Edinburgh Judo – Vision Alignment
Uniting a growing organisation around a shared North Star
Edinburgh Judo, one of Scotland’s most respected and socially driven judo clubs, had grown organically across multiple arms - from elite coaching and school programmes to community outreach and non-profit work. While this evolution brought incredible reach and impact, it also created fragmentation: different teams, overlapping initiatives, and no clear articulation of what united them. With ambitions to scale impact and secure their own venue, the team needed to pause, reflect, and co-create a vision that could bring everyone together.
Client
Edinburgh Judo
Services
Facilitation Systems Thinking Vision building
Industries
Sport
Date
2025
Results
Delivered and facilitated a 3-hour strategy workshop with leadership and coaches
Aligned four arms of the organisation (club, schools, CASC, Skinny Pink Hippo) around shared purpose
Extracted core identity, values, and differentiators from lived experience
Drafted an inspirational yet practical vision narrative
Created a comprehensive follow-up report to support internal alignment and next steps
Reframed their offer through emotional and social value lenses — not just sport delivery
The challenge
Edinburgh Judo had become more than just a club - it was a multi-dimensional organisation blending performance coaching, youth engagement, community inclusion, and charitable outreach. With this growth came complexity. The team, though united in values, lacked a shared narrative that captured who they were, who they served, and what they aimed to change in the world.
At a critical point of organisational development - including establishing subsidiaries and exploring the acquisition of a permanent venue - the leadership team recognised the need to articulate their vision in a way that could unify efforts, inspire partners, and clarify purpose both internally and externally.
They needed more than a rebrand. They needed a shared understanding.
The Approach
I designed and facilitated a 3-hour workshop with Edinburgh Judo’s leadership, coaching staff, and key contributors. Using a highly participatory and reflective structure, we:
Mapped what they deliver across all arms of the organisation - beyond sport, into identity, safety, belonging, and growth
Explored personal motivations (“Why does it matter to us?”) and audience needs (“Why does it matter to them?”)
Surfaced values, differentiators, and emotional drivers - such as fairness, care, and role modelling
Mapped core audiences across club, schools, CASC, and Skinny Pink Hippo
Facilitated generative visioning exercises (“So that what?”) to capture long-term impact goals
Created space for honesty, legacy, emotion, and ambition to co-exist
Following the workshop, I created a comprehensive vision report, capturing outputs in a narrative-rich and actionable format. This included suggested vision statements, stakeholder summaries, audience mapping, and strategic guidance for next steps and further opportunities.
Final results
Edinburgh Judo now has a clear and inspiring foundation for its future vision
The workshop fostered deeper internal alignment and surfaced values that were already lived, but not articulated
The report is now being used to inform future brand development, funding communications, and strategic planning
The team left the session energised, grounded, and aligned - with a renewed sense of pride and purpose