How We Reached 100% Participant Satisfaction - The Process That Turned an Idea into Impact

The Story

So often people have an innovative idea, but they don’t quite know how to bring it from idea to reality. When lightening strikes, you need to harness that energy and use it to create impact. That is what happened with this training series.

A talented mindfulness practitioner and mental health professional came to our organization with an innovative idea to provide a mindfulness training for first responders. (That was what this organization did - provide educational opportunities for adults.) This practitioner had the expertise to create and deliver the content, and he had the buy-in of a major local department. But how would we turn this opportunity into a reality?

The Plan

Step 1: Connect with the Customer

The most important first step was to get in touch with the target customer. We sat down with first responders to really tap into the voice of the customer. What were their challenges? What were their needs? What were potential barriers to buy-in? This enabled the practitioner to craft his content to meet the needs of the end user and address any concerns head on.

Step 2: Clarify the Vision

Next we got crystal clear on the practitioner’s evidence-informed vision for the training. His plan was to provide some basic mindfulness education and to lead short experientials of five simple and accessible mindful practices. Some of these he would lead himself, and others he would bring in subject matter experts. The goal would be both to give participants a relaxing experience of how powerful these practices could be, and to empower them with knowledge and resources to continue implementing these skills into their daily lives moving forward.

Step 3: Gather Resources

Then we evaluated what gaps we needed to fill - experts and funding. Luckily we had a great wealth of practitioner resources. We reached out to those who fit the bill and lined up a great team of experts. Then we drew up a projected budget. Short term funding was provided by a commitment of resources from the department and my organization - this was an effort that we wanted to support! And a plan was made for additional funding to be secured through cultivating major donors and seeking grant funding.

Step 4: Launch

The last step was making it happen! We opted for offering the training once a month for a group of 25 participants each. We reserved rooms and catering, designed marketing pieces for the client to use, and got ready for a great training.

The Results

Participation

The client was not only satisfied, but also planning to send as many department members through the training as possible. Over the course of our work with this program, 270 members participated and a special training was held especially for department leaders.

Impact

Most important was the impact that this program had on participants. 100% of participants surveyed reported reduced stress levels at the completion of the training.

Impacting 100% of participants is a pretty big win!

By planning this program strategically, we were able to take an idea and turn it into a powerful experience with serious impact.