St. Paul’s High School

From Plan to Action: The Implementation Advantage

St. Paul’s High School in Winnipeg, an independent Jesuit School with a history dating back to 1926, is committed to educating young men as whole persons, inspiring them to become ‘men for others’ and leaders in their communities. After completing a major strategic planning project, St. Paul’s re-engaged us to support the next phase of implementation, focusing on sustainability and leadership development. Our collaboration helped refine tactical plans, engage staff, and ensure measurable progress, ensuring that the strategic plan continued to drive success.

Key Team Members
Shelly Berlin
Mackenzie Farrell
Tobias Mehra

A Profound Experience

The strategic planning process at St. Paul’s High School was a milestone for the community, resulting in the approval of the school’s first comprehensive strategic plan in many years. To ensure that the plan translated into meaningful action, there was a clear need to build leadership capabilities and establish a structured approach to implementation. Through close collaboration with the leadership team, we helped refine tactical plans, engage staff, and maintain the momentum from the planning phase. This approach was crucial in ensuring the plan’s success and long-term impact.

Practical Solutions

Berlineaton worked closely with St. Paul’s High School to turn the newly approved strategic plan into a practical, actionable blueprint for the school’s future. Our work began with a full-day session involving the entire faculty and staff to gather input and refine tactical plans. We then supported the leadership team in finalizing these plans, creating working groups to drive the implementation of each strategic priority. Ongoing coaching and support were provided to the President and leadership team to ensure the plans were executed effectively. Robust monitoring and reporting tools were developed to track progress, encourage collaboration, and ensure transparent updates for the Board, resulting in measurable progress.

Bolder Futures

The impact of our partnership with St. Paul’s High School has been transformative, equipping the school with sustainable systems, tools, and processes to ensure the continued success of their strategic plan. Leadership capacity was strengthened through skill-building and coaching, leading to greater alignment and independence across the team. With clear metrics and reporting frameworks in place, the school has been able to address challenges, drive cultural shifts, and integrate the strategic plan into its broader priorities. This work has positioned St. Paul’s for long-term success, fostering a culture of growth and excellence that will continue to have a positive impact on the school, its students, and the broader community.
View SPHS’s Vision, Mission, and Values here.

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  • The emphasis on Strategic Management was important to us, since we didn't want a plan that sat on the shelf after several months of strategic thinking. I found that Berlineaton didn't come to our organization with a preconception of what our strategic plan would look like, but they made an authentic effort to understand the people in our community and be in tune with its ethos, its goals and its people. They gained trust and confidence and continue to work with us on the implementation of our tactical plan.

    Head of School in Victoria,

    British Columbia

  • I have engaged Berlineaton over the years to support a few different initiatives. I have found they bring very strong skills and tools in the areas of strategic planning, change management, facilitation, problem solving, project management, engagement management and team building.

    Associate Deputy Minister,

    BC Government

  • Your efforts in guiding the robust planning process that has resulted in UCC’s Strategic Directions were quite simply extraordinary; your partnership was integral to any success achieved. Thank you. I hope you are as proud of the final product as we are.

    Sam McKinney, Head of School,

    Upper Canada College

  • Overall, I would highly recommend Berlineaton for anyone seeking superior results in the field of facilitated, team-based process improvement that blend a focus on more task focused business results with the team, and overall people, engagement required to promote higher levels of ownership and execution success.

    Executive Director,

    BC Government

  • Berlineaton helped me work through staffing changes and a significant workload immediately following the COVID-19 outbreak. Our coaching sessions were very much appreciated, and I was able to re-focus on the strategic goals of our organization, while still leading my team and day-to-day operations. Being able to improve my leadership competencies and navigate the last few months was invaluable to say the least.

    Executive Director,

    Not-for-Profit Organization in British Columbia

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    Shelly Berlin

    BA, MBA, FCMC, ACC
    Strategist, Confidante, Entrepreneur.

    Shelly Berlin brings over 30 years of strategic insight and transformational leadership to Berlineaton as co-founding and managing partner.

    She began her consulting career with Andersen Consulting and Price Waterhouse – global experience that led to the launch of Berlineaton in 1996. She holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Alberta, an MBA from UBC, is a Certified Management Consultant and an ICF-certified Executive Coach. In 2017, Shelly and her partner Richard Eaton were named Fellows of the Canadian Association of Management Consultants and were later honoured with CMC’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. She also holds an ESG governance designation from Competent Boards.

    Throughout her career, Shelly has worked with more than 1,200 clients across government, not-for-profits, independent schools, and private sectors. She is known for her inclusive, collaborative approach and her ability to help clients execute strategy that achieves significant impact.

    As Chair of the St. Michaels University School Board, now in her fourth term, she led the global Head of School search that resulted in Dr. Jeff Aitken’s appointment and co-led the development of the Floreat 2020–2030 strategic plan.

    Shelly lives in Victoria with her family, including two teenagers, husband Richard Eaton, two cats, and a frog named Froakie.

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    Mackenzie Farrell

    BSC, MMgmt, CMC
    Collaborator, Community Builder, Go-Getter.

    Mackenzie is an Engagement Lead and Independent School Practice Lead at Berlineaton. Known for her experience in strategy development and execution, she brings an innate sense of curiosity, meticulous attention to detail, and a strong interpersonal focus to all aspects of her work.

    Mackenzie specializes in working with independent schools, helping them to navigate unique challenges and build stronger, more sustainable institutions. She has worked with over 20 schools across Canada.

    With a deep-seated passion in helping organizations foster visionary futures for themselves, Mackenzie excels in guiding organizations through an engagement and people-centric approach on growth and improvement. Her strategic insights and commitment ensure that her clients achieve sustainable success.

    Outside of the office, she can be found taking advantage of all the world-class access to nature that the West Coast of Canada has to offer, including her favourite past times, skiing, surfing, and hiking with her husband and dog Molson.

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    Tobias Mehra

    BA, MSc, MIB, CMC
    Problem Solver, Ear-Lender, Globetrotter.

    Tobias is an Engagement Lead. He joined the firm in early 2019. He draws on his various academic and professional experiences in business strategy, market research and corporate sustainability to provide simple and elegant data-driven solutions. 

    Tobias discovered his passion for working with people from a diverse set of backgrounds and enjoys helping organizations confront complex challenges with simple data-powered solutions. 

    Originally hailing from Austria, he moved to Victoria in 2018. Tobias loves exploring the outdoors and loves Vancouver Island as much as he loves Austria. His newest love, though, is his daughter, born at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.