Strategy and facilitation that empowers, not intimidates.

Seasoned facilitation for senior teams

Sandbox Strategy Group bridges the gap between academic research and practical application to enable innovative and impactful problem solving. Notable clients include the WSIB, Ontario’s Local Health Integration Networks, and several Ontario Health Teams including the North York Ontario Health Team, the Toronto and Keewatin Patricia District School Boards, among others, and the Ontario Library Association.

Nogah Kornberg, Sandbox’s principal strategist, an accomplished facilitator to senior teams in health care, public sector organizations, and nonprofits. She has worked with thousands of leaders over a fifteen-year career, and draws upon her deep network of co-facilitators and subject matter experts to support strategic engagements with teams of any size. She also serves as the co-Executive Director of I-Think.

A strategy practice grounded in Integrative Thinking

Sandbox utilizes frameworks from Design, Integrative Thinking, Strategy and Systems Thinking to meet the needs of our clients. 

Integrative Thinking is often the foundation of their work because of its focus on helping teams navigate complexity and perspectives in tension. Integrative Thinking  is the ability to face the tension of opposing ideas and, instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, generating a creative resolution that contains elements of both ideas but is superior to each. This methodology goes beyond traditional binary decision-making, encouraging a more nuanced and holistic perspective, and is especially powerful when working in complex, multi-stakeholder environments. Integrative Thinking enables:

Enhanced Innovation — By combining disparate ideas and perspectives, integrative thinking fosters uncommon and often groundbreaking pathways forward.

Improved Decision-Making — Integrative thinking helps leaders navigate complexity with confidence. Instead of settling for suboptimal compromises, it enables the formulation of decisions that address multiple aspects of a problem, leading to more effective and sustainable outcomes.

Resilience in Uncertainty — In an era marked by rapid change and uncertainty, integrative thinking equips individuals and organisations with the agility to adapt and thrive, by viewing challenges as opportunities for growth and innovation.

Conflict Resolution — By valuing diverse viewpoints and finding common ground, it helps resolve conflicts and build cohesive teams and communities.

These methodologies have been written about in books such as: Playing to Win, Creating Great Choices, d.school Design Thinking reading list and The Fifth Discipline.

Empowering smaller communities across Canada, far from urban centres

We also support small communities across Canada, facing challenges distinct from the major urban centres. Whether relying on air or train for transportation for essential services and supplies, the unique challenges they face, such as more challenged access to healthcare, education, and economic opportunities, make strategic planning and support crucial for their development and sustainability. We help these communities navigate complexity, secure funding, and improve governance, ensuring they can thrive and grow.

Areas of Practice

Healthcare

We assist healthcare providers in addressing challenges, including those unique to smaller communities. These may include balancing outsourcing with community sourcing, working with limited local resources, creating and integrating innovative service models, and improving patient outcomes in primary care settings.

Municipal Governance and Leadership

We help municipal leadership develop strategies for municipal projects, investing in resourcing and professional development of city councils, and improving governance practices for more effective municipal leadership.

Tourism

Why Here and Not There? We work with your team to develop a strategy to attract tourists and investment to local communities.

Professional Development Workshops

Strategic Problem Solving through Tension: Introduction and Practical Application (Half or Single-Day)

Morning

  • A comprehensive introductory lecture on Integrative Thinking and strategic problem-solving

  • Case study — The full group engages in a hands-on example case study to apply learned concepts collaboratively.

Afternoon

  • Personal Application — We break up into small groups, which each receive personalised guidance to tackle specific challenges of your choosing.

Introduction to Strategy (Half or Single Day)

Morning

  • Introduction to Strategy  — A comprehensive introductory lecture on  Playing to Win framework, and problem solving  methodologies to foster innovation.

  • Case studies - Learn how to think like a strategic by exploring the competing strategies of organisations in the same sectors

Afternoon

  • Strategic Problem Solving Toolbox — Explore tools and techniques for addressing complex problems to support strategy development.

Strategic Problem Solving through Tension: Comprehensive Integrative Thinking Toolkit (2.5 Days)

Day One

  • A comprehensive introductory lecture on Integrative Thinking and strategic problem-solving

  • Case study — The full group engages in a hands-on example case study to apply learned concepts collaboratively.

  • Personal Application — We break up into small groups, which each receive personalised guidance to tackle specific challenges of your choosing.

Day Two

  • A deeper dive into mental models and their impact on decision making

  • Ladder of Inference - Learn the Ladder of Inference framework to experience and discuss the implications of moving from observations to conclusions, often skipping steps and filtering information based on their beliefs and experiences. 

  • Causal Model - Learn the Causal Model to support teams in making explicit complex relationships between variables, showing how changes in one factor influence others within a system; used to identify leverage points for action and change.

Day Three (Morning)

  • Custom debrief, collaborative critique, and wrap-up.

Custom Strategy and Problem Solving

Specific Problem Unsticking (Minimum 1.5 Days)

Focused sessions to help organisations identify and overcome specific obstacles, tailored to address your team’s needs, whether to solve a problem, build a strategy or innovate to better meet the needs of your clients and customer.

Ongoing Leadership Coaching (Minimum 3 Sessions)

These engagements are tailored to address your team’s needs, whether to solve a problem, build a strategy or innovate to better meet the needs of your clients and customer.