CASTL (Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences) is a national organization working across industry, education, and government in a rapidly evolving sector. As a growing organization, establishing clarity and alignment early was critical.

This work supported CASTL in developing its first strategic plan, along with clear annual priorities and a framework for monitoring implementation and reporting to the Board. Ongoing support has included facilitating annual all-staff planning and engagement sessions to strengthen cohesion, align a growing team, and connect day-to-day work to strategic direction.

The result has been sustained alignment across leadership, staff, and Board, with clear priorities, shared language, and practical tools to support accountability as the organization continues to grow.

“Working with Dawn on our strategic plans and facilitated sessions has been a seamless process with a clearly defined outcome or product.  Dawn thinks of all the things and makes the experience fun and easy. The biggest outcome is that Dawn takes care to ensure every member of the team can see where the facilitated exercise is going, and they can clearly see their role in process and end product. 

Clarity, Easy, and Complete – Dawn makes the engagement easy and ensures the process to get there is clear and, in the end, fully complete. 

Building our organization’s first strategic plan was a bit overwhelming but Dawn helped us take all the actions and opportunities and package it into 3 clear priority areas that team members, and stakeholders can clearly understand.  It seemed overwhelming to get there when we started but, in the end, there was an aha moment and full alignment on what we do and where we need to go.”

Penny Walsh-McGuire, CEO

Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences (CASTL)