We are looking at the how and why of truly fitting a “best practice” into your organization. Pursing the prolific best practice is noble, but is that practice actually a best fit? Al-Karim Samnani and Parbudyal Singh from the School of Human Resource Management at York University have examined the need for a holistic approach to understanding your organization and determining which best practices will actually be of greatest benefit. The following steps are vital to understanding your needs and finding that best fit: (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘ strategic planning ’
So Many Assessments, So Little Time
Posted by: Chelsea on July 21, 2011
An executive called us here at Brighter Strategies and wanted us to conduct a team development training based on an assessment she had recently experienced at a leadership conference. She really wanted her team to have that same experience. We chatted about her goals – team development and communication, and we shared with her that while the assessment she wanted was a great tool, but it was focused on individual competencies and would not translate well into teaming. We worked with her to select a similar but more appropriate tool. After consulting other professional development organizations that simply quoted her a price to use the leadership assessment, she ultimately decided to allow us to customize to her specific needs.
It is a challenge to find the right tool for the job. (more…)
Too Many Choices, Too Little Time
Posted by: Elizabeth on July 7, 2011
Unless you are a performance implementations or strategic process specialist, you probably haven’t had time to cultivate a sweeping view of the myriad of types and purposes of training and performance enhancement programs. Doug Leigh, PhD and Ryan Watkins, PhD have written the Handbook of Improving Performance in the Workplace, Vol. 2: Selecting and Implementing Performance Interventions and provides leaders with a logical framework
from which to make performance improvement decisions and implementation procedures. This handbook is a great tool to compare, contrast, (more…)
Is Your Strategic Plan Recession Savvy?
Posted by: Elizabeth on April 28, 2011
You spent months and lots of money crafting your strategic plan. Almost everyone was happy with the goals and new sense of community. But are you really using it? A great indicator of whether your strategic plan is really being implemented – have you stopped and examined your financial sustainability within the framework of your plan? If the answer is no, your plan is just a pretty picture of what your organization could be. (more…)
The Finish Line is in Sight!
Posted by: Elizabeth on April 19, 2011
We have completed the program evaluation cycle. Now it’s time to use your evaluation results to inform your strategic management process. You didn’t complete all of this work to simply hang a pretty logic model of your program or admire your brilliantly devised outcomes. Rather, evaluation is intended for action.
It is time for an action plan: (more…)
Elementary My Dear?
Posted by: Elizabeth on April 12, 2011
A logic model is a picture of how your program works and provides a systematic visual of the relationship between the need for a program’s existence , your resources, day-to-day activities, and the program outputs and outcomes (efficiency metrics). It maps out your program to illustrate why your program is needed, how it works, resource availability, which activities are a priority, and how outcomes are achieved. The model implies an “if-then relationship” between each of the areas above. Now after that complex definition – an example: (more…)
How Resourceful are your Resources?
Posted by: Elizabeth on March 29, 2011
I imagine that the data collection we discussed in our last blog took quite a bit of time and effort. The data collection process is lengthy but pays off in the end with careful pre-planning and effective analysis and use of that data. Please feel free to call us if you get stuck! We will press on today and identify the relationship between the things you want to do and the resources required to do them.
Refer back to the gap analysis you conducted. Does your organization have access to the resources you plan to use and can it support the program activities you plan to implement? Consider the following questions: (more…)
“Cheshire Puss…Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
Posted by: Elizabeth on March 22, 2011
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll
Let’s find out where we are going and identify the purpose of your evaluation. (more…)
“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make and end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” T.S. Eliot
Posted by: Elizabeth on March 17, 2011
We must start with the end in mind. There are three different types of program evaluation from which to choose: goal-based, process-based, and outcome-based. Your answers to the evaluation questions below will help to determine which evaluation method will best work for you and the specific end results you aim to accomplish. (more…)
“Let’s Start at the Very Beginning, a Very Good Place to Start” Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music
Posted by: Elizabeth on March 16, 2011
In the previous blog we defined evaluation as having 3 components with the first being an in-depth look at a program based on focused evaluation questions. This second component answers those questions by collecting data using specific and carefully chosen methods such as surveys/questionnaires, checklists, document reviews, case studies or focus groups. The third component provides tools to manage the program, identify performance gaps, develop implementation plans and create stakeholder feedback reports.
While evaluation does contain specific steps, it is neither prescriptive nor linear. Rather, it is a cyclical, ongoing process that is focused on continuous quality improvement. The following are the steps we will share in forthcoming blogs to create (more…)
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