When You Can See It, You Can Strengthen It
Their first ThriveNumber assessment revealed a score of 30 out of 100, with no demonstrated strengths across the 6 strategic drivers that ThriveNumber measures (Environment, Powerful Insights, Strategic Vision, Member Engagement, Activation, and Organizational Readiness). What followed was not a one-time assessment and read out but a multi-year journey of evolving the organization.
By visualizing their current state and making the gaps explicit, ThriveNumber provided the data needed for the leadership team to act, making more intentional choices. CMG served as the catalyst by helping translate insight into action—through coaching and support in strategic planning.
Within one year, measurable improvement was evident. The following year, the organization saw significant gains not only in ThriveNumber, but also in quantifiable employee engagement and organizational alignment. Over three years, the organization improved its ThriveNumber by more than 20 points, showing strengths across strategy drivers of environment, powerful insights and strategic vision. Strategy was becoming a sustained, organization-wide capability rather than a one and done exercise. The organization can build on these strengths, with momentum and focus on what comes next, Execution.
Situation: Member Value at Risk
At the start of 2024, the organization faced mounting pressure on its core value proposition:
Membership pricing structure changes created internal and external friction
Rising member churn threatened long-term sustainability
Revenue vulnerability directly impacted mission funding
Internally, leadership dynamics and ways of working compounded the challenge:
Siloed teams with limited cross-functional accountability
Fragmented and inconsistent planning cycles
Absence of a clearly articulated, enterprise-wide north star
While the organization was working hard, progress remained limited. The organization was caught in what CMG identifies as the effort-to-progress conversion trap.
Diagnosing the root cause via ThriveNumber
CMG introduced ThriveNumber as a diagnostic to objectively assess the organization’s strategic effectiveness. The self-assessment provided the leadership team with a look in the mirror. While sometimes uncomfortable, it visualized the organization’s current state and gave room for choice about how to move forward.
The first assessment revealed:
No demonstrated strengths across ThriveNumber’s six driver categories
Leadership misalignment at highest levels
Low accountability and perception of ability to change
But most importantly, the assessment reframed the problem.
Leaders initially did not view misalignment as a root cause. ThriveNumber enabled a shift in perspective by highlighting that the issue was not effort, but the absence of strategic discipline. The CEO even took personal ownership of improving their ThriveNumber strengths, signaling that change was non-negotiable.
Intervention: From Engagement to Organizational Evolution
What began as a go-to-market refinement became a three-year evolution of the organization.
Establishing strategic clarity
CMG partnered with leadership to:
Codify a three-year strategic horizon
Develop a unified, multi-year strategic roadmap
Clarify organization priorities and sequencing
Define and align around a shared north star
By year two, the organization’s ThriveNumber results reflected its first demonstrated strength: Strategic Vision, contributing to a 12-point increase in overall score.
The benefit of starting with leadership alignment:
To close alignment gaps across the full leadership team:
Executive workshops and retreats aligned the leadership team on their needed priorities
Clear ownership of cross-functional initiatives increased accountability
Leadership dialogue shifted toward outcomes, not just what functional teams needed to be doing better.
This work explicitly connected leadership behaviors to downstream member value, connecting their internal alignment to external value.
How we partnered to grow their governance discipline:
CMG helped implement a strategic operating model:
Quarterly strategy planning cycles allowed for reflection on annual planning
Iterative improvement planning enabled continuous adaptation
Clear metrics and initiative tracking increased visibility
Leadership coaching reinforced accountability
The ThriveNumber served as an annual inspection, helping to assess the impact of their activities throughout the year.
Measuring Impact: A Three-Year Growth Journey
Over three assessment cycles, the organization demonstrated consistent and compounding improvement:
By year three, strengths were no longer isolated—they reflected institutional capability across the organization.
This progression illustrates a critical dynamic: when leaders can see their current state through ThriveNumber, they are better equipped to make deliberate choices that drive forward progress.
Tangible business outcomes
ThriveNumber provides leadership teams with a clear visualization of organizational capabilities. Through workshop discussions and activation of new capabilities, those capabilities align to tangible business implications
Observed outcomes included:
Increased stability in membership trends
Improved confidence in revenue durability
Enhanced employee engagement aligned with strategic clarity
Witnessing a cultural shift
One of the most significant changes was behavioral:
Leaders began to view ThriveNumber drivers as organization levers, not vanity metrics
Cross-functional collaboration increased
Accountability extended beyond traditional role-based silos
The organization began evolving from fragmented execution to coordinated action.
The CMG + ThriveNumber Difference
CMG Consulting is uniquely positioned to partner with organization to help them evolve in the ways that matter for them. ThriveNumber is not just a measurement tool, it is a proprietary system that visualizes how organizational capabilities impact strategic outcomes.
By making the current state visible, ThriveNumber creates clarity on where change is possible. Combined with CMG’s partnership in defining strategy, aligning leadership, and embedding governance, organizations gain both the insight and the capability to act.
This case demonstrates that even an 80-year-old, mission-driven organization can significantly strengthen its strategic muscle when leaders are equipped to see clearly, choose deliberately, and execute consistently.
