For nearly thirty years, the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) has carried something precious: the collective voice of Aboriginal communities across Victoria in the work of better health and wellbeing. So when the peak body set out to write its next strategy, a tick-the-box plan was never going to be enough. It needed a strategy with the clarity to lead and the flexibility to bend with a world that rarely sits still, and one its people could genuinely call their own. Over nine months, CoLab Strategy had the privilege of walking alongside VACCHO to shape exactly that: a clear, ambitious and culturally grounded strategy, built hand in hand with staff, leadership, Members and the Board, and anchored in a set of timeless Guiding Outcomes that sharpen VACCHO’s focus and steady its course through whatever comes next.
“Our organisation took on a detailed 9-month strategy development process. Our stakeholders are many and complex, including our committed staff, and our environment is complex and constantly changing. We found CoLab Strategy was able to calmly organise processes, and walk alongside us, so our thinking was not tied to what’s happening at the moment.”
— Executive Director, VACCHO
The Ask
VACCHO is the peak voice for the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people in Victoria. Since 1996 it has grown into a network of 34 Member organisations, backing Aboriginal Community Controlled organisations and the wider health and social services sector to deliver real, lasting change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the state.
Its earlier strategies had run into a familiar wall. Rigid action plans, however well intended, struggled to keep pace with a policy and funding landscape that shifts constantly. VACCHO wanted something sturdier and more honest: a strategy built on enduring aspirations rather than fixed to-do lists, one that could respond to new challenges and opportunities without losing its way, and one that would strengthen its hand in the state and national conversations that shape Aboriginal health and wellbeing.
VACCHO asked CoLab Strategy to design and facilitate the whole journey, from the first listening conversations through to a complete, publication-ready strategy.
The Challenge: Building a Strategy Fit for a Complex World
This was never going to be a simple task. VACCHO was holding several things at once:
- a broad and complex community of stakeholders, from 34 Member organisations and a large, multi-disciplinary staff team to the Board and the wider Aboriginal health and wellbeing sector, each with a real stake in getting this right
- a policy and funding environment in constant motion, which meant the strategy had to stay adaptive and alive rather than rigid and quickly out of date
- the need to weave the new strategy together with VACCHO’s Outcomes Framework, so progress could be tracked and reported with integrity
- a deep commitment to reflecting VACCHO’s role as a peak body, grounded in The Victorian ACCO model, self-determination and community control
- language that needed to be clear, strength-based and culturally relatable, the kind of words staff, Members and community could see themselves in
- perhaps the biggest test of all, building genuine ownership across a large, peak organisation from the very beginning, not just handing over a finished document at the end.
The Victorian ACCO Model underpinned the development of VACCHO’s strategy, providing the foundation for the Guiding Outcomes and ensuring the work remained grounded in Aboriginal-led approaches to health, wellbeing, self-determination and community control.
Source: Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO)
Our Approach: Deep Listening, Co-Design and Broad Ownership
Over nine months, we set out to do strategy differently. Less boardroom theory, more listening. The approach put people’s voices at the centre, built ownership as it went, and turned what we heard into clear direction. At every stage it was grounded in real consultation, shaped through co-design, and tested and retested with the very people who would go on to live it.
1) Listening to the Organisation and its Context
We started by getting to know VACCHO properly: its history, the world it works in, and the big questions sitting beneath its future. That understanding came from wide-ranging conversations with staff, the Executive Team, Members and the Board, so the work was rooted in the lived reality and aspirations of the people closest to it.
2) Shaping a Shared Picture
Pulling together everything we heard across consultations, workshops and background material, we surfaced the themes, opportunities and tensions shaping the road ahead. This gave the whole organisation a shared view of where focus and energy would count for most.
3) Aligning on Strategic Direction
Then came the careful work of alignment. The Executive Team, staff, Members and the Board tested and refined the priorities together, found common ground on the long-term direction, and named the outcomes VACCHO is determined to achieve for its Members and communities.
4) Shaping a Strategy that Belongs to Everyone
Finally, we drew it all together into a single, narrative-driven strategy: one that honoured every contribution made along the way and set VACCHO up to lead with clarity and confidence into its next chapter.
What we delivered
- An evidence-based Insights Report synthesising findings from document review, stakeholder interviews, staff workshops, member consultation and the Board
- A set of Guiding Outcomes – clear, enduring aspirational statements tested with staff, Members and the Board
- A Strategy on a Page capturing VACCHO’s purpose, strategic focus areas, enablers and intended outcomes
- A Scorecard of Success (Balanced Scorecard with an impact focus) with strategic objectives, measures and metrics
- An outcomes-based Strategy Roadmap mapping critical landmarks across the five year strategic cycle
- A 12-month action plan setting out the specific tactics to drive the outcomes
- A ‘Closing the Loop’ session with staff to share the near-final strategy and honour their contributions to its development
- ‘Keeping the Fires Strong‘ – VACCHO’s five year Strategy
“CoLab Strategy’s facilitation is outstanding, and they built trust with all groups. Likewise, its project management is organised and flexible; both are as good as we’ve seen. And we’ve seen a lot.”
— Executive Director, VACCHO
The Outcome: A Strategy That Belongs to Everyone
By the end, VACCHO had far more than a document. It had:
- a clear, forward-looking strategy anchored in timeless Guiding Outcomes, able to flex and adapt without ever losing its sense of direction
- stronger alignment across the Board, Executive Team, staff and Members on what matters most and where the organisation is heading
- a shared, practical understanding of how those priorities translate into action, right across the organisation
- a strategy that reflects who VACCHO is as a peak body, grounded in the Victorian ACCO model, self-determination and community control
- clear measures of success to track progress and show real impact over the strategic cycle
- and deep ownership and confidence throughout the organisation, earned through genuine consultation, co-design and the simple act of bringing the final strategy back to staff.
“As a result, our Strategy represents what really matters to us and where we are determined to focus our efforts.”
— Executive Director, VACCHO
Why This Work Matters
Peak bodies that represent Aboriginal communities carry a unique and profound responsibility. They are trusted not just to advocate and coordinate, but to hold and advance the collective aspirations of their Members and the communities those Members serve. In a policy environment that is complex, contested and rapidly shifting, the ability to lead with clarity while remaining responsive to what communities need is not just importan – it’s essential.
VACCHO’s new strategy is built for this reality. By grounding it in Guiding Outcomes, the organisation now has a strategic foundation that honours its obligations to self-determination and community control while giving it the flexibility to respond boldly to whatever comes next. That is the kind of strategy that endures.
Why This Matters for Organisations Like Yours
Peak bodies, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and other purpose-driven organisations often live with a real tension: the pull between strategic clarity and the need to stay responsive to a world that keeps changing. Traditional planning, with its fixed action plans and rigid frameworks, tends to struggle to hold both at once.
VACCHO’s experience shows how a co-design approach can help an organisation:
- bring Boards, leadership, Members and staff together around a clear, shared direction
- build a strategy grounded in enduring outcomes rather than rigid plans, holding both direction and adaptability
- keep the voices of staff, Members and Community at the centre throughout, not just at the start or the finish
- create real ownership and buy-in across a large and complex organisation
- connect strategy with outcomes frameworks so monitoring, learning and accountability genuinely mean something
- and land on a strategy that is clear, culturally grounded and compelling to everyone who needs to believe in it.
If you are interested in how CoLab Strategy supports not-for-profit and for-purpose organisations, visit our Strategic Planning and Not-for-Profit service pages to learn more about our approach.
How Can CoLab Strategy Help?
Whether you are a peak body, an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation or a purpose-driven organisation seeking to develop a strategy that your people genuinely own – one that is clear, adaptive and grounded in what really matters – CoLab Strategy can help.
Book a free 30-minute strategy session to get clarity about your next steps.
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Reach out to CoLab Strategy today to discuss how we can help you grow your organisation for greater impact.