DWS Assembly of Colleagues

October 16, 2025 Strategic Planning

assembly of colleagues

Denver Waldorf School

tone setter & process review

Begin together with a sense of connection and hope - grounding in why we're here and how our shared work will shape DWS' future.

Tone Setter

Common Ground

Statements

your facilitator

Center for social creativity

Vertical Strategies

• Established organizations
• Strategy
• Leadership development
• Education & training
• Sustainability planning
• Growth implementation

• Startups & low-resourced organizations
• Federal grants: EPA
• Funding & development strategy
• Organizational development

today's objectives

shared ownership

Strengthen shared ownership & trust

test priorities

Explore how our priorities feel in practice

Themes & Connections

Notice themes & connections

Imagine possibilities

Imagine first steps & possibilities

Strategic Planning Process

Not Fully Linear, Instead Iterative

3. Priority Development

2. Assessment & Discovery

4. Operations Plan

1. Committee

Tactics & full internal work plan

Broad & visionary goals

Understand internal & external conditions

Develop a task force

6. Community Engagement

8. Measure & evaluate

7. Implement

5. Full Report

Regularly (i.e. quarterly) review progress; pivot as necessary

Progress through the operations plan

Vetting & celebration with community; tweak as necessary

Melissa writes & task force edits full report with 1-4 elements incorporated

Three pillars: recruitention, programmatics, and facilities

where we are

One strategic priority per pillar

Info

Iterative process: Feedback today will be integrated into solidifying priorities and objectives

Emerging objectives for each strategic priority (not yet in SMARTIE format)

resource allocation: our mindset

Financial stewardship as shared responsibility

Looking ahead...

First impressions & shared understanding

Take a first look at the emerging priorities - exploring how we feel, what sparks curiosity, and what each may need to remain sustainable at DWS.

Strategic priorities

Facilities Strategic Priority: Create a shared vision for facilities that reflects Waldorf philosophy and community values.

Programmatics Strategic Priority: Expand and enrich Waldorf education offerings to deepen student learning, creativity, and mission connection.

Recruitention Strategic Priority: Enhance accessibility, affordability, and retention while elevating Denver Waldorf's unique value in the education landscape.

Three corners: first feel, future need

Facilities Strategic Priority: Create a shared vision for facilities that reflects Waldorf philosophy and community values.

Programmatics Strategic Priority: Expand and enrich Waldorf education offerings to deepen student learning, creativity, and mission connection.

Recruitention Strategic Priority: Enhance accessibility, affordability, and retention while elevating Denver Waldorf's unique value in the education landscape.

Early pathways to action

Work together to imagine early pathways for bringing each priority to life - sharing ideas, building on one another's insights, and envisioning actions that feel both inspired and achievable for our community.

recruitention objectives

1. Marketing & Positioning: Elevate marketing to showcase Denver Waldorf as “the unicorn” whose practices are being adopted in Denver and Colorado education, positioning the school as both distinctive and desirable.
2. Accessibility & Affordability: Continue fostering pathways for a diverse community of families to access a Waldorf education.
3. Retention & Long-Term Engagement: Build the organizational capacity and practices needed to foster strong student retention.
4. Parent Education & Communications: Strengthen parent education and transparent communications to foster partnership, understanding, and long-term commitment.

Strategic Priority: Enhance accessibility, affordability, and retention while elevating Denver Waldorf's unique value in the education landscape.

programmatics objectives

1. Experiential Programming: Expand experiential education that supports creativity, hands-on learning, and holistic development.
2. Nursery Program: Establish and grow a nursery program that nurtures childhood development and provides families with a seamless entry to Denver Waldorf.
3. Curriculum Expansion: Enrich programs through additional offerings such as world languages and arts integration, ensuring alignment with the Waldorf mission.

Strategic Priority: Expand and enrich Waldorf education offerings to deepen student learning, creativity, and mission connection.

facilities objectives

1. Shared Vision Development: Engage the community to articulate the Waldorf shared vision for facility needs and aspirations, and resource development.
2. Alignment with Philosophy: Ensure facilities planning reflects Waldorf’s educational philosophy of beauty, functionality, and community-centered design.
3. Future Readiness: Shape long-term goals for physical space that can grow with the school’s enrollment and programmatic realities.
4. Financial Evaluation & Resourcing: Assess current and projected financial capacity, and develop a strategy for securing the resources needed to realize facility goals.

Strategic Priority: Create a shared vision for facilities that reflects Waldorf philosophy and community values.

Pathways & possibilities

Round II

Theming

Round III

Round I

World Cafe

At your last table, review previous groups' responses, and your own. Provide a brief report-out to the group.

You'll rotate to the last priority and answer: NEEDED. Respond to what supports and resources are needed to bring life to the objectives.

You'll rotate to another priority and answer: NEXT. List medium-term actions and steps to achieve the objectives.

With your group and priority you'll answer: NOW. Think of immediate actions to bring the objectives alive.

Tables around the room contain a priority with flipchart paper. Melissa will break you up in one group per table.

Foster shared ownership

Celebrate the shared work of shaping DWS's future - inviting each person to reflect on their role, connect with one another, and affirm our colective responsibility for bringing the plan to life.

a shared vision becomes real when it belongs to all of us.

foster shared ownership

The Web We Weave

identifying themes & next steps

Keep the Conversation Going:

• Your perspective matters.

• Reach out as new ideas arise.

• Laurie and others have my email.

What's Next:

• Ideas from today will inform the next stage of the plan.
• You will be kept updated as we continue.
• Your work will inform the vision to action.

Reflecting Together:

• What key themes did you hear today?

• Kelly, what are your closing reflections and insights from a leadership lens?

gratitude

the web we weave

Instructions

• Setup: Everyone gets into a circle.
• Prompt: What is your name, and one way you can help the future vision of DWS?
• How it works:
• Melissa will share her response.
• I'll hold the yarn and toss the other end to another person (not next to me).
• Each person:
• Catches the yarn
• Answers the prompt
• Holds onto the yarn and toss to someone new
• Continue until everyone is connected.

Metaphorically

Projects We are Loving (Besides Waldorf)

• Rural and Tribal infrastructure and sustainability
• Community health needs assessments
• Municipal & philanthropy strategic planning
• Health Service Corps site education

shared ownership

Why it Matters

Shared ownership is essential to bringing our vision for DWS to life. When people help shape a plan, they see themselves in it - and are far more likely to act on it.

shared ownership

What it Means for Us

At DWS, shared ownership isn't about everyone doing everything. It's about collective wisdom guiding direction - and each of us holding a piece of the future we're creating together.

Who is Melissa?

tone setter

Stay standing if...

10

In the next phase of this process, we'll translate today's ideas into concrete tactics - financial, operational, and staffing - that ensures these priorities can thrive within our resources and strengthen DWS for the future.

Three Corners: Instructions

• Three corners of the room have labels:
• Strong Roots: I see this priority as aligned with who we already are.
• Growing Branches: This pushes us in important new directions.
• New Soil Needed: We'll need to rethink foundations to make this thrive.
• All priorities will need support, and you'll learn more about making them come alive.
• With an open mind, move to the corner that best represents your gut reaction.
• Have a brief discussion with your group on reason for choice.
• Melissa will facilitate a report out.
• We'll repeat for all three priorities.

shared ownership

What the Research Shows

Organizations that build shared ownership and engagement achieve up to 60-70% higher success rates in implementing strategic initiatives and change efforts.

Harvard Business Review, "The Hard Side of Change Management," Sirkin et al., 2005

Our Theory of Change

We nurture a networked forest of organizations building community health and prosperity, focusing on:

Every idea we shape today must also be sustainable. Stewardship means using our existing resources wisely, finding creative ways to grow revenue, and aligning activities - like marketing, enrollment, and programming - with the long-term health of DWS.

Common Ground: Instructions

• Everyone will start standing.
• Melissa will read a statement.
• Continue standing ONLY if that statement applies to you.
• We'll see who is left standing...