Operating Story Diagnostic

The Story Clarity Diagnostic gets you clear on who you serve and why it matters, the story you tell the world. The Operating Story Diagnostic helps you get clear on the story you're already living inside, how decisions actually get made, what you actually value when nobody's watching. It can be invisible, especially in seasons of growth, transition, or doing something new, but it's the engine running underneath everything else. There's no judgment here, just an invitation to get a clear picture of where things stand right now, so you can grow more unified in moving to where you want to go.

Type your answers directly into each box. Nothing here saves automatically, download or email your worksheet when you're done so you don't lose your work.

What We Value

Write down the values you'd put on a website or a grant application.

Now think internally. Who do we want to be with each other, and how do we want to treat the people we work alongside, staff, board, volunteers?

Does how you actually spend time and money reflect that? Most organizations have some gap here, that's normal, not a failure.

How We Actually Decide

When a real decision has to get made, what actually happens? Not the org chart version, the real version.

Who does everyone quietly go to when something needs to move? Is that the same person who's supposed to decide?

Walk through one real, recent decision, start to finish. Who first raised it, who was consulted, who actually said yes, and what happened to any concerns that were raised along the way?

Looking at that decision, was there a moment where someone's expertise or concern, financial, programmatic, from a volunteer, from whoever holds that knowledge, was raised but didn't actually change what happened? Name it.

What's Standing in the Way

Name what's really happening here, gently and honestly.

What is that pattern costing you or your team right now? Naming it clearly is the first step toward changing it, not a mark against anyone.

We're at Our Best When ___

Finish this sentence three different ways, from three different people, leader, staff, board. Don't filter each other, write it down exactly as said.

Person 1

Person 2

Person 3

NOTE Look for what repeats. That's your real operating value, not the one on the website.

Find the Operating Anchor

What's the one principle that should guide a decision when you're not in the room to make it?

Before You Call It Done

Have the leader, a staff member, and a board member fill this out separately, before comparing answers.

YOU'RE CLOSE when the same words repeat across most answers, that repetition is your anchor. Where answers genuinely conflict, the gap has been named out loud, not smoothed over. Name one person, usually whoever's leading this process, to hold final say when consensus doesn't fully resolve, that's standard practice, not a failure. And before you call it locked, test it on one real person outside the room.

HOW TO TEST IT Find someone who wasn't in the room. Read them the story straight through, no warm-up, no context. Then ask: "What did you just hear us say we value, and how we operate?" Don't correct them as they answer, just listen. A second good question: "What would you tell a new hire about how things really work here?" That's the real test, since culture is never what's written down, it's whatever survives after it passes through someone else.

TIMEFRAME Give this real time. Most organizations take 3 to 4 weeks start to finish, 1 to 2 weeks gathering answers, one synthesis session to compare them, then a few days to draft and confirm the final version.

Putting It Into a Story

Your synthesized answers aren't the story yet, they're the raw material. This is the shape to pull them into: how you actually operate, what you're moving away from, what you value, and the one line that kept repeating. String those into a few sentences, and you have a story someone can actually say out loud.

This framework gets you clear on what's true. From there, bringing in outside expertise can help the words land exactly the way you mean them to.

This worksheet gets you clear, that's Diagnose. Send it to Nicole if you'd like to talk through what comes next.

Sending your answers opens your email app and sends them directly to Nicole, so she has real context. If you'd like to talk through what this means for your organization, she'll personally reach out within 24–48 hours.

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