Session Description:
Successfully implementing a new program cycle requires a management framework that can handle high levels of complexity without creating administrative overload. This virtual working session introduces organizational leaders to the Rapid Results Approach and core Agile principles as practical scaffolding for the transition to the new contract.
This working session is designed to help organizational leaders build management routines that will carry them through the August 1 launch and the first contract cycle. The session draws on two practical frameworks: the Rapid Results Approach's emphasis on short-cycle, high-priority commitments and the core Agile principle of regular checkpoints and rapid course correction. These are disciplines to master, but tools to adapt to the COMPASS context. Participants don't need to know either framework in advance; the session translates both directly into practices COMPASS leaders can use starting the week after the session.
Through guided discussion and structured work time, Executive Directors, Multi-Site Leaders, and Program Directors will identify their three highest launch risks, map the decisions and actions required to address each, and build a 90-day management cadence with named owners and review checkpoints.
Each participating organization will leave with a 90-Day Launch Management Plan, a single working document that names their top launch risks, assigns ownership, establishes the first 30-day milestones, and sets a standing review cadence through November. The plan is built during the session using a ready-to-adapt template. It is designed to be used the week after the session, not filed.
Intended Audience:
Executive Directors, Program Directors, responsible for leading COMPASS teams through launch and implementation.
Dr. Hiershenee Luesse
Dr. Hiershenee B. Luesse is a founding partner and principal consultant at 8RES, LLC, a boutique consulting firm based in New York City. She is a social and behavioral scientist with extensive and diverse experiences in culturally responsive evaluation, applying behavioral science to create learning materials that lead to actionable results, and utilizing systems approaches to addressing social issues. She has over 20 years of experience in health research and evaluation working with minority and historically underrepresented populations, nationally and internationally, to develop and implement strategies that promote health and minimize social inequality.
Dr. Luesse is frequently published in peer-reviewed journals, has published various white papers, hosted widely attended sector-specific webinars, and presented at conferences around the country. An exciting project that Dr. Luesse led was the design of a national health behavior program (currently available on the Public Broadcasting Service, PBS) and its multi-site implementation and outcome evaluation within communities of color. She is a past board member of the American Evaluation Associations’ New York affiliate. Dr. Luesse received her Ph.D. in Behavioral Health from Columbia University.
Joe Luesse
Joseph E. Luesse is a founding partner at 8RES, a Research, Evaluation, and Strategy consulting firm. Joe has more than 20 years of experience in varied settings as an organizational leader, teacher, program developer, researcher, and evaluator. Joe has extensive experience leading program design, research, strategy, capacity building, innovation, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) efforts across the nonprofit, foundation, and education sectors. He’s an adjunct teaching evaluation at NYU’s School of Global Studies, a co-founder and former President of the NYC metro region’s American Evaluation Association affiliate, a New York Community Trust Leadership Fellow, and actively engaged in several professional communities. Joe is a regular presenter, speaker, and writer.
Prior to his current role, Joe worked with DREAM (formerly Harlem RBI), the Ford Foundation, The Research Alliance for New York City Schools, Government Relations at Columbia University’s Teachers College, and on various education research projects. Joe taught high school English for over ten years, and during that time he created a small learning community, tutored, became a UCLA Writing Project Fellow, formed a mentor exchange between high school and middle school students, participated in a progressive co-ed soccer collective, and assisted coaching basketball. Joe earned an EdM in Sociology and Education from Columbia University.
Organization: 8RES
Website: https://www.8res.org/
Org Description: 8RES partners with schools, community-based organizations, and public agencies to strengthen youth outcomes through leadership development, continuous improvement, and high-quality program implementation. Their work focuses on helping organizations build effective systems and practices that support the success and well-being of young people.