Life Transformation
Change Management Research Project
Participants
We welcome the participation of nonprofit and governmental agencies (including, but not limited to, city or local governments, state or federal agencies, school districts, and other local, regional or national organizations) which provide education, health, and/or social services to individuals “in transition”. Organizations with a history of mission-based, results-driven decision-making, combined with an interest in speeding the pace at which their annual goals are met and/or exceeded, are a match for this project.
Primary Focus
The study measures annual changes in levels of achievement of agencies, goal by goal, as result from the intentions (written) of individual group members.
Students aware of a high school’s goal to increase math scores by 50% may decide to join a math study groups. After learning about their agency’s smoking cessation goals, social workers might define personal plans to include enrolling more clients into a smoking cessation training program (see Figure 1). To support a rural community’s go-green efforts, residents might define their own plans to share rides, recycle, or combine trips into town.
Secondary Research Options
Participants are encouraged to contribute anonymous copies of their own completed Personal Life Success Plans to the Running Start Institute™ database each year. Compilations of plans will contribute to subsequent research projects. Through multiple text analysis methods, changes in (a) perceptions about future possibilities and (b) actual outcomes (organizational outcomes consistent with stated organizational objectives, and personal successes viewed in aggregate form) will be identified; the project expects to publish findings on-line by December 31, 2011.Research Assumptions
The study assumes the collective personal success of group members is a key factor in the success of their organizations.Methodology
A Personal Life Success Planning cycle, repeated each of three consecutive years, includes an annual 6-hour Running Start Institute™ workshop─the cornerstone methodology of this study. Running Start™ software and processes, proven effective by families, individuals, and organizations during more than 25 years of application, support each group member’s annual development of their own Personal Life Success Plan. The participating agency’s first Personal Life Success Planning session follows their purchase of a site license and the completion of a brief Organizational Priorities Questionnaire.
Running Start Institute™ certified consultants present all Personal Life Success Planning sessions. Groups can follow up through either (a) a self-guided model of Running Start™ Personal Life Success Plan development for individual group members, or (b) a coach-supported model.
All Personal Life Success Planning annual training workshops rely on Running Start™ software and processes. All session participants complete the following 7 software-supported steps:
- Create a personal Vision
- Brainstorm options and select Action Steps to accomplish the Vision
- Organize Action Steps into Objectives
- Prioritize Objectives
- Assess Stage of Accomplishment
- Identify Constraints and Opportunities
- Build Action Plan
Members (minimum 50) of each participating organization attend annual planning sessions; each participant takes leave with their own copies of their Personal Life Success Plans.
Note that the software creates a graphic Success Matrix for each plan that depicts the Stage of Accomplishment that has been reached for each Objective related to its Priority. This matrix clarifies the Constraints and Opportunities inherent in each plan, and thus shows where to focus resources in order to break through to transformation. The amalgam of the individual Personal Life Success Plans consolidates the picture for the entire agency (see Figure 4).
Projected Results and Benefits
- Participants:
- Access to a wider range of community resources, services, and experiences
- Acquire a bound copy of a personal action plan (with goals, objectives, individual projects, time lines) to use in accomplishing goals and tracking personal achievements
- Access to a wider range of community resources, services, and experiences
- Participating Organizations:
- Efficient use of program resources and services
- Increased funding, due to increased availability of reports demonstrating efficacy of programming
- Heightened achievement of key goals, through increases in rates of referral and referral follow-up
- Increase in numbers of clients served, due to direct referrals, and/or recommendations
- Efficient use of program resources and services
- Communities-at-Large: Publication of books and articles featuring research findings and organizational achievements.
Project Partnerships with Agencies and Individuals
- Insures linkages to linguistically diverse and culturally relevant perspectives and staffing (to assure effective communication and technical assistance formats) through linkages with educational institutions.
- Provides a multi-functional advisory capacity to influence project design and the interpretation of findings through partnerships with individuals experienced in multiple fields of study, including education, social service, law enforcement, and anthropology and health professionals.
- Supports multidisciplinary approach to research design, data collection protocol, analysis and the publication of findings—through partnerships with individual, university-affiliated researchers.
Project Phases
- Phase I: Start-up – January-October, 2008
- Phase II: Implementation – October, 2008-June, 2011
- Phase III: Publish Findings – July, 2011-December, 2011