A comprehensive strategic renewal that moved beyond operational planning to create authentic purpose, clear decision-making frameworks, and genuine organisational alignment.

The challenge:

​The Link Youth Health Service, Tasmania's only specialist youth health service covering all of southern Tasmania, found themselves at a critical juncture in 2025. Despite 30+ years of dedicated service to young Tasmanians aged 12-25, several challenges were converging:

• Their existing strategy had become too operationally focused 
• Competitive pressure was mounting 
• Workforce challenges were intensifying 
• Untapped opportunities for expansion and enhanced services existed 

The Link needed more than a strategy refresh - they needed a fundamental shift from reactive, operational thinking to proactive, strategic leadership.

Our approach: Truly inclusive strategy development​

Simple Nimble designed a comprehensive engagement process that ensured every voice was heard - from board members to frontline staff to the young Tasmanians they serve.

Phase 1: Deep Listening, including:

• Simple Nimble - Nimble Index assessment across all stakeholder groups - staff, Youth Reference Group, and board
• Board feedback sessions to understand governance perspectives
• Half-day whole-organisation session to gather qualitative stories that brought colour to the quantitative data
• Desktop research on external context and competitive landscape

Phase 2: Co-Creation, including:

• One-day board workshop to collaboratively develop the new strategy
• Values refresh process including organisation-wide survey and leadership team prioritisation
• Decision-making framework development to empower the CEO with clear authority boundaries

Key insights

The engagement process revealed several surprising insights:

• Continuity of Purpose: Despite three decades of operation, The Link remained deeply committed to the same core purpose that drove their founding - genuinely supporting young people to be their best selves.
• Language Matters Deeply: Extensive debate emerged about positioning young people positively rather than through a deficit lens. 
• Staff Are Deeply Committed: The engagement revealed genuine passion and long-term commitment to the mission.
• Strategic vs Operational Thinking: The organisation was ready to elevate from "what are we doing?" to "what do we stand for?"

The transformation

The engagement led to some big enhancements to their strategy, including:

• New Deep Purpose, representing a fundamental shift - from positioning young people as problems to be fixed to recognising them as experts in their own lives
• Refreshed Values, evolving into the types of behaviours and ways of working that represent the Link's culture and uphold their way of working together
• Four Strategic Priorities, that provide clarity of direction and aspiration for stakeholders internally and externally
• Strategic Decision Matrix, to support the CEO to act with appropriate autonomy to

The Lesson:  Engagement isn't just about buy-in  

The comprehensive stakeholder involvement didn't just make people feel heard - it fundamentally improved the strategy through insights that only emerged from genuine co-creation.