Change 101: How Your Feedback Is Shaping Our Next Steps

Sometimes the best changes come when you least expect them.

Man proposes, God disposes, they say.

It’s as true for a fledgling new business, as it is for anything else. As an idealist, dreamer, and also a bit of a control freak, I had thought up an entire plan for Little Storytellers. We’d do themed modules, they’d run for four weeks, we’d have kids who’d become regulars – it was going to be great!

Well, if this was an ‘expectations vs. reality’ meme, you’d be watching a grainy GIF of the desert, tumbleweed rolling past.

Crickets. That was the response we received in the first few days. It was the ultimate SNAFU.

What was going wrong?

Epiphany

It turns out, it was customer service 101. Years spent at the community journalism desk in the newsroom taught me that when you pick up the readers’ hotline (on the first ring, always), the first rule of engagement is: to listen. To truly blank out your own thoughts and try to hear what the person actually means beyond the words they are using. Sometimes, the message was loud and clear (literally) – they often yelled it in a beleaguered, ‘help me NOW’ pitch of desperation. Other times, it was hidden behind verbose demands, or timid requests.

Somewhere along the line, I’d forgotten to listen.

So, that’s what I did. I went back to our DMs, and took another look at our pre-launch survey. The answer was so obvious, I wondered why I didn’t see it before.

You wanted solo classes. Individual themed sessions that you could register for just the day before. In your fast-paced life and ever-changing routines, you wanted something flexible that was still enriching and anchored in the values we are trying to promote.

Well, I just wanted to say – we’re listening.

Long story short, this is why we’re condensing our Islamic Storytelling module, reining it in from two classes/week with two different age groups (4 to 6 years and 7 to 9 years), to one class/week with a broader age range (5 to 9 years). We’re using the rest of the time for single-session Islamic Storytelling classes that are thought-provoking, inspiring and educational. They’re also more affordable and give you a range of options to choose from.

We hope this makes a difference and gives you the confidence that we’re here for the long haul, learning and tweaking our programming as we go.

Our story is just beginning, and we’re starting it with you.