Policy strategy
Turn complexity into clarity. Make smarter decisions.
What is policy strategy?
Policy strategy is about creating the conditions to make better choices. Not just once, but continuously.
It helps teams manage complexity, respond to shifting priorities and balance different types of work across a policy portfolio.
A well-structured portfolio is not just about long-term goals. It makes space for short-term wins, bold experiments, incremental improvements and sustained change to sit alongside each other.
The Lighthouse Policy Portfolio framework helps teams work in this way. It supports better prioritisation, clearer sequencing and more focused conversations about value, trade-offs and risk.
Whether you are managing a programme, shaping a new strategy or looking for space to refocus, we help you bring structure to the work and clarity to the decisions.
What we do
We work with strategy, policy and delivery teams to bring clarity, coordination and evidence into decision making.
Portfolio review
We review your current policies, programmes or initiatives as a portfolio to assess how well they align with your goals and where effort is best placed.
This includes mapping activity onto the Policy Design Matrix to surface strengths, gaps, risks and delivery blind spots.
We look at questions like: When will this have impact? Are the right levers in play? How sustainable is the current mix?
You leave with a clear, evidence-based view of where to focus, what to adjust and how to make better use of time, capacity and resources.
Strategy sprint
We help you define the strategic context for your next phase of work.
This includes clarifying your aims, mapping out what success should look like and agreeing the criteria that will guide prioritisation.
We support teams to navigate political realities, identify interdependencies and surface the trade-offs that often sit below the surface.
Think of it as plotting a course through the fog; creating clarity before commissioning work, shaping a roadmap or making investment decisions.
Capability building
We help teams develop the mindset, language and tools to give their strategies lift off.
This includes introductions to portfolio thinking, policy levers and the Policy Matrix, a practical framework for mapping influence, assessing intervention types and navigating complexity.
Sessions are grounded in real examples and designed to be immediately useful, whether you are new to strategy or looking to refresh how your organisation thinks and plans.
Great for
Strategy or policy teams new to portfolio thinking
Organisations refreshing how they prioritise and plan
Leaders introducing more structured decision making
Public bodies looking to strengthen internal capability
Teams wanting a shared language for trade-offs, influence and policy levers
What our clients say:
“Sessions like these help policy teams think outside of their policy areas, understand the complexity of the portfolio and where it fits within the wider system.
Having deep conversations about what kind of policy levers the portfolio holds, could be a great catalyst to empower teams to consider new ways of approaching a policy challenge.”
“It was a really engaging and thought-provoking day on the specific elements of the portfolio as well as its spread...the use of the policy levers and future scenarios was really valuable in stimulating thinking from a different perspective.
I would like to carry out this portfolio review every 6 months to ensure my portfolio of work remains fit for purpose, reflective of the changing context and effectively mitigates risk.”
Ready to unlock the potential of your policy portfolio?
Our Policy Portfolio services are available to purchase through G-Cloud 14.
Partner with us to ensure your policies are aligned, impactful and future-proof.
Whether refining your current strategy or starting from scratch, we’ll help you deliver meaningful results.