This is a breakout session at the 2016 Assets Learning Conference (ALC).

New programs or services sometimes fall short of their expected outcomes. Formerly successful programs sometimes fade in effectiveness or popularity as client needs and behaviors change. What approaches can enable us to better respond to the complex and ever-evolving needs of our clients?

In this session, practitioners from a small business development center, a city-wide tax time collaborative, and a national non-profit will share what they did to bring potential clients into the center of their program and service development process. They’ll highlight what they did to make the design process more participatory, how they tested the viability of new service or program concepts, and how the insights they gathered from designing and testing impacted their projects and organizations. This session pairs well with Human Insights 101: Discovering Clients’ Context and Perspective, Human Insights Workshop: Client Journey Mapping, and Consumer Engagement: Helping People Want What They Need.

Featuring Commonwealth Associate Director Amanda Hahnel.