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Designing Systems That Drive Engagement, Behavior Change, and Sustained Outcomes

Organizations and institutions invest in strategies, programs, and initiatives to improve outcomes.

But intention alone does not drive results.

Sustained outcomes depend on whether people engage—and continue engaging—over time.

THE PROBLEM

Where Most Efforts Break Down

Across sectors, a consistent gap exists between what is designed and what is experienced.

This often shows up as:

  • Low participation or inconsistent engagement

  • Drop-off over time

  • Misalignment between strategy and lived experience

  • Limited return on investment despite strong program design

Research consistently reflects this pattern:

  • Gallup reports that only ~21% of employees globally are engaged

  • McKinsey & Company estimates ~70% of change initiatives fail

  • Harvard Business Review has consistently found that failure is less about strategy and more about the inability to execute effectively in real-world conditions

  • Even in well-supported settings, long-term behavior adherence averages around 50%, according to the World Health Organization, highlighting how difficult sustained behavior change is without the right conditions in place

Most efforts focus on what to offer. Few are designed around what makes people engage and stay engaged.

WHAT WE DO

Aligning Strategy, Environment, and Human Behavior

SoulMed works at the intersection of systems and lived experience.

We help organizations ensure that:

  • Strategy reflects real-world conditions

  • Engagement is supported by the environments people move through

  • Behavior is understood, not assumed

When these are aligned, engagement becomes consistent—and outcomes become sustainable.

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE

How We Partner

We partner with organizations, institutions, and funders to:

  • Assess gaps between strategy and stakeholder experience

  • Identify barriers to participation and sustained engagement

  • Design environments that support consistency and follow-through

  • Strengthen alignment across initiatives, teams, and communities

  • Improve the effectiveness of existing investments and programs

This work can take the form of:

  • Strategic advising and system alignment

  • Stakeholder experience design

  • Engagement and behavior strategy

  • Pilot design and implementation

We do not add more programs.
We strengthen how systems function—so what already exists works more effectively.

PROOF: WHAT THIS WORK MAKES POSSIBLE

Applied across government, community, and organizational systems, this approach has led to measurable results:

  • 41% reduction in household waste through behavior-centered initiative design

  • 62% increase in participation through aligned communication and engagement strategy

  • 24% reduction in service complaints by aligning operations, messaging, and experience

  • 14% increase in compliance and 54% improvement in issue resolution through targeted engagement strategies

  • 10,000+ residents engaged through community-centered initiatives

These outcomes were achieved not by adding more programs—but by improving how systems function and how people experience them.

FOR FOUNDATIONS & FUNDERS

Increasing the Impact of What You Fund

We support funders in:

  • Strengthening alignment between funded initiatives and community experience

  • Increasing engagement and retention across grantee efforts

  • Piloting models that demonstrate scalable, place-based impact

  • Gaining insight into how strategies translate in real-world environments

Our role is to help ensure that what is funded is not only implemented—but experienced, adopted, and sustained.

SIGNATURE INITIATIVE

The SoulMed Healing Hub

Most initiatives are episodic.
People attend once—but don’t return.

The SoulMed Healing Hub is a place-based model designed to change that.

It provides:

  • A consistent, community-centered environment

  • Ongoing access to tools, resources, and support

  • A bridge between institutional strategy and lived experience

Organizations and funders engage with the Hub as:

  • A site for piloting and testing engagement strategies

  • A model for strengthening participation and retention

  • A mechanism for improving outcomes across existing initiatives

The Hub is not a program.
It is infrastructure for sustained engagement.

WHO WE WORK WITH

We partner with:

  • Government agencies

  • Foundations and funders

  • Healthcare systems

  • Corporations and community organizations

Let’s Build What Works

If your work depends on human behavior, alignment is the difference between effort and impact.

Contact Me