with their planning needs.

ALGOMA CENTRAL

Empower your team by valuing their wisdom

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DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY

Achieve alignment by ensuring all your voices are heard

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OUTWARD BOUND

Move forward together by embracing challenging conversations

SEE PROJECT

AYD CARES

Grow faster by focusing your team on what really matters

SEE PROJECT

GFL ENVIRONMENTAL

Speeding up acquisition synergies by emphasizing clarity

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FIRST LIGHT

Align diverse stakeholders to achieve significant change

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WESTON FOODS

Ignite and unite your organization with a shared purpose

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SUNLIFE FINANCIAL

Breaking down organizational silos by uniting on your “story”

SEE PROJECT

Empower your team by valuing their wisdom

ALGOMA CENTRAL

Organization Overview

Algoma (TSX: ALC) owns and operates the largest fleet of dry and liquid bulk carriers on the Great Lakes. Algoma also owns ocean vessels operating in international markets and a 50% interest in NovaAlgoma, which owns and operates fleets serving international customers.

Challenge

Algoma’s CEO had recently moved into that position from COO. He felt previous exercises were not truly collaborative and had not resulted in a clear and actionable plan that emerged from the team’s collective wisdom. Those engagements also created skepticism toward the value of strategic planning.

Process

We did a two-day, in-person strategic planning retreat with Algoma’s 22-person executive team where we ran them through the Lighthouse Framework. Though we moved quickly, we ensured everyone had the chance to contribute their voice to what would ultimately be their plan.

Outcomes

Unlike previous planning exercises, the group reported feeling engaged and heard. Several years later, the Values the Algoma team identified are still how they focus operations. Their Guiding Light, Marine Carrier of ChoiceTM, proved so effective at expressing who they aspired to be that they trademarked it and it continues to inform their marketing and communications.

“OnePagePlans.ca brought the best out of us to arrive at a plan that was all ours.

I really enjoyed the fact that our team got to shine, and so did they.

The vision and values we arrived at were huge for us and continue to be a source of pride and direction several years later.”

GREGG RUHL
CEO, Algoma Central

Achieve alignment by ensuring all your voices are heard

DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY

Organization Overview

For over 35 years, Dalhousie’s Faculty of Open Learning and Career development has provided educational and training solutions to adult learners.

Challenge

Dean Tyers created significant change in her two years at Dal and wanted to formalize strategic priorities with a concise plan. Though academic institutions have high standards around consultation, including the entire faculty of almost one hundred in planning sessions would have resulted in a much longer and more expensive process.

Process

We did a digital survey of the entire faculty and a two-day virtual strategic planning exercise with a group of 24 participants.

Outcomes

The results of the digital survey acted as the “data” that informed the thinking in the planning sessions. This meant the plan produced was a true reflection of the entire faculty. Since they felt consulted and saw how their views were respected, in the “townhalls” that followed, there was already buy-in for the new plan amongst the faculty.

“OnePagePlans.ca’s fast, intense, strategic planning process created a clear, simple, and easy to follow one-page document that we will use to guide our daily decision-making moving forward.

Their facilitation style is thoughtful, personable, engaging, and respectful while also ensuring they get the desired outcomes.”

DR. DIANNE TYERS
Dean, Open Learning and Career Dev. Dalhousie University

Move forward together by embracing challenging conversations

OUTWARD BOUND

Organization Overview

Founded in 1969, Outward Bound Canada (OBC), a national non-profit headquartered in Ontario, has engaged over 150,000 participants through inspiring and challenging journeys of discovery in the natural world.

Challenge

The Executive Director and Board Chair knew it was time to make meaningful changes to break through to a new level of growth. Though they assumed their may be some resistance on direction, they also wanted to ensure they achieved buy-in through genuine collaboration.

Process

We did a two-day, in-person strategic planning retreat with OBC’s board and leadership team followed by a one-day tactical planning/training workshop for their leadership and management.

Outcomes

Everyone had the chance to contribute their point-of-view in a respectful and focused way, which resulted in collective agreement on a way forward. Instead of avoiding challenging conversations, the clarity that emerged allowed those who were not aligned with the new direction to seek out other opportunities.

“We engaged OnePagePlans.ca for a two-day strategic planning workshop with board and leadership followed by a one-day tactical planning workshop with staff.

In this short period of time, they were able to get our organization aligned on a vision for the future and the plan that would get us there. Their custom process is both engaging and effective.”

DAVE REEVE
Board Chair, Outward Bound Canada

Grow faster by focusing your team on what really matters

AYD CARES

Organization Overview

Ayd Cares is a technology platform that seamlessly pairs personal support workers with those in need of their services.

Challenge

Ayd Cares was operating in a rapidly changing environment as both the technology platform and its associated business model responded to a constant flow of new information. Typical of most start ups, the CEO needed to move quickly toward revenue without sacrificing platform stability. The difficulty was determining what to prioritize and how to focus the development team.

Process

We worked with the CEO over a series of several weeks to define Ayd Care’s priorities through the Lighthouse Framework.

Outcomes

Having identified what he was ultimately trying to achieve and putting it clearly into words, the CEO’s communication with his team became much more efficient. His team began only bringing forth features that aligned with that vision, streamlining development. This decreased chaos and frustration allowed Ayd Cares to release the product and monetize much sooner.

“In the early days of my health-tech startup, Chaz's process helped me rapidly put our what, why, and how on a single page.

Team meetings became 50% shorter, more focused, and 100% more effective. This clarity significantly increased our speed to market.

I would recommend OnePagePlans.ca if you're looking for similar outcomes for your company.”

DIPESH PATTNI
Founder & CEO Ayd Cares

Breaking Down Organizational Silos by Uniting on Your “Story”

SUN LIFE FINANCIAL

Organization Overview

Sun Life is a leader in Group Benefits, Group Retirement Services and Individual Insurance and Wealth, in more than 1,100 communities across Canada.

Challenge

In the crowded space of wealth management, Sun Life was struggling to find a unified voice that met the agreement of marketing, sales, and product. This resulted in inefficiency, confusion, and inconsistency internally and a great deal of unwanted distraction in the marketplace. After unsuccessful attempts to fix these issues through tactics such as a marketing handout and sales-focused training, they needed a big picture strategic approach.

Process

Using our Story Structure Framework, we brought executives from the above departments together for a two-day, in-person workshop.

Outcomes

Along with agreeing on their vision and key messages that defined how they were different from competitors, the workshop had the cultural impact of improving cross-departmental collaboration. In addition to now using the same consistent messaging in market, they had created a better appreciation for and understanding of their colleagues in other functions.

“We had complex challenges that Chaz and team helped distill down to a core set of guiding principle solutions and positioning elements that helped to focus a forward strategy and execution priorities.

We could not have done this without Chaz's collaborative leadership, creative skills and keen insights for problem-solving. I'd work with Chaz again in a heartbeat!”

GEOFF MCMURDO
AVP - Mktg. Programs, Sun Life Financial

Speeding Up Acquisition Synergies by Emphasizing Clarity

GFL ENVIRONMENTAL

Organization Overview

GFL Environmental (NYSE: GFL) (TSX: GFL), is a diversified environmental services company offering services in solid waste management, liquid waste management, and infrastructure development.

Challenge

Though GFL had grown rapidly via a series of acquisitions, they had yet to define a post-acquisition process to achieve synergies. While acquiring a large competitor, they identified the need to provide focused direction to a combined team of executives from GFL and their acquisition target. This plan needed to be developed rapidly so that the value of the transaction could be realized as soon as possible after closing.

Process

Over a month and a half, we created a “playbook” that addressed both best practices in M & A as well as the specifics of this particular transaction.

Outcomes

We were informed by the VP at GFL that the playbook was extremely well-received by his new combined executive team. Several months later, the VP told us that the focus of that plan had resulted in them realizing the value of the transaction significantly quicker than they originally estimated.

“I engaged Chaz to create an integration strategy for a nine figure acquisition of a very large competitor. In only six weeks, Chaz created a concise and focused "playbook" for our new combined team. That clarity resulted in us achieving synergies faster than forecast. 

As a strategist, Chaz has a unique talent for quickly discerning what matters and translating that understanding into a tangible plan that leads to meaningful results.”

CHRISTIAN DOVER
VP GFL

Align Diverse Stakeholders to Achieve Significant Change

FIRST VOICE

Organization Overview

First Voice is a non-profit coalition bringing together Indigenous organizations, community groups, and all levels of government to work toward decolonizing public policy for St. John’s urban Indigenous community.

Challenge

First Voice needed to bring together a large group of diverse stakeholders with various levels of awareness and engagement around an incredibly emotional and sensitive issue. The process needed to be highly collaborative so that alliances were created, but also result in tangible outcomes.

Process

We worked with the the First Light advisory committee to create a digital survey of the wider community. That led into a policy conference of four virtual workshops for 60 participants which we rooted in a story-sharing approach.

Outcomes

The workshops were enlightening, emotional, and productive. Participants who previously had little engagement with the issues became motivated to collaborate on solutions. First Light received the insights required to create their Community Action Plan while simultaneously strengthening relationships with the stakeholders who would be required for its implementation.

“OnePagePlans.ca exceeded expectations. They created a space for open, honest, and respectful dialogue on challenging topics regarding Indigenous issues with a very diverse group of participants. Unlike other facilitations I have experienced, they kept us on topic and got the tangible outcomes we required.” *First Light leads the First Voice Initiative.”

STACEY HOWSE
Executive Director, First Light

Ignite and Unite Your Organization with a Shared Purpose

WESTON FOODS

Organization Overview

Weston Foods, owned by George Weston Ltd. (TSX: WN), is a leading bakery company with more than 5,000 employees spread across more than 40 facilities in Canada and the United States.

Challenge

Weston Foods was bringing together their entire executive team under the leadership of a new CEO. The company is made up of a wide variety of product lines catering to an equally diverse set of customers. The CEO was looking to unite ALL of the various components by collectively defining a shared purpose.

Process

We took the executives through a two-day in-person workshop to clearly and concisely define their purpose and how they would bring it to life both internally and externally.

Outcomes

The executives defined their purpose as “Elevating Everyday Moments”. Six years later, this remains their purpose and has also become their marketing tagline. In all interactions and external interactions, they actively seek out ways to live this commitment.

“Chaz and his team were engaged to help my senior executive team at Weston Foods define our "purpose" in a two-day workshop. What impressed me most was the speed at which the team were able to generate ideas and consensus.

If you are attempting to rally your team around a particular initiative or strategic planning undertaking, I would highly recommend Chaz as a partner.”

LUC MONGEAU
President Weston Foods