For the first two years, our metric was trainings held. We ran sessions almost every month, and attendance was strong. What we didn't track closely enough was what happened after people left the room.
Most groups made it to a second meeting. Fewer made it to a fifth. Almost none reached a second generation, where someone from the original group started a group of their own.
When we finally sat down with the data, the pattern was obvious in hindsight: we had built a training pipeline, not a coaching one. People left equipped with a method but without anyone checking in on how it was actually going in their kitchen or break room.
So we slowed down. Every new group leader now gets a coach who checks in every two weeks for the first three months, not to inspect but to ask two questions: what's working, and what's stuck.
It felt like a step backward at first. Fewer trainings, smaller cohorts, more one-on-one time. But eighteen months later, we have more second-generation groups than in the first two years combined.
