This is stage five in the 10-stage consortium development process, and covers the key policies and procedures that will support the operational running of the consortium.
A new consortium requires the same degree of business and operational planning as any new business. In fact, these processes are extremely important for new consortia to go through since they help to shape a common vision and ensure buy-in from all partners.
We recommend using our templates and bringing in someone who has done this before to help facilitate your business planning process, or bring in a consultant.
Outcomes for this stage
- A shared vision of how the consortium will work and its purpose.
- The principal challenges and decisions facing a new consortium are openly discussed and recorded.
- Business plan produced.
At this point in the consortium’s development, these are the core documents that are needed. These will define your goals and plans as a new business, how you will recruit and develop member organisations and how you will collaborate as a group of organisations working together. Once the consortium is ready to bid for contracts, a much wider range of policy documents and procedures will need to be produced.
Key activities for this stage
A facilitated business planning workshop that should cover:
- consortium vision, mission and values
- business principles (see example below)
- defining the consortium’s target markets, geographical scope etc.
- SWOT and PEST analysis
- a decision on how the hub function will work
- key governance principles (covered in detail in Incorporation and establishment of interim board).
From this workshop, a named individual or small task-and-finish group should be responsible for sourcing template documents and adapting them according to the decisions made at the workshop. These can be formally adopted at either a follow-up workshop day or an interim board meeting.
More information
- NCVO model policy bank – extensive range of model organisational policies (You must be logged in as a member of NCVO to access these materials.)
- Example business plan
- Example capacity building policy (Peterborough Plus)
