The situation

UKIB and Anglo Israel Association (AIA), two leading trade and cultural associations, had recently signed a strategic partnership. The vision was for UKIB and AIA to operate under a shared purpose and mission, whilst retaining their own brand identities. Mindyasa was asked to lead a process that would create a unified North Star.

The approach

A North Star encapsulates an organisation’s why, what and how, and succinctly communicates an organisation’s purpose, mission, plan and future hopes and dreams. It is a fundamental and foundational element that all organisations must have. It serves as a compass for all decision making and a root that anchors the company, its people, products and brands.

Mindyasa’s approach to creating a North Star has three distinct phases, and typically takes between 8-10 weeks to complete.

Work began with an analysis phase. Existing client materials were reviewed and Mindyasa joined several client events and webinars. These provided valuable insights from which hypotheses on key aspects of the North Star were generated. A series of stakeholder interviews with Board Members, executives and partners were then completed. During the interviews, open questions to understand current thinking and perspectives on mission, reason for being, and opportunities were all explored. In addition, a small number of hypotheses were tested with a particular focus on purpose. The data and feedback gathered during this phase, provided a strong foundation for Mindyasa to create a version 1 of the North Star which was taken forward into the next phase of work.

During the second phase of the project, a small core team of Board members from AIA and UKIB were identified as partners to collaborate to create the North Star. Mindyasa led a series of workshops with this team. During the first workshop, all team members were orientated to the task and the version 1 of the North Star was reviewed and discussed. Feedback was taken and Mindyasa made refinements to produce a further version for review. Over the course of a two week period, further refinements and feedback were made until the team were good with a version for wider circulation.

The North Star was then shared with a wider set of internal stakeholders. Feedback was extremely positive, and a small number of further refinements were made before a final version was signed off by the Board.