Have you seen Twisters yet? I have, and it’s worth the hype! What I love the most is that it stands alone as a great action-packed movie but there are beautiful nods, or easter eggs as some might say, to the original Twister. 

Note: No Spoilers Included!

In the opening scene, you see Kate who is the new Jo (Helen Hunt’s original character) and her team using a version of Dorothy, the device created by Jo and Bill in Twister. My heart skipped a beat when they opened Dorothy and were playing with those little flying data sensors.

When the action gets intense, you see Kate wearing a white tank top, khaki overshirt, and cargo pants as an homage to Jo's signature look in Twister.

The best part was the very subtle nod to one of the most iconic moments in Twister, the flying cow. It’s toward the end of the movie in the final tornado. You must look really hard, but it’s there!  

The nostalgia was woven seamlessly through Twisters, AND you saw the innovation and direction of this new iteration. This is how a well thought out visioning or strategic planning process works. You celebrate the past as a conduit to the future—not a roadblock!  

Recently Senior Advisor Staci Barfield and I utilized Vijay Govindarajan’s (VG) The Three-Box Solution as a way to define direction and future vision through a strategic planning process. The benefit was that we acknowledged the success of the past but did not let that hold us back or deter new pathways or innovation for the future.  

We adapted slightly but used VG’s three boxes as lenses to evaluate direction and priorities.  

Box 1: Execute the present effectively.

• Manage the present.
• What’s working? Where do we need to improve?  
• How do we differentiate?  

Box 2: Selectively release the past.  

• Honor our history. Learn from the past.
• What needs to stop? Avoid the traps of past success. Bless and release.
• Abandon the practices, activities, and attitudes that are no longer relevant for the desired future.  

By reviewing current practices, activities, and outcomes through the lens of Box 1 (Present) and Box 2 (Past), we were able to define what needed to be maintained, improved, and released. This process is even more important when there has been dramatic change within an organization or a long history. Many opinions and feelings, both positive and negative, can be wrapped around your mission and how you operate. Naming the items in each box can allow you to make noticeable improvements while healing, gaining trust, and building consensus.

Box 3: Create the future.

• Have the needs of the community changed? Do we need to shift focus or direction?
• Are there new ideas, programs, and services to be explored?  
• Do we need to expand in a key area?

Change and innovation can be scary. When there are limited resources and bandwidth, a scarcity mindset can prevail. The Three-Box Solution allows you to evaluate and make the present effective and to stop doing what is ineffective. It also creates a parallel path to plan for innovation instead of jumping into full scale deployment.  

Ideation → Incubation → Scale

Many times, nonprofits will defer visioning or strategic planning because they feel like it’s hard enough to simply keep up with current demands. But if we take the time to bring the right stakeholders around the table, we can create alignment, focus and innovation that can help us live into our vision at a higher level.

The process might feel like you got swept up in a tornado, but the outcome can be the calm after the storm with a clear direction!

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Mendi Nieters is a Senior Advisor with Armstrong McGuire who specializes in strategic planning, fund development, and leadership development. Learn more about Mendi and check out her other musings in her bio. Listen to what Mendi has to say about strategic planning in this short video.

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