Case Study

Building a talent strategy a seven-person team could actually run.

Summit Education Initiative·Advisory·Summit County, OH·2025-2026
7 staff
Lean team with no dedicated HR function
26 questions
Anonymous organizational health survey
90%
Staff retention target tied to new systems

SEI is exactly who we built this firm for: a mission-driven team doing more with less. Our job was to give them systems that outlast us, not another initiative that needs a consultant to keep running.

Mike Montoya, Founder and CEO, Stronger Consulting
The Challenge

A strategic plan with no one to run it

Summit Education Initiative (SEI), a seven-person nonprofit in Summit County, Ohio, had just completed a new strategic plan. But SEI didn't have an HR function, and adding one wasn't an option.

First
Right-sized talent strategy.

Build a practical talent strategy the existing team could execute without adding a dedicated HR hire.

Then
Culture and role clarity.

Strengthen culture and clarify roles so the new strategic plan translated into how the team worked day to day.

Also
Real accountability.

Build real accountability across the organization, not just another document that risked sitting on a shelf.

The Approach

The Stronger approach

First
Direct-evidence baseline.

Interviewed every SEI staff member and fielded an anonymous, 26-question organizational health survey covering recognition, goal clarity, accountability, and decision-making, building the strategy on direct evidence, not assumption.

Then
Leadership workshops.

Facilitated leadership workshops to translate survey and interview findings into a prioritized set of talent initiatives aligned to SEI's strategic plan and its actual staffing reality.

Next
Roadmap without an HR hire.

Built an implementation roadmap and change management plan, including revised position descriptions with clear KPIs, so the strategy could run without a dedicated HR hire, then presented it to SEI's full stakeholder group for buy-in.

Summit Education Initiative staff leading a peer learning session
A Team Built to Run Its Own Systems

SEI's mission is to increase personal and regional prosperity through educational attainment, with a vision that every Summit County student is prepared for success on a chosen path. A seven-person team can carry that mission a long way, but only with the right systems behind it, not a strategy that depends on a consultant to keep it running.

The Outcomes

What Summit Education Initiative gained

On-schedule delivery
SEI completed all four project phases on schedule between September 2025 and January 2026.
Strong follow-up results
A follow-up stakeholder survey showed 80%-plus favorable ratings across mission orientation, leadership, communication, and advocacy.
Systems SEI now runs itself
The team launched a weekly all-staff recognition rhythm and a revised performance management structure with two-way feedback and quarterly goal reviews, both run without outside help.
Culture tracking tied to retention
A recurring engagement survey now tracks culture over time, tied to organizational targets including 90% staff retention.

We didn't have the bandwidth to build this ourselves. Stronger gave us a talent strategy that fits a team our size, and our staff can feel the difference in how we communicate and recognize each other's work.

David James, Executive Director, Summit Education Initiative

Is your organization ready for its next chapter?

Stronger Consulting partners with mission-driven organizations to turn complex challenges into clear, practical action, from strategy through implementation.

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