What does the What’s Next Program include?
I am glad you asked!
The Course
A six-week program that helps you work through your uncertainty, ideate on new possibilities, reduce fear, learn approaches to keep momentum and create the step by step plan to get you to your next chapter. Each week there is self-paced work to complete that will be shared during our two weekly cohort calls. Sharing your progress helps your cohort get to know you better and as a result you will benefit from the groups' feedback, advice and experience.
The Cohort Calls
Each week there are two Zoom calls with your vetted group of 5-7 like-minded individuals. The cohort is powerful because it offers you accountability, community, sounding boards and ideas / expertise from other perspectives . During these calls participants share their progress, work to break through barriers, and provide feedback to each other. This time will also be used to learn helpful tools and topics as well as complete additional exercises to keep everyone moving forward.
The Coaching
A dedicated cohort coach will be with you throughout your six-week experience. Each are well versed in the What's Next process as well as having an extensive background in subject matter relevant to your progress. They will facilitate all your calls, in addition you will have access to your coach during the week for questions, activity clarification or helping participant’s get unstuck. They will also schedule a one-on-one coaching session to make sure you are on the right path.
What you’ll focus on each week.
Pre-work
To set you up for success there are 2 activities to complete before the program. They will be used at various stages over our 6 weeks together.
- Request feedback from people who know you the best
- Set your intention for why you are doing the program
Week 1: Discovery
You’ll discover or rediscover who you are from the outside in and the inside out. During this week will work to answer questions like these.
- What is important to you for success?
- What drives you?
- Which areas of your life are most in need of change?
- Which skills, strengths and opportunities can you leverage to get to your next chapter?
Week 2: Define
You will dig deeper into your vision for the future and the barriers preventing you from achieving it. And then create your big question that you will work to solve over the next 4 weeks.
- Why do you want to make this change?
- What barriers are stopping you from achieving your next chapter?
- What is your North Star?
Week 3: Ideate
This week is all about ideas. As many and as blue sky as your coach can push the cohort to imagine for each other. This is when your cohort is at its most powerful as we work through several methods to generate truly new options for each cohort member’s next chapter.
What can the cohort add from their experience and knowledge base?
What areas are of no interest?
Which areas have you never thought of before?
How can we make these ideas even bigger?
What can you add to someone else's list of ideas?
Week 4: Narrow
In every creative process once you have diverged it is time to converge. This week we start to sort through ideas to determine the weeds from the flowers. You will consolidate down from potentially hundreds of ideas to dozens of opportunities.
- What are the themes that connect these ideas together?
- How can I packaged different pieces to make it even stronger?
- Which ones are a complete no go?
- Which ideas can I see myself pursuing?
Week 5: Develop
It is now time to prioritize your thinking and make some decisions. This week is magic as it all comes together, and your next step truly presents itself to you. Once you have prioritized to your top ideas it will be time to think past the zygote of an idea to a fully fleshed out concept.
- Which ideas stretch me and excite me?
- Which ideas connect to my core needs?
- How complex or difficult will it be to make this a reality?
- What are the strengths, challenges, and dependencies for this concept?
- How can I overcome potential challenges before they happen?
Week 6: Plan
Time to put your action plan together. We will think through the steps, outcomes and the people and resources that will help or hinder progress.
- What are the next steps?
- When will I accomplish each?
- What are my key milestones?
- What is in scope or out of scope?
- How much will this cost to pursue / create / launch?
- How do I measure success?
- Who will support me in this endeavor?
In addition
We will cover ideas, learnings and tools throughout the program that will help you successfully reach your goal.
- Why our brain is resistant to change
- How to reduce fear
- Ways to build your creative problem solving abilities for the future
- How to be a stronger decision maker
- Tools to keep momentum and motivation after the program
- How to stop self-sabotaging your ideas
By the end of the six-weeks...
you will leave with an action plan, clear next steps, a community of accountability partners and a revitalized energy to pursue your next chapter.
