Helsinki PrideStrategy Renewal for Helsinki Pride
HiQ helped the Helsinki Pride community renew its strategic priorities to meet the needs of a constantly changing world.
Helsinki Pride community association (formerly HeSeta ry) is a non-governmental organization founded in 1991 that works to improve the social status of people belonging to minorities.
Objective: Clarifying strategy
In 2022, the Helsinki Pride community wanted to clarify its strategy. From the beginning, the goal was to involve all members of the community in the process and to note that the strategy takes into account the resources in use.
“It’s good to check from time to time what you want to do. The means and priorities change, and we strive to meet the current needs that arise from society. For example, in 2015 we started working with immigrants. We wanted to support the authorities as well as individuals with LHBTIQ+-background in their integration”, says Panu Mäenpää, chairman of the Helsinki Pride community in 2021-2022.
The Helsinki Pride community wanted an external facilitator who would be able to take into account sensitivity matters and the boundary conditions of the organization’s operations. HiQ was selected as a partner and facilitator.
“It’s a different thing to make a strategy for a human rights organization than for a profit-seeking company. Although the organization must be successful, our main goal is to change the world. Profiled as a technology operator, HiQ had done their homework carefully and was able to take over the operating environment excellently,” says Mäenpää.
Solution: A study and facilitated workshops as part of strategic design
The first phase of the strategic design work was a study in which, among other things, employees and partners of the Helsinki Pride community were interviewed. In addition, the entire community was asked a participate in a large survey on social media. The goal was to find out which things are valuable and how members see the community’s role and mission.
The research phase was followed by workshops facilitated for the board and employees, where HiQ guided the discussion toward decision-making and strategic choices.
“We were especially impressed by HiQ’s facilitation skills: a strong purposeful way of leading the conversation. When necessary, they knew how to push us to make choices, which helped us progress. As chairman, I enjoyed the fact that I was also able to fully participate without being responsible for steering the discussion,” praises Mäenpää.
The most important contribution of the strategic design to the Helsinki Pride community was the gathered vision and summary of where the organization’s activities are going and what it wants to achieve. Based on the work, HiQ put together alternatives for the Helsinki Pride community as renewed mission, vision and values. In addition, a traditional SWOT analysis revealed what should be prepared for in the future and what should be taken into account.
“Thanks to the collaboration, we were able to offer the new board having started at the beginning of the year, a good groundwork: a basis on which to build and determine strategic priorities. As a human rights organization, we naturally have hopes of improving the world on a large scale. We must consider our own angle from the point of view of LGBTIQ+ people”, says Mäenpää.
For HiQ, the socially important project was significant and meaningful.
“Most of our projects take place in the digital world, so it was interesting to work on an important theme where digital was not the focus. However, the same elements are repeated in strategic design projects, and the most important thing is to put people at the center of the process”, comments Heini Kaasinen, Lamia’s service and strategy designer.
