Thank you for the thoughtful feedback and suggestions, Alex! Great points about the ordering of the workbook, and the proposed implementation steps. Those resonate with me as well, and I think it’s likely I’ll actually try a couple of those ideas!
So far we have done the 1:1 chat at the end of the fellowship and this has felt useful for guiding members through using it, and helping them to further fill it out. I have also gotten feedback that sharing our own completed workbooks as examples has definitely helped make it a little less intimidating for members, so glad you pointed that out as well.
Regarding failure modes, it’s still early days for us trying it out, but there’s a few ones I might expect could happen:
1. Timing issues: Introducing the workbook when members are overwhelmed (e.g., exam periods for students, etc.) might lead to low engagement. It could make more sense to prioritize the workbook at the beginning of the Introduction Fellowship or at the start of a new semester when people are naturally in a planning mindset.
2. Accountability gap: Not having a structured follow-up process could mean workbooks get filled out but not acted upon. Something like the 2-month and 4-month check-ins you suggested could be useful.
3. Excessive formality: The full workbook intimidating. It may be possible to create a “lite” version for those who prefer a more casual approach, which might increase participation among less committed members.
4. Organizer bandwidth: Tracking and supporting every member could become overwhelming for a small team. Potential solutions could be:
- Creating peer accountability pairs/groups
- Training more experienced members to conduct some of the follow-up conversations
- Using a batch approach where we focus on helping 5-8 members at a time
Thank you for the thoughtful feedback and suggestions, Alex! Great points about the ordering of the workbook, and the proposed implementation steps. Those resonate with me as well, and I think it’s likely I’ll actually try a couple of those ideas!
So far we have done the 1:1 chat at the end of the fellowship and this has felt useful for guiding members through using it, and helping them to further fill it out. I have also gotten feedback that sharing our own completed workbooks as examples has definitely helped make it a little less intimidating for members, so glad you pointed that out as well.
Regarding failure modes, it’s still early days for us trying it out, but there’s a few ones I might expect could happen:
1. Timing issues: Introducing the workbook when members are overwhelmed (e.g., exam periods for students, etc.) might lead to low engagement. It could make more sense to prioritize the workbook at the beginning of the Introduction Fellowship or at the start of a new semester when people are naturally in a planning mindset.
2. Accountability gap: Not having a structured follow-up process could mean workbooks get filled out but not acted upon. Something like the 2-month and 4-month check-ins you suggested could be useful.
3. Excessive formality: The full workbook intimidating. It may be possible to create a “lite” version for those who prefer a more casual approach, which might increase participation among less committed members.
4. Organizer bandwidth: Tracking and supporting every member could become overwhelming for a small team. Potential solutions could be:
- Creating peer accountability pairs/groups
- Training more experienced members to conduct some of the follow-up conversations
- Using a batch approach where we focus on helping 5-8 members at a time
To answer your question about presentations—yes, I do have a deck that could be used (it’s actually where some of the images are from). It can be found here: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGXSf3cBKc/IJQCkVazb5_vNzWbrHypPw/edit?utm_content=DAGXSf3cBKc&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton