SOLUTIONS & CHANGE MANAGEMENT
PREPARED FOR Jonas Cain | Performance Consultant, Learning Experience Designer & Facilitator of Fascination Hashtag Positivity, LLC 30 Newbury St. 3rd Floor Boston, MA 02116 Office: +1 (800) 969-9778 (EST) Cell: +1 (413) 364-4862 (EST) [email protected]
SUBMITTED BY Jonas Cain | Performance Consultant, Learning Experience Designer & Facilitator of Fascination Hashtag Positivity, LLC 30 Newbury St. 3rd Floor Boston, MA 02116 Office: +1 (800) 969-9778 (EST) Cell: +1 (413) 364-4862 (EST) [email protected]
DATE August 9, 2020
SOLUTIONS & CHANGE MANAGEMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This document provides at an outline of solutions and change management to address Hashtag Positivity’s performance gaps in five parts:
SECTION 1: Context & Performance Gap Summary
SECTION 2: Vision of Change Statement
SECTION 3: Intervention Identification
SECTION 4: Intervention Development
SECTION 5: Change Management Plan
APPENDIX: Interventions
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SOLUTIONS & CHANGE MANAGEMENT 1. CONTEXT & PERFORMANCE GAP SUMMARY
Hashtag Positivity, LLC is a single owner entrepreneurship that provides social emotional knowledge, skills, and resources to emerging adults (defined as teenagers and young adults, usually between the ages of 16 and 20) and their influencers (teachers, administrators, counselors, social workers, parents, and so forth). Primary services include leadership development workshops and assemblies for students, and consulting, coaching, and professional development training for educational professionals and parents—for both in person and virtual interventions. The following chart outlines a summary of the performance gaps:
ACTUAL STATE DESIRED STATE PERFORMANCE GAP ROOT CAUSE(S) Type
Little to no consistent Consistent and More connections There are no set Information and ongoing weekly ongoing weekly and conversations specific expectations connections and connections and with potential clients for how many weekly conversations with conversations with need to be had on a connections and potential clients. potential clients. weekly basis. conversations with potential clients should be happening.
2020 (Year-to-Date): Enough contracts to More contracts need There is no specific Information • Contracts: 19 generate $150,000 to be closed. expectation for how • Income: $4,084.37 in gross business many closed • Income per income. contracts should be Contract: $214.97 generated.
2019: • Contracts: 29 • Income: $18,937.50 • Income per Contract: $653.02
Staff often misses key Staff is able to focus Staff needs to With only one staff Capacity components of job on each task to perform all job tasks member responsible tasks. perform duties with with care and for all the duties high level of care accuracy. within the and accuracy. organization, there is only so much they are capable of doing.
Feedback is not Compile feedback Feedback needs to Formalize the Resources always collected and from participants and be compiled and feedback and formal evaluations are generate evaluation evaluations need to evaluation system. not always completed. reports consistently. be done consistently.
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SOLUTIONS & CHANGE MANAGEMENT 2. VISION OF CHANGE STATEMENT
The following is Hashtag Positivity’s vision of change statement:
Hashtag Positivity has an opportunity to significantly increases sales within the next twelve months.
This is a realistic expectation because the presence of a global pandemic has forced schools and higher education institutions into remote learning, creating an increased demand for engaging virtual content to serve the educational and social-emotional needs of teenagers and young adults.
Up until now, Hashtag Positivity has not taken proactive steps to be of advanced service to this market, yet the organization is capable of fulfilling a valued and timely need.
By increasing outreach to this target market, with the expectation of building relationships and being of service—and following through with the prescribed interventions—there is no reason why Hashtag Positivity can’t become a visible leader in the youth development industry.
This vision of change is supported by the interventions prescribed on the next page. Each intervention supports each other to drive the vision forward, by eliminating unnecessary tasks, creating specific and clear goals, and providing valuable resources to make follow through more efficient.
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SOLUTIONS & CHANGE MANAGEMENT 3. INTERVENTION IDENTIFICATION
To address this vision, the following interventions are recommended:
PERFORMANCE ISSUE INTERVENTION INTERVENTION DESCRIPTION INTERVENTION CATEGORY JUSTIFICATION
More connections and Environmental Provision of Information: This intervention will conversations with Create a quota of prospects to provide resources to make potential clients need to be connected with per week. connecting with prospects be had on a weekly easier while also providing Provision of Resources: Create basis. a clear goal to aim for. an email template for reaching out to prospective clients.
Provision of Resources: Create a phone script to be used as a guideline while talking with prospects to determine their needs.
More contracts need to Environmental Provision of Information: This intervention provides be closed. Create a sales quota that must a clear goal to aim for, be reached per quarter. rather than taking a “hope for the best” approach.
Staff needs to perform Environmental Elimination of Task This intervention will help all job tasks with care Interference: Remove leverage the limited time and accuracy. Emotional unnecessary tasks and for maximum efficiency. automate routine tasks. Recognizing valued Recognition for Superior performance will provide Performance: When quotas motivation crucial to are met, celebrate the wins sustaining effort. with a valued reward.
Feedback needs to be Performance Aid Job Aid: Create a checklist to This intervention will compiled and systematize the feedback and streamline the feedback evaluations need to be evaluation process and evaluation process done consistently. while also ensuring that follow up is made in timely manner.
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SOLUTIONS & CHANGE MANAGEMENT 4. INTERVENTION DEVELOPMENT
The following chart outlines what needs to be developed in order to produce these interventions. See the Appendix starting on page 9 for fleshed out details.
PERFORMANCE ISSUE INTERVENTION REQUIRED DEVELOPMENTS
More connections and a. Provision of Information: Create a a. A reasonable judgement will need to conversations with quota of prospects to be connected be made to predict approximately how potential clients need to with per week. many prospects need to be contacted be had on a weekly in order to generate the desired b. Provision of Resources: Create an basis. number of contracts. email template for reaching out to prospective clients. b. A simple word document can be created with a variety of sample email c. Provision of Resources: Create a templates that can create awareness, phone script to be used as a interest, and desire to set up a phone guideline while talking with call or Zoom session to learn more. prospects to determine their needs. c. A simple word document with questions and bullet points can be created.
More contracts need to Provision of Information: Create a A reasonable judgement will need to be be closed. sales quota that must be reached per made to estimate how many contracts will quarter. need to be closed to reach the desired income. This will also necessitate a decision on what products and services can be focused that can generate the highest potential income per contract, along with the highest volume per product or service.
Staff needs to perform a. Elimination of Task Interference: a. A reasonable judgement will need to all job tasks with care Remove unnecessary tasks and be made to determine what tasks are and accuracy. automate routine tasks. unnecessary and/or are low priority. A daily checklist can also be created to b. Recognition for Superior ensure that the top priority tasks are Performance: When quotas are done every day. met, celebrate the wins with a valued reward. b. An incentive plan will need to be created. The initial plan is to send out press releases to all the local media outlets when mini wins are achieved. This will produce a rush of pride in achievement while simultaneously initiating a greater presence in the community.
Feedback needs to be Job Aid: Create a checklist to A system will be created to formalize the compiled and systematize the feedback and evaluation process, including a provision evaluations need to be evaluation process of incentives for clients to complete the done consistently. evaluations, and a form will be used to manage and track the progress.
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SOLUTIONS & CHANGE MANAGEMENT 5. CHANGE MANAGEMENT PLAN
Using the Kotter (1995) approach, here is the change management plan to fulfill this vision:
Step One: Create Urgency There is already a sense of urgency, as sales have already drastically declined, so failure to act now will push the organization out of business. In addition, the pandemic is a timely concern, and there is a high need to meet the challenge now.
Step Two: Form a Powerful Coalition Since the organization has only one staff member, the change coalition will be a coalition of one.
Step Three: Create a Vision for Change Hashtag Positivity has an opportunity to significantly increases sales within the next twelve months. This is a realistic expectation because the presence of a global pandemic has forced schools and higher education facilities into remote learning, creating an increased need for engaging virtual content to serve teenagers and young adults. Up until now, Hashtag Positivity has not taken proactive steps to be of advanced service to this market, yet the organization is capable of fulfilling a valued and timely need. By increasing outreach to this target market, with the expectation of building relationships and being of service—and following through with the prescribed interventions—there is no reason why Hashtag Positivity can’t become a visible leader in the youth development industry.
Step Four: Communicate the Vision Since the organization only has one staff member, the full communication of the vision has already happened. However, to reinforce this vision, it will be posted in the office to be visible every day, and reminders will be put in place to keep it front of mind.
Step Five: Remove Obstacles Obstacles can include extraneous tasks that don’t directly support the change vision, as well as out-of-date-or less lucrative service offerings.
Step Six: Create Short-Term Wins Short-term wins include any new relationships formed with prospects and new contracts that are derived from those relationships.
Step Seven: Build on the Change
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Once the new changes are implemented as the new standard practice, and before stagnation can settle in, new goals will be evaluated and implemented to continue striving for excellence—perhaps including an increase in outreach quotas and the addition of a new staff member dedicated to fulfilling the sales role.
Step Eight: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture Hashtag Positivity stands on three pillars: 1) We focus on possibilities rather than on problems, 2) What we do reflects who we are with integrity, and 3) Results follow relationships, not the other way around. The vision of change is anchored in these pillars, so integrating the change will be met with very little resistance.
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SOLUTIONS & CHANGE MANAGEMENT APPENDIX
INTERVENTION DEVELOPMENT
Weekly Outreach Quota To produce this intervention, a reasonable judgement will need to be made to predict approximately how many prospects need to be contacted in order to generate the desired number of contracts. While there is no hard data to provide an accurate prediction, there will be an aspirational assumption made here. Since there are roughly 24,000 high schools (National Center for Education, n.d.) and 5,300 higher education institutions in the United States (Education Unlimited, 2019), for a total of about 29,300, the goal will be to reach out to every one of these institutions within a ten-year period. Using this as a guideline, the quota will be the goal of reaching out to at least 57 prospects a week. To make this manageable, Hashtag Positivity will begin with the schools in the immediate local cities, towns, and counties, before branching off to other states and regions. Outreach will be made by two initial emails, followed by a postcard, and then a final email, before moving on to an alternative contact for each educational institution until a consultation is scheduled.
Outreach Email Template To produce this intervention, a simple word document can be created with a variety of sample email templates that can create awareness, interest, and desire to set up a phone call or Zoom session to learn more. The following email template was is adapted from Rick Forgay’s Professional Career Leadership Mastery Program:
LinkedIn Messages Template:
Your profile caught my attention because (mention a commonality based on their profile…shared connections, education background, universities attended, industry, skills, and so forth). It would be great to share a 15-minute conversation with you to learn about (mention a compelling reason to connect…current event, opportunity, news story, challenges, goals, and obstacles, upcoming events, performance issues, training need, and so forth). For your convenience, how does (Date and time) work for our call? I look forward to your reply.
Email Messages Template:
The purpose of this message is to (mention a commonality based on their profile…shared connections, education background, universities attended, industry, skills, and so forth). It would be great to share a 15-minute conversation with
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SOLUTIONS & CHANGE MANAGEMENT
you to learn about (mention a compelling reason to connect…current event, opportunity, news story, challenges, goals, and obstacles, upcoming events, performance issues, training need, and so forth). For your convenience, how does (Date and time) work for our call? I look forward to your reply.
Phone Script To produce this intervention, a simple word document with questions and bullet points can be created. The following outline provides key questions and topics to be used during outreach calls to keep the conversation both engaging and relevant:
Questions • What are your biggest challenges your students, faculty, and campus community facing right now? • What are you goals to overcome the challenges? • What have you tried so far, and what have been your results? • What’s getting in the way?
Topics • Growing mental health crisis among both teens and adults. • Suicide rates increasing • Lack of social connections • Loss of sense of control • Low motivation and engagement. • A need for enhanced emotional intelligence and skills • We offer a ready-to-go curriculum as well as customized options • 100% virtual • Work around the school school’s schedule • Free coaching for staff member to learn the curriculum and become an ambassador of the program • Low introduction rates are offer, because the program is still new and is inconstant development as it improves after every session • Free trial offer • Unlimited access to support • Free bonus presentations available for entire campus community when you enroll at least one cohort into the program
Closed Contract Quota To produce this intervention, a reasonable judgement will need to be made to estimate how many contracts will need to be closed to reach the desired income. This will also necessitate a decision on what products and services can be focused that can generate the highest potential income per contract, along with the highest volume per product or service.
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SOLUTIONS & CHANGE MANAGEMENT
The gross income goal is $150,000, which is desired to cover business expenses and debts, including payroll for the single staff member. Therefore, the contracts generated from the outreach initiative will need to meet or exceed this goal. • For 2020, total closed contracts are 19 for an average income per contract of $214.97. • In 2019 it was 29 for a per average of $653.02. • In 2018 it was 30 for a per average of $758.78. • In 2017 it was 53 for a per average of $438.87.
That said, up until now all work has been done in-person, which limits availability and incurs travel expenses and sometimes disqualifies certain clients. Since the remainder of 2020 and beyond will be done 100% virtually, more clients can be served, travel expenses will be zero, and an additional market of qualified potential clients is now available. The number provided above are likely mostly for historical and informational use only, as evidence of what has been done in the past. Moving forward, Hashtag Positivity will simplify the service offerings to focus on the most efficient, cost-effective, and lucrative service offerings to meet the virtual, educational, and social- emotional needs of teenagers and young adults in high school and high education institutions in the United States. The following three offerings will be the “bread and butter” services that Hashtag Positivity provides, generating school contracts, defined as a single contract that serves multiple participants, and individual contracts, defined as a single contract that serves one participant.
OFFER 1 • Self-paced virtual program for 8-12 participants o $250/participant o Average income = $2,500/school contract § Or 10 contracts at $250/individual contract OFFER 2 • Self-paced virtual program for 8-12 participants • PLUS two months of group coaching (four sessions) o $450/participant o Average income = $4,500/school contract § Or 10 contracts at $450/individual contract OFFER 3 • Self-paced virtual program for 4-6 participants. • Two months of group coaching (four sessions) • PLUS a six-month mastermind group (12 sessions) o $900/participant o Average income = $4,500/school contract § Or 5 contracts at $900/individual contract
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SOLUTIONS & CHANGE MANAGEMENT
ASSUMPTIONS It’s important to remember that these programs and very new and other than test subjects, no paid clients have gone through them, so without real data to demonstrate sales and program success, all of this is speculative and aspirational. However, based on the numbers we do have, it’s probable that most clients will be likely to desire Offer 2 over the other offers, based on price, features, and scheduling. • Assumption 1: Approximately 60% of clients will buy Offer 2.
Next, it’s likely that the majority of the remaining clients will buy Offer 1, since it’s the most affordable. • Assumption 2: Approximately 30% of clients will buy Offer 2.
Lastly, the remaining clients will opt for Offer 3, since despite the larger price tag, they’ll get the most benefits and more in-depth time with the program. • Assumption 3: Approximately 10% of clients will buy Offer 3.
CONTRACT QUOTA Based on these assumptions, the contract quota will be determined by taking the income goal for the next twelve months ($150,000) and multiplying it by 30% for Offer 1, 60% for Offer 2, and 10% for Offer 3, and then divide each by the average income per contract: • Offer 1 needs to close 18 school contracts (180 individual contracts) o Generating $45,000
• Offer 2 needs to close 20 school contracts (200 individual contracts) o Generating $90,000
• Offer 3 needs to close 3.34 school contracts (16.67 individual contracts) o Generating $15,000
Based on these projections, in the next twelve months Hashtag Positivity will be expected to serve approximately 42 educational institutions and/or 397 people.
Task Elimination & Task Priority To produce this intervention, a reasonable judgement will need to be made to determine what tasks are unnecessary and/or are low priority. A daily checklist can also be created to ensure that the top priority tasks are done every day. Since the programs are already built on the online platform, and no further development can occur until the summative evaluation once participants begin signing up and going through the course, the most important activity is outreach to prospects. This will be done in three phases rotated throughout each week: • Day 1: Collect and input 57 leads into the database by 12pm Eastern.
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• Day 2: Outreach to 19 leads by 12pm Eastern. Follow up with leads that didn’t respond last week by 4pm. • Day 3: Outreach to 19 leads by 12pm Eastern. Send postcard to leads that didn’t respond three weeks ago by 5pm. • Day 4: Outreach to 19 leads by 12pm Eastern. Follow up with leads that didn’t respond last five weeks ago by 4pm. • Day 5: Manage leads that have been successfully contacted, schedule follow-up for leads that have not been successfully contacted. Create a journal entry about what went well that week along with what could be improved.
All other tasks, other than serving clients who have closed contracts, is secondary. All meetings will be scheduled for afternoons to ensure enough time is allotted for the primary task of outreach.
Press Release Toolbox To produce this intervention, an incentive plan will need to be created. The initial plan is to send out press releases to all the local media outlets when mini wins are achieved. These can perhaps even go out to industry magazines or associations. This will produce a rush of pride in achievement while simultaneously initiating a greater presence in the community. The following local publications will be sent a press release every time a mini win is achieved, such as meeting a quarterly quota, or landing an especially valued contract:
The Republican North Adams Transcript The Westwood Press The Boston Business Journal Salem Gazette Boston Post-Boy The Boston Herald Old Colony Memorial The Wayland Town Crier The Boston Globe The Phoenix Daily Times Chronicle Telegram And Gazette Brookline TAB The Medfield Press The Berkshire Eagle The Boston Post Southbridge Evening News The Patriot Ledger The Eagle-Tribune The Reminder Cape Cod Times Somerville Journal The Valley Advocate Daily Hampshire Gazette The Boston News-Letter The Journal Register The Sun Chronicle Saugus Advertiser Ware River News Sentinel & Enterprise Stoneham Independent Barre Gazette Taunton Daily Gazette The Daily News of Newburyport Agawam Advertiser News Cambridge Chronicle Boston Chronicle The Sentinel The Herald News Boston Evening transcript The Register Gloucester Daily Times The Barnstable Patriot The Wilbraham-Hampden Times The Standard-Times The Salem News The Sun Haverhill Gazette Massachusetts Spy Quaboag Current Vineyard Gazette Independent Chronicle Chicopee Register The Recorder The Gardner News Country Journal Athol Daily News Boston Evening-Post Town Reminder The Enterprise The Inquirer and Mirror Boston Gazette Boston Daily Advertiser
This is just a partial list to get started. More will be added along with the mailing and address email address for each publication. A full list can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_Massachusetts
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Evaluation Process To produce this intervention, a system will be created to formalize the evaluation process, including a provision of incentives for clients to complete the evaluations, and a form will be used to manage and track the progress. There are 5 steps to the feedback and evaluation process: 1. Immediate feedback following completion of a program. 2. 1-month after survey 3. 3-month after survey 4. 6-month after survey 5. 12-month after survey
Collecting such detailed feedback will be crucial in measuring the short-term and long-term success of the program—as evidence of the success, as well as providing insight into how to improve the program over time. The feedback will begin with the initial onboarding process of each client, to prepare them to expect to hear from Hashtag Positivity at four specific times after their participation. It will be stressed that their participation is just as much for their benefit as it is ours, in that they will gain the benefit of reinforcement of the material as well as provide them with valuable time reflect on how they have applied the material. Once a completes the program, they will be entered into a system where they will automatically receive a notification to complete the survey at the appropriate time. Anyone who doesn’t respond will receive automatic reminders until they respond. As an incentive to participate, perhaps every month we can enter everyone who participated into a raffle for gift certificate to a popular store, such as Amazon, or perhaps even better, to the local retailer of their choice.
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SOLUTIONS & CHANGE MANAGEMENT REFERENCES
Education Unlimited. (August 5, 2019). How many universities & colleges are in the US? Retrieved from https://www.educationunlimited.com/blog/how-many-universities-colleges- are-in-the-us/
Kotter, J. (1995). Leading Change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 73(2), 59-67.
National Center for Education. (n.d). How many educational institutions exist in the United States? Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=84
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