Our Service Portfolio

Leadership and culture development

When we think of successful people - we always think of them as leaders. Leadership is crucial to managers in the nonprofit or development sector, but it also plays an important role for coaches, teachers, and parents. There is not one single definition of leadership. What are some common definitions or beliefs about leadership? Some people would say a leader is the appointed head of a group, team, or organization; a charismatic person who is able to make good decisions; or someone who inspire others to reach a common goal.

​Not one of the preceding definitions is more correct than any of the others. All of the definitions, however, agree on one common fact: Leadership involves more than one person. You cannot be a leader without a group of people following your direction and putting their trust in you. Remember, as a leader you have a responsibility to your employees, group, organization, or team to lead fairly and ethically.

At CLM Solutions, we promote and nurture the servant leadership brand of leading people; those who lead with humility, and with a mindset of service - putting the interst of others first over yours. This kind of leadership creates a healthy culture among teams that nurtures honesty, bravery, and of learning from failure.

If you like this kind of a leader, we offer customized leadership sessions for up-and-coming team leaders, supervisors and junior or middle managers - from one-day to 2-hour seminars as well as leadership coaching sessions.

Strategy, organizational development, and business advisory

With over 25 years combined experience in corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors across a broad range of industries (oil exploration, petrochemicals, industrial gas, bottled water, crystals manufacturing, and maritime/ferries) and thematic sectors (child-centered community development, secure livelihoods, health and nutrition, education, people with disability, HIV/AIDS, climate change, coastal resource management and sustainable fisheries), we also offer a broad range of strategy, OD and business consulting activities as follows:

Business advisory services

• Market research, market studies and product development

• Feasibility studies, financial forecasting and cost analysis

• Business development services (conceptualization, partnership development, government registration/ accreditation, stakeholder representation)

• Project assessments, identification and design

• Proposal development and writing

• Human-centered design thinking

Strategy, Risk and Organizational Development

• Strategic planning (strategy maps and scorecards)

• Risk assessments and risk management planning

• Organizational Capacity Assessments (OCA) and capacity-bulding planning

• Annual business planning

• Sustainability planning

• Talent acquisition /strategic recruitment

Group facilitation and dynamics

• Facilitation of focused group discussions, community conversations

• Team-building workshops

• Leadership and staff retreats

Volunteer Program Development and Management

Harnessing the power of volunteers is a lasting and effective strategy for driving development in many communities. Volunteers can bring valuable skills, perspectives, and resources to a development project, and can help to bridge gaps between different groups within a community. In addition, volunteerism can promote a sense of ownership and investment in a project among community members, which can lead to greater sustainability and impact over the long term.

Volunteers are force multipliers! To effectively harness the power of volunteers in development, it is important to seek opportunities for communities, partners and even staff to be engaged as volunteers. Clear communication, effective training and support, and recognition and appreciation of volunteers' contributions are essential for creating a positive and productive volunteer experience.

At Cornerstone Solutions, we can help you build and design your volunteer program and how it links to helping your organization achieve and meet your mission and strategic objectives, especially of community and stakeholder engagement. We can provide a turn-key solution for design and setting up a volunteer management system for your company or nonprofit organization, engage key staff and departments in developing policy, structure and process for volunteer engagement including designing a training for volunteer managers and a volunteer orientation program (preparation and onboarding).

We also offer 3-5 day workshops designed to assist volunteer-based agencies, organizations or community groups to review and strengthen their volunteer policies and programs to effectively identify needs for volunteers, recruit, select, train, supervise, motivate, reward and retain volunteers. Over 150 organizations have already benefited from these workshops.

Project, Program, and Portfolio Management Services

We can help you manage your portfolio, programs and projects in a more coordinated and integrated way. Our services include setting up a program or project management office (PMO), defining structure and control processes, communications planning, defining interface between projects, and developing work processes for an efficient project management system. We have trained and certified over 900 staff and volunteers in project management and have helped organizations develop and roll out project management guides and policies using a standardized project management methodology aligned to broader organizational policies (finance, fundraising, technical), design contextualized processes, and team-specific tools.

We have also provided project management and coordination services to clients at different stages of the project cycle based on need; for example, providing project identification and project development services (rapid assessments, situational analysis, project design, concept note and proposal development) to project set-up, planning and implementation support, as well as provide project monitoring, evaluation and learning services and support project closure activities. We also provide project management services of pilot initiatives in an Innovation pathway to scale.

In Canada, we are currently the only training service provider for the Project DPro certification, the global standard for project management in the development sector. We can conduct Project Dpro Foundations and Practitioner trainings online or face-to-face in English and in French.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL)

Our Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E or now referred to as MEAL) consulting services provide expert guidance to organizations seeking to assess and improve the effectiveness of their programs, projects, and initiatives. Our consultants work closely with clients to design and implement robust monitoring systems and evaluation frameworks that measure performance, track progress, and ensure accountability.

We both have the expertise to provide MEAL services to clients in the development sector (education, livelihoods, agriculture and fisheries, environment, nutrition and public health) as well as the humanitarian and emergency assistance sector. Our consulting services involve conducting rigorous data collection, analysis, and reporting to provide evidence-based insights into the impact and outcomes of the client's interventions. We can also assist in identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) and developing suitable evaluation methodologies to measure success against set objectives.

Our M&E consultants help organizations optimize resource allocation, identify areas for improvement, and enhance program effectiveness by providing comprehensive assessments and actionable recommendations enable clients to make informed decisions, demonstrate program achievements to stakeholders, and continuously refine strategies to achieve greater social, economic, and environmental impact.