Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Having essence infuse your group program development

I've been developing two new retreats for 2008 with colleagues in the last few months. One of my biggest lessons learned from this is process the realization of what an impact defining the essence you want for your program can have.

Both retreat programs I am working on right now are targeted to couples and as such draw on very similar concepts and exercises, yet have a very different feel. Last night we had a major breakthough with one of the retreats when we decided to look at the question: "What's the essence we want to create in this program? How is it different than other programs?"

To help us get really clear on what we wanted to create, we asked questions like:
* What's the energy we want to create?
* What's the ambiance?
* What colours come to mind with the program?
* What are some of the metaphors which would represent the program?
* What's the feel we want to create?

Keep in mind that we had already drafted the program and objectives. By getting really clear last night on the essence we wanted to create, it gave us a new strategic focus and made it really easy to start developing our marketing message. I have no doubt that the work we did last night is going to shorten a lot of processes in lead up to these programs, as well as help keep us grounded to what we want to create.

What's been your experience in coming from a place of defining your essence for a program in addition to defining your content? What results have you seen? I'd love to hear about your experience and any other questions you might want to add.

Have a great week!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Group Coaching Essentials
Email: jennifer@potentialsrealized.com
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960

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