Recently, I wrapped up the pilot of From SORE to SOAR, the 8-week online program designed to support professionals in articulating their vision and creating the structures, systems, and support they need to make their vision a reality. While I’ll share their perspective in a future newsletter, what I wanted to talk to you about today is what I've learned on my journey to bringing this vision to life.

While I've got decades of experience designing and delivering leadership development curriculum, this was my first foray into crafting a program that wove together asynchronous materials (concepts, frameworks, and exercises that the participant could complete any time before the live session) with facilitated sessions where participants could learn from and with each other as they worked to apply the concepts in their life.

It's one thing to have an idea of how the program will work and quite another to see how it plays out in real life. The goal, in this case, was to pilot a course that saw participants making tangible progress toward their vision.

What are some of the ways I have measured my progress and what have I learned along the way?

1. It's Ready. Creating a curriculum is equal parts science and art. What's required? What's nice to have? What's too much? It’s not unusual for an educator to get so excited about the topic at hand that they overwhelm the participants. In this case, as I built the curriculum, I had my husband (a former leader in learning and development) test it to see what questions he had or where he was getting stuck in trying to understand the concept being taught. This was a great temperature check that enabled me to revise where needed and feel comfortable that the content was ready to be tested by a broader audience.
2. It’s Needed. There is a saying that goes something like, “We teach what we most need to learn.” So, while I thought that the program was compelling, it’s a bit nerve-wracking to see how others react. In this case, because it was a pilot, I didn’t publicly advertise it. I didn’t share it on social media, and it wasn’t on my website. Instead, I shared the opportunity with each of you in my network and asked you to share it with those in your network as you saw fit. The feedback was positive, and I was delighted to have 8 individuals in the pilot.
3. It’s Working. Each week, I’ve been able to see how the participants are engaging with the content. Three moments that stood out to me as signals that I was on the right track with this program were:
   1. When the group asked for a mechanism to be able to support one another between live sessions.
   2. When a member of the group who had to miss a live session asked how they might “catch up.” They felt so connected they didn’t want to miss out.
   3. When, during one of the final live sessions, participants were confidently weaving in the concepts and frameworks they’d learned in the program as they sought to give feedback to one another.

In the coming weeks, I’ll dive into the feedback from each of the participants to understand what worked well and what could be improved for future offerings of this program. Additionally, watching how this program has unfolded has led me to identify another idea for how I might support professionals on their journey to greater success and fulfillment…but, more on that later!

I want to wrap up by bringing you back to the subject of this newsletter, “how are you measuring your progress toward your goals?” Having meaningful milestones that you recognize along the way can help you see where you might need to course correct (such as with my content development). When you see how far you’ve come and how much you’ve learned, you gain the confidence to keep going! So, how are you measuring your progress???