With thanks to everyone who participated in developing this strategic plan, the Board of Directors of Spectrum Society approved the 2014 – 2017 Strategic Plan and we have posted it on the Spectrum website.
We believe the best way to advance our mission is to focus our attention and expertise on building partnerships with individuals, their families, friends and allies, strengthening the support networks that are so vital to people’s safety and well-being in community. Safeguarding these partnerships as we take this vision forward will require a different kind of leadership, a letting go of control, and an authentic commitment to the capacity for self determination that is within each person.
‘Relational Leadership’ is a very new idea, still being defined, but exciting in that it defines leadership as “a relational process of people together attempting to accomplish change or make a difference to benefit the common good,” based on an explicit philosophy of inclusion and ethics based dialogue, which “acknowledge the diverse talents of group members and trust the process to bring good thinking to the socially responsible changes group members agree they want to work toward.” In short, “Relationships are the key to leadership effectiveness.” (Komives & McMahon, 1998).
Spectrum’s commitment to relational leadership will inform every aspect of our work, including service priorities, special projects with other agencies and funders, public relations and outreach work, communications, fundraising, policies, leadership development and human resources.
This strategic plan sets out an action agenda for the next three years, from 2014 to 2017. It addresses not only what Spectrum Society does but how we intend to transform ourselves to increase our impact – supporting the natural authority of individuals and their networks, creating opportunities for shared learning and leadership development and looking critically at the impact our services are having on people’s lives.