We support you in clarifying strategy and aligning operations to major goals and objectives to better align resources, meet stakeholder needs, and increase the likelihood of success by:

• Supporting development and reflection on shared vision and goals, keeping resources and achievements in mind
• Tracking measurable outcomes and the way that they improve lives, services, or operations within the community
• Conducting outcomes- or impact- focused evaluation to document project achievements and success, provide critical feedback, or serve as a means for external accountability
• Developing tools to help stakeholders understand how a program is intended to work and the expected results based on insights from prior research and project inputs
• Studying potential audiences and their needs, prior knowledge, interests and behaviors to inform project design and to question and clarify assumptions about a project’s need within stakeholder communities

We use empirical evidence and a learning science lens to optimize your products and programs by:

• Conducting rapid alpha and beta testing of products and programs
• Using a lens of useable, useful, and in-use to assess the quality of products and programs
• Providing real-time insights into effectiveness, enabling you to make informed adjustments and get the most value from your investments
• Using unstructured and structured observations, think-aloud protocols, photovoice, interviews, focus groups, listening sessions, and surveys to understand how users, visitors, audiences, or customers perceive a product or program
• Utilizing co-design principles and deep stakeholder engagement, as well as the notion of “nothing for us without us,” to ensure that users are at the core of design, development, and dissemination

We help you enhance workforce readiness and optimize training systems by:

• Co-designing and facilitating professional development based on learning science principles, including virtual and in-person engagement, training and community building
• Reviewing, testing and revising training units based on initial measures of success
• Measuring the immediate success of training and learning efforts as well as transfer from training into practice, ensuring long-term effectiveness of training efforts
• Conducting industry needs assessment for up and reskilling
• Cultivating and supporting communities of practice and professional networks

We support you in building long-term relationships and trust with community members by:

• Advocating for transparent communication and responsible implementation
• Engaging stakeholders and communities in dialogue
• Ensuring products are accessible to all segments of the community, including underserved or marginalized groups in the interest of equitable access
• Involving community members, customers, or users early in the rollout process to understand their needs and concerns
• Applying a mix of social science research methods to understand perspectives on potential products, services, or desires for collaboration

We can help you with team development and organizational strengthening by:

• Using actionable measures to assess the health and coherence of work units, teams or collaborations
• Designing actions and activities to ensure team cohesion and productivity
• Aligning teams and leadership around innovation goals
• Creating specific criteria for team success and implementing relevant team practices
• Providing partnership development support