logo develop teams and individuals by miss alisa kaewkhao code c62251

LOGO

DEVELOP TEAMS AND INDIVIDUALS

By Miss Alisa KaewKhaoCode C62251

DEVELOP TEAMS AND INDIVIDUALS

In Develop Teams and Individuals, there are many components that need to be applied in accordance with the procedures to be able to reach the objective. So we understand the following :

Individual Learning Plans

How to Interview Individual

Questions you may use in interview

Learning and Development Plan

Team Learning Plans

Learning Options

Team’s Performance

Training and Other Development

Monitoring and Evaluation

Planning for Monitoring and Evaluation

About Information : What we want to know?

Different Kinds of Information

How will we get information?

Who should be involved about this?

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLANS

What is an individual learning plan?

An effective individual learning plan (ILP) is at the heart of assessment, learning, support and

achievement. It helps the learner to become an active, motivated partner in learning.

The ILP is: a personalized, flexible route map to guide each learner’s journey a dynamic working document, owned and used by the learner, supported by teachers, employers and others a record of learning goals and progression routes, initial and diagnostic assessment information, learning targets, progress

and achievements within different contexts for learning a communication aid between the learner and others who support the learning process in various contexts a way of making and reinforcing links and

connections between topics, subject and personal, learning and thinking skills.

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLANS (CONT.)

In practice, this means learners using their ILP to:record what they want to achieve on their learning journey – their goals and progression optionsnegotiate and plan exactly what they are going to do, how and when. The ILP will include:

learning targets with outcomes and timescales, and details of how success will be determined (success criteria) details of the resources, support and guidance the learner will use details of where and how the learning will take place.

view every assessment as a learning opportunity and to plan for the next steps in learningreflect on:

what, and how, they learned what went well and why what went less well and why where they could use the skills and approaches again.


Particularly effective practice identified in inspections includes:

Developing a proforma for an individual learning plan that does not just meet the needs of funding bodies

but covers all the elements required for a programme of learning. The development of the best proformas

has taken into account the need to provide sufficient space for updating them.

Not completing individual learning plans in a rush to meet funding body requirements (inspectors still see

the individual learning plan being completed and signed off in induction before initial assessment is fully

completed so that a copy can be sent to the funding body).

Examples of developing a second individual learning plan as a 'working document' used throughout the

time a learner is with the provider, that is focused on delivery of learning, assessment, support and target

setting.

Delivery staff receiving training in order to understand the results of initial assessment, such as literacy,

numeracy or language requirements, and their impact on learning. This includes other learner support

needs such as dyslexia, to ensure that the individual learning plan reflects support, assessment

arrangements and possible need for extra time.


Taking account of previous experience and learning, so that targets and times to gain assessments in an

area in which learners have previous experience are realistic and do not hold the progress of learners

up. Plans are individual in developing targets that stretch learners and keep them focused on achieving

realistic milestones.

Ensuring that each learner has an individual learning plan, based on their initial assessment and

mapping the route from that starting point to the achievement of individual goals, for example

completing the full framework, or gaining sustainable employment.

Involving the learner in creating the first draft of their learning plan, understanding the reason for its

contents and updating the plan with the learner (and employer if applicable) as training progresses and

circumstances change.

Using the learning plan as a working document by checking progress against it during reviews or tutorial

activities, amending target dates for milestones such as achievement of units, key skills or other

qualifications as necessary.

Planning in more detail for the short term targets and in outline for the longer term targets.


Using the individual learning plan to record how any additional support needs, identified by initial

assessment, are to be provided for. This helps keep everyone involved in training in the 'loop' and helps

eliminate support being given in isolation from the main training programme.

There are several examples of work-based providers having targets that reflect particular types of

'model learner', for example ones who have previous experience or qualifications, or those with

additional support needs. These act as a preliminary guide in setting targets which can then be altered

as the learner progresses.

Some providers have altered individual learning plans to facilitate 'fast tracking' of learners, for example

where emigration or pregnancy might prevent completion.

Some providers with good information technology resources have made individual learning plans

available online, which can be updated. Sections can be printed for reference where access to

computers is limited.

Quality improvement systems such as internal audit and review focusing on how well plans are

completed and how they may be improved in the future. Good practice is noted and shared across the

provider.

HOW TO INTERVIEW INDIVIDUAL

The Important of the Interview

The human resources department is responsible for screening candidates to verify the information on their re

sumes. Once that is done, qualified candidates are generally passed along to the manager of the department i

n which they'll work. As a department manager or supervisor, it's likely you'll be working very closely with the

job candidate you hire. That's one reason it's so important that you're very thorough in your interview. Anothe

r reason is that your decision is an indication of your ability to manager. A good or bad choice will reflect on yo

u. Your new hire will interact not only with you, but with your boss, your colleagues, your staff, and your custo

mers. You'll be responsible for making sure the candidate:

can do the job well;

fits in well with other members of your department; and

will be able to work well with you

Preparing For the Interview

Before you begin interviewing candidates, you should prepare some general questions. You will also want to t

ake some time to review each job candidate's resume or application. This will give you the opportunity to prep

are questions that are relevant to the candidate's work history

HOW TO INTERVIEW INDIVIDUAL (Con.)

Conducting Yourself On the Interview

How you conduct yourself on the interview is as important as how the interviewee conducts him or herself. Yo

u should try to put the interviewee at ease since that will help insure that you get more honest answers. Howe

ver, you shouldn't give the impression that you are relaxed type of manager if you aren't one. Don't forget — i

t's as much about the potential employee deciding if this place is right for him or her as it is about you decidin

g if the candidate is right for the job. If this isn't a good match, from either party's perspective, it's best to find

out now. It's very important to be polite and considerate. Keeping the candidate waiting, or taking phone calls

in the middle of an interview reflects poorly on you and your company. This person you are interviewing may s

ome day work for you, or, in this fast moving world, you may someday work for him or her.

QUESTIONS YOU MAY USE IN INTERVIEW

Describe the most difficult problem you had to solve. What was the situation and what did you do?

Would you do anything different next time?

In general, how do you handle conflict?

Describe a creative solution that you have developed to solve a problem.

What solution are you the proudest of?

Describe a time when you had to use fact-finding skills.

What has been your most important work-related idea?

Who or what caused you the most trouble in implementing your ideas?

What kinds of problems do you normally experience in a day?

Tell me about a situation that got out of control. How did you handle it?

QUESTIONS YOU MAY USE IN INTERVIEW (CONT.)

Describe the best/worst co-worker you’ve ever had.

Tell me about something you achieved as a group member.

How would you define a good working atmosphere?

Tell me about a time you came up with a new idea. Were you able to get it approved? If so, how did you

go about it?

Can you think of a time an idea of yours was rejected? Tell me about it.

Tell me about a time an idea or task of yours was criticized.

Tell me about a time you had to work according to a policy you disagreed with.

How do you go about making important decisions?

Tell me about the last time you made a good decision and describe what it was and what the results

were.

Tell me about an important decision or judgment call you’ve had to make on the job.

Describe the worst decision you ever made and how you corrected it.

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Learning and Development Policy

through an effective learning and development plan consistent with the principles of employment equity,

it will encourage and assist all employees to:

Acquire the knowledge and skills required to maximize their performance in their current positions;

Acquire new competencies in response to, or in preparation for, changing job requirements or new

job opportunities;

Develop or redirect their careers as individual or organizational needs change;

Acquire knowledge and understanding respecting issues of fairness, equity, and human rights.

Learning and development are shared responsibilities, and all employees are responsible for contributing to

this undertaking. All decisions to engage in learning must be the product of discussion between the

employee and the employee's supervisor

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN (CONT.)

Learning and Development Action Plan

Learn

T he employee should outline the steps and resources they will use to learn the new behavior. Since the Development Actio

n Plan is being used to improve upon a strength or to develop an opportunity, it is key that the employee use resources an

d tools outside themselves. W e chooses to use a number of tools to learn to improve his communication skills. Earlier whe

n w e was asked to picture another person that embodied the communication skills we wished to attain, we was given the i

dea of spending some time peering with this person to observe their behaviors in various types of interactions. Another res

ource we chose to use was a book that many of our colleagues had recommended but we had yet found the time to read. I

n many cases, employee development will require a number of tools in the learning phase of the plan. Since the Developm

ent Action Plan is a road map to employee development, like any good plan a timeline to accomplish each step should be d

ocumented. This will give we a deadline to focus on and his coach will know when to follow up on our progress.

Practice

In the next step of the action phase, this is a time to focus on applying the skills and behaviors without the pressure of bein

g perfect but in a way that allows for continuous learning. We chooses to conduct some role play sessions with both our m entor and our manager, allowing us to practice our new skills prior to applying them with our team. W e also chooses to act

as a note keeper for our manager's team meeting. This activity allowed him the opportunity to ask clarifying questions and

to ensure that w e was on the same page with the rest of our peers in the meeting regarding what was discussed or commu

nicated.

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN (CONT.)

Learning and Development Action Plan

Feedback

The last step in the action phase is one of the most important: feedback . Now that we has had the opportunity to learn and practice the

new skills and behaviors, we needs to receive feedback on how w e are progressing in making a behavior change and overall skill improv

ement. Without this constant feedback loop, we would not know if w e was truly improving or what areas we still needs to focus on. Docu

menting some avenues for feedback up front will establish how the employee wishes to receive feedback and will also ensure that they

are seeking it out. we plans to solicit feedback from our mentor and manager during their role playing sessions. This will allow him to m

ake immediate behavior changes and to repeat the practice step. Keep in mind that immediate feedback is crucial to consistent behavi

or changes.

Now that we have discussed how to set up the action portion of our Development Action Plan , we need to discuss how we will measure s

uccess. This step is imperative to establish up front so that both the coach and the employee have a clear target they are working towar

d. In production environments this is often an easy step to document, but when the strength or opportunity being addressed is more foc

used on a soft skill , coaches and employees can often struggle with determining how to measure the improvement. For we , we do not h

ave a hard metric to apply as a success measure such as dollars collected, percent to goal, quality scores, etc. we instead must focus o

n more creative ways to measure our behavior changes and skill improvement. Some examples of how we could implement a measure

ment would be by conducting a pre and post team survey on our communication skills, improved competency or review ratings from

our manager, or increased productivity from our team based on our more direct approach in delivering feedback.

Once the success measures have been identified you have a Development Action Plan lan that fully outlines the challenge or opportunit

y, the path the employee will take to accomplish their goal, and the way in which success will be measured. This should provide a clear

road map for increased performance and employee development.

TEAM LEARNING PLAN.

Information on Team Learning Plan (TLP)

The formal definitions of each competency are in the Appendix, but the word or phrases describing each

competency are basically self-explanatory. The first set of competencies is universal or foundational competencies.

These competencies are continually developed and evolving as you progress in your career. The universal

competencies can be divided into three groups:

1. Personal qualities – flexibility, motivation to serve the public interest, integrity and honesty, personal

accountability for actions, resilience in facing difficulties, stress management, and interest in continual learning.

2. Working with people – interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence (knowing your strengths and weaknesses and

appreciating other individuals’ capabilities), and conflict management.

3. Task accomplishment – oral communication, written communication, presentation and briefing skills, general

computer literacy, specific desktop computer applications, using e-mail effectively, and problem solving.

These competencies are interdependent: interpersonal skills, oral communication, emotional intelligence, and

integrity and honesty all contribute to working with other people and problem solving in team situations. We also

have grouped them because often training or work assignments involve more than one of these competencies.

Conflict management training might also involve interpersonal skills and stress management.

LEARNING OPTIONS

Learning Solutions can assist you to identify and meet the development needs of your team. Your learning advisor

will work with you to design a customised learning solution to support you and your team and to assist you in meet

ing your goals.

We can tailor programs for teams who are:

undergoing restructures or change initiatives

working to define their vision, values and key behaviors

developing a strategic plan

seeking to improve communication and engagement

needing to improve efficiency and responsiveness to internal and external clients

building a new team or introducing a new leader to the team

Our solutions can include:

facilitation of strategic planning sessions

customised versions of courses run in Learning Solutions open program

programs designed to meet specific needs – particularly in the area of building effective teams

assistance to establish mentoring programs

coaching for key staff

TEAM’S PERFORMANCE

Performance Management for Teams

Performance Management for Teams is different to Team Building (and it is also different to Performance

Management for individuals).

There are many different definitions of 'team building', but in most people's eyes it refers to an activity that

helps develop the team in some way - it can include a wide range of things, such as : outdoor activities

offsite workshops

having a meal out together

sharing an email list or bulletin board

meeting in the coffee lounge during work breaks

etc.

These can be very useful. But they are often a matter of 'hit or miss'. The activities are introduced in the belief

- or hope that they will improve the way the group operates but whether they are seen to impact on collective

performance or not depends more on whether you believe 'intuitively' that they are good for the team, rather

than the inherent or demonstrable value of the activities.

That is where Team Performance Management has an important role to play.

TEAM’S PERFORMANCE (CONT.)

Team Performance Management is focused directly on the achievement of the team's key business objectives

. It bridges the gap between the team building 'enablers' and business performance results. It removes

- - the reliance on 'faith' the need to believe that team building works before investing in it and establis

hes a direct connection between collective behaviours and team performance.

Team Performance Management is predicated on the following three principles:

Team Behaviours are different to Individual Behaviours . Most competency frameworks include

"teamwork", but these usually refer to what an individual does within a team, not what a team does

collectively together . E.g. : whilst all the individuals in a team can behave in trustworthy ways, this

does not guarantee that the team will build trust together - this is also dependent on other factors

such as the environment they work in, or the team processes they use for communicating, deciding,

rewarding, etc ..

The behaviours that make a team successful vary - from team to team and from time to time. Eg

: the profile of behaviours that makes a design team successful is different from the profile that make a

- financial audit team successful. And if the design team is using a top down approach, for optimal perfor

mance, it needs to change its behaviours once it gets beyond the outline design and starts work on the

detailed implementation of the ideas.

Team behaviours can be changed using a team performance management process . In

essence, performance management involves establishing behavioural goals, measuring current

behaviours to identify the gap between the current and desired behaviour profile, and then planning,

implementing and monitoring changes in order to close that gap . There are both similarities and

significant differences between performance management processes for individuals and teams .

TEAM’S PERFORMANCE (CONT.)

The methodology we offer for Team Performance Management achieves these principles in the following way

s:

Behavioural goals are established, closely allied to team performance/results, using the "Ideal Team Pr

ofile Questionnaire". This questionnaire can be used as a 360 with senior managers, staff, customers a

nd peer groups, to identify what behaviours will make the team most successful.

The current behaviors are established using the "Management Team Roles - indicator ".

Target and current behaviours can then be compared in a behavioural gap analysis.

The insight gained from the gap analysis can be used to take action in order to close that gap . By

shifting behaviors closer to those required for optimum success, team performance will improve .

In summary, the key difference between traditional team building and team performance management is that

the former engages in activities in the belief that they will indirectly lead to improvements in team perf

ormance (sometimes they do, sometimes they don't). Team Performance Management, however, iden

tifies the team behaviours that will lead directly to business success, and then uses a process to chang

e the behaviours accordingly.

TRAINING AND OTHER DEVELOPMENT

There are a couple of secrets about what employees want from training and development opportunities,

however. Plus, training and development opportunities are not just found in external training classes and

seminars. These ideas emphasize what employees want in training and development opportunities. They

also articulate your opportunity to create devoted, growing employees who will benefit both your business

and themselves through your training and development opportunities.

Training and Development Options: Job Content and Responsibilities

You can impact training and development significantly through the responsibilities in an employee’s current j

ob.

Training and Development Options: Job Content and Responsibilities

TRAINING AND OTHER DEVELOPMENT (CONT.)

You can impact training and development significantly through the responsibilities in an employee’s current job.

Expand the job to include new, higher level responsibilities.

Reassign responsibilities that the employee does not like or that are routine.

Provide more authority for the employee to self-manage and make decisions.

Invite the employee to contribute to more important, department or company-wide decisions and planning.

Provide more access to important and desirable meetings.

Provide more information by including the employee on specific mailing lists, in company briefings, and in

your confidence.

Provide more opportunity to establish goals, priorities, and measurements.

Assign reporting staff members to his or her leadership or supervision.

Assign the employee to head up projects or teams.

Enable the employee to spend more time with his or her boss.

Provide the opportunity for the employee to cross-train in other roles and responsibilities.


Training and Development Options: Internal Training and Development

Employees appreciate the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills without ever leaving work or the

workplace. Internal training and development brings a special plus. Examples, terminology, and opportunities

reflect the culture , environment, and needs of your workplace.

Enable the employee to attend an internally offered training session. This session can be offered by a cowork

er in an area of their expertise or by an outside presenter or trainer.

Ask the employee to train other employees with the information learned at a seminar or training session. Off

er the time at a department meeting or lunch to discuss the information or present the information learned to

others. (Make this an expectation when employees attend external training and conferences.)

Perform all of the activities listed before, during and after a training session to ensure that the learning is tra

nsferred to the employee’s job.

Purchase business books for the employee. Sponsor an employee book club during which employees discuss

a current book and apply its concepts to your company.

- Offer commonly needed training and information on an Intranet, an internal company website.


Provide training by either knowledgeable employees or an outside expert in a brown bag lunch for

mat. Employees eat lunch and gain knowledge about a valuable topic. (Some ideas include: invest

ing in a 401(k), how to vary and balance investments, tips for public speaking, how to get along wi

th the boss, and updates on new products that make work easier. These opportunities are unlimite

d; survey employees to pinpoint interests.)

The developers and other interested employees at a client company recently put on a day long co

nference with lunch and all of the trappings of an external conference at a local conference center

. Attended by interested employees, the conference sessions were almost all taught by internal st

aff on topics of interest to their internal audience. Picture a "real" day long conference and you'll s

ee the opportunity. Employees were pumped up beyond belief; they learned and enjoyed the day

and gained new respect for the knowledge and skills of their coworkers.


Training and Development Options: External Training and Development

Especially to develop new skills and ideas, employee attendance at external training is a must. Attaining de

grees and university attendance enhance the knowledge and capabilities of your staff while broadening

their experience with diverse people and ideas.

Enable the employee to attend an external seminar, conference, speaker, or training event.

Perform all of the activities listed before, during and after a training session to ensure that the learning i

s transferred to the employee’s job.

Pay for the employee to take online classes and identify low or no cost online (and offline) training.

Pay for memberships in external professional associations with the understanding that employees will a

ttend meetings, read the journals, and so forth and regularly update coworkers.

Provide a flexible schedule so the employee can take time to attend university, college, or other formal

educational sessions.

Provide tuition assistance to encourage the employee's pursuit of additional education.


Training and Development Secrets

These are key factors in multiplying the value of the training and development you provide.

Allow employees to pursue training and development in directions they choose, not just in company

- assigned and needed directions.

Have your company support learning, in general, and not just in support of knowledge needed for th

e employee’s current or next anticipated job. Recognize that the key factor is keeping the employee i

nterested, attending, and engaged.

- The development of a life long engaged learner is a positive factor for your organization no matter ho

w long the employee chooses to stay in your employ. Use these training and development activities to

ensure that you optimize the employee's motivation and potential retention.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Monitoring

Monitoring is about collecting information that will help you answer questions about your project. It is important that this info

rmation is collected in a planned, organised and routine way. You can use this information to report on your project and to he

lp you evaluate.

All organisations keep records and notes, and discuss what they are doing. This simple checking becomes monitoring when i

nformation is collected routinely and systematically against a plan. The information might be about activities or services, yo

ur users, or about outside factors affecting your organisation or project.

Monitoring information is collected at specific times: daily, monthly or quarterly.

Here are some basic points for successful monitoring:

- build simple, user friendly monitoring systems into everyday activities, collecting data at the most natural point

get commitment from those collecting the information, by explaining why they are doing it

make sure that everyone responsible for monitoring has clear and consistent guidelines

- make sure that monitoring records are completed fully and accurately – people may not regard it as a high priority activity

give people collecting the information feedback on the results of their monitoring, and how it is being used to make the org

anisation more effective

check that the project is not collecting the same piece of information more than once.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION (CONT.)

Get good advice on how your database can best serve your information needs. Talk to another project with a g

ood management information system and to a database expert, if possible. Think about the links you want to

create between different types of information. For example, you may want to be able to link user profile data

with attendance at different activities.

It is important to be familiar with the Data Protection Act. Make sure data is used for its intended purpose. If p

ersonal information is kept about individual service users, make sure that they know exactly what the evaluati

on is for, what data exists, that they can have access to it to check its accuracy, and that the project will prese

rve their confidentiality.


Evaluation

Evaluation is about using monitoring and other information you collect to make judgements about your project. It is also about using the i

nformation to make changes and improvements.

Your monitoring information is likely to contain:

profile information on your users

basic project record keeping, such as the minutes of meetings and case records

- statistical information on take up of services

feedback sheets from training courses and workshops

diaries and other records of events

complaints and compliments from users.

When you evaluate, you will use this information, but often you will need to carry out additional data gathering. Your monitoring informati

on will probably suggest further questions that need an answer. You need to think clearly about where the focus of the evaluation will be

and who and where you want to obtain information from. Make sure you set enough time aside for this additional information gathering. Q

uestionnaires take time to develop, and should be tested with a small sample from your target group to see if they will capture the inform

ation you want. Interviews take time to organise and even longer to write up and analyse.

Evaluation is a set of interlinked activities. Each of these is an important part of the overall process and needs adequate time built in to pr

otect the quality of the evaluation.


WHY DO MONITORING AND EVALUATION?

Monitoring and evaluation not only measure how well you are doing, but also help you to be more effective.

Providing information to funders and other stakeholders

Monitoring and evaluation will provide useful information for funders about the level of activities and benefi

ts for your users. You will be able to give examples of what has worked well, and what your users most valu

e. You will also be in a better position to make a good case to funders for continuing or developing activities

. You can also use your evaluation findings for publicity, for lobbying or campaigning, for advocacy and to hi

ghlight gaps in services.

Learning from evaluation

Sharing the information within your project will help you to become a learning organization . Management c

- an improve its decision making, and staff and volunteers will appreciate the value of the work that they do

and understand how they can make further improvements. Once the immediate reporting back has taken p

lace, make sure that dates are set for action so that impetus and enthusiasm are not lost.


Using evaluation for organisational planning and management

- The evaluation can provide decision makers with knowledge and information to make informed choic

es. Your evaluation should show which parts of the project are working, for what people and in what ci

rcumstances, and provide a warning if something is going wrong. These are key findings and you nee

d to decide what action to take. Is extra funding needed? Are new activities required? Do staff need ex

tra training or skills?

The evaluation will also provide information for your next year plan. It will help you to review your obj

ectives. Are your services or activities the right ones to achieve the intended change or benefits? If th

e project has brought about some unexpected results, how will you take those into account in future p

lanning? You may need to gather more information about the outside world, for example local strategi

es and other service provision, before making decisions about changing services.


The evaluation may give you clearer information about who is using your services, about your membe

rs, or who you are reaching with your information or publicity. This will help you to think more carefull

y about who you are not reaching. If the findings point out areas where need is greatest or least serve

d, you may need to consider redefining your target group. You may need to carry out more publicity o

r establish new contacts and networks. It may be that you need to follow up your evaluation with a mo

- re in depth needs analysis.

Your evaluation will also allow you to review your targets for outputs and outcomes. If you have not m

et certain targets, or if you have exceeded them, then you should be able to set this against what you

now know about the capacity of the project and the performance of other agencies. Your evidence sho

uld be strong enough to show if there were good reasons for a lower than expected performance, whe

ther targets were set realistically and whether you should adjust them.

Use the lessons learnt about what you could do better, or differently, in your operational planning. Do

you need to:

change the way the project is managed?

reallocate resources?

expand or change direction?

Staff and volunteers are under pressure in their daily work routines and will need motivation to use ev

aluation findings and make changes. Work towards changing the culture of the organisation, so that p

eople are receptive to new ideas and challenging feedback.


Using evaluation to set service delivery standards

Evaluation should give you some important information about how you deliver your services to users, how this affects user satisfaction and how

service delivery affects the outcomes for users. For example, user satisfaction and trainer observations should allow you to set standards for yo

ur training. These could be about such things as the maximum number of participants, the quality of training materials or accessibility for disab

led people.

Reviewing key resources

Your evaluation should not just look at the results of your activities, but should relate these to the project’s inputs. How have activities been affe

cted by the project’s management structure, its staffing or funding levels? Are the project’s physical facilities unsuitable or is the project transp

ort inadequate? Do you need improved information technology to support the project?

Using evaluation for policy change

Evaluation can play a key role in highlighting the effect that wider social structures and policies have on your own work and on the lives of the p

eople you work with.

- Policy is influenced by a combination of factors, including the assumptions, personal ideology and interests of the policy makers. Although the p

- rocesses involved in policy making are complex, evaluation can be designed not only to improve practice, but also to improve and change polici

es at many levels.

When you report on your evaluation, think about who your audience is. If you intend to publish the evaluation, this clarity about your audience i

s essential. Communicate the lessons you have learnt directly and simply. Be direct about what types of policies might be effective, based on fi

-ndings. Communicate what you know to community members and project users. This can gain you allies to help you influence policy makers.


Using evaluation for strategic planning

There is an important role for evaluation in strategic as well as operational planning. The strategic pla

nning process starts when you have analysed monitoring and evaluation data.

Steps in strategic planning

Monitoring and evaluation data can provide valuable information for analysis of organisational strengt

hs, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Effective monitoring and evaluation will help your organisation to provide services of the highest poss

ible quality, and embody the highest standards of integrity, credibility and accountability. It will make

sure that you are working with the greatest possible effectiveness and efficiency, that you provide val

ue for money and, above all, that the work you do will make a real difference.

PLANNING FOR MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Monitoring and evaluation plans should be created after the planning phase and before the design phase of a program or intervention. The plan should include information on how the program or intervention will be examined and assessed. Generally, the plan should outline:

the underlying assumptions on which the achievement of program goals depend; the anticipated relationships between activities, outputs, and outcomes (the framework); well-defined conceptual measures and definitions, along with baseline data; the monitoring schedule; a list of data sources to be used; cost estimates for the monitoring and evaluation activities; a list of the partnerships and collaborations that will help achieve the desired results; and a plan for the dissemination and utilization of the information gained.

When should evaluations be conducted? Evaluations should be conducted at the beginning and end of an intervention process. They should

include collection of baseline data for comparison purposes. Evaluations are usually conducted to answer key questions on the programme’s performance and

carried out when the staff or the donor wants to make key decisions around the programme – such as how to improve the programme, which activities to continue or discontinue and whether or not t

o scale up the programme.

About Information : What we want to know?

What we want to know is linked to what we think is important. In development work, what we think is

important is linked to our values.

Most work in civil society organisations is underpinned by a value framework. It is this framework that

determines the standards of acceptability in the work we do. The central values on which most

development work is built are:

Serving the disadvantaged;

Empowering the disadvantaged;

Changing society, not just helping individuals;

Sustainability;

Efficient use of resources.

So, the first thing we need to know is: what we are doing and how we are doing it meeting the requirements

of these values? In order to answer this question, our monitoring and evaluation system must give us

information about:

WHAT DO WE WANT TO KNOW? (CONT.)

Who is benefiting from what we do? How much are they benefiting?

Are beneficiaries passive recipients or does the process enable them to have some control over their

lives?

Are there lessons in what we are doing that have a broader impact than just what is happening on our

project?

Can what we are doing be sustained in some way for the long-term, or will the impact of our work cease

when we leave?

Are we getting optimum outputs for the least possible amount of inputs?

Different Kinds of Information – Quantitative and QualitativeInformation used in monitoring and evaluation can be classified as: Quantitative; or Qualitative.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF INFORMATION

Qualitative measurement tells you how people feel about a situation or about how things are done or how

people behave. So, for example, although you might discover that 50% of the teachers in a school are

unhappy about the assessment criteria used, this is still qualitative information, not quantitative

information. You get qualitative information by asking, observing, interpreting.

Some people find quantitative information comforting – it seems solid and reliable and “objective”. They

find qualitative information unconvincing and “subjective”. It is a mistake to say that “quantitative

information speaks for itself”. It requires just as much interpretation in order to make it meaningful as does

qualitative information. It may be a “fact” that enrolment of girls at schools in some developing countries is

dropping – counting can tell us that, but it tells us nothing about why this drop is taking place. In order to

know that, you would need to go out and ask questions – to get qualitative information. Choice of indicators

is also subjective, whether you use quantitative or qualitative methods to do the actual measuring.

Researchers choose to measure school enrolment figures for girls because they believe that this tells them

something about how women in a society are treated or viewed.

HOW WILL WE GET INFORMATION?

The monitoring and evaluation process requires a combination of quantitative and qualitative information in

order to be comprehensive. For example, we need to know what the school enrolment figures for girls are,

as well as why parents do or do not send their children to school. Perhaps enrolment figures are higher for

boys than for girls because a particular community sees schooling as a luxury and prefers to train boys to

do traditional and practical tasks such taking care of animals. In this case, the higher enrolment of girls

does not necessarily indicate higher regard for girls.

HOW WILL WE GET INFORMATION?

This is dealt with in some detail in the toolkit on action planning, in the section on monitoring, collecting

information as you go along. Your methods for information collecting need to be built into your action

planning. You should be aiming to have a steady stream of information flowing into the project or

organisation about the work and how it is done, without overloading anyone. The information you collect

must mean something: don’t collect information to keep busy, only do it to find out what you want to know,

and then make sure that you store the information in such a way that it is easy to access.

HOW WILL WE GET INFORMATION? (CONT.)

Usually you can use the reports, minutes, attendance registers, financial statements that are part of

your work anyway as a source of monitoring and evaluation information.

However, sometimes you need to use special tools that are simple but useful to add to the basic

information collected in the natural course of your work. Some of the more common ones are:

Case studies

Recorded observation

Recording and analysis of important incidents (called “critical incident analysis”)

Structured questionnaires

One-on-one interviews

Focus groups

Sample surveys

Systematic review of relevant official statistics.

WHO SHOULD BE INVOLVED?

Almost everyone in the organisation or project will be involved in some way in collecting information that

can be used in monitoring and evaluation. This includes:

The administrator who takes minutes at a meeting or prepares and circulates the attendance register;

The fieldworkers who writes reports on visits to the field;

The bookkeeper who records income and expenditure.

In order to maximise their efforts, the project or organisation needs to:

Prepare reporting formats that include measurement, either quantitative or qualitative, of important

indicators. For example, if you want to know about community participation in activities, or women’s

participation specifically, structure the fieldworkers reporting format so that s/he has to comment on this,

backing up observations with facts.

Prepare recording formats that include measurement, either quantitative or qualitative, of important

indicators. For example, if you want to know how many men and how many women attended a meeting,

include a gender column on your attendance list.

WHO SHOULD BE INVOLVED? (CONT.)

Record information in such a way that it is possible to work out what you need to know. For

example, if you need to know whether a project is sustainable financially, and which elements of

it cost the most, then make sure that your bookkeeping records reflect the relevant information.

It is a useful principle to look at every activity and say: What do we need to know about this activity,

both process (how it is being done) and product (what it is meant to achieve), and what is the

easiest way to find it out and record it as we go along?

Designing a monitoring and/or evaluation process

As there are differences between the design of a monitoring system and that of an evaluation

process, we deal with them separately here.

Under monitoring we look at the process an organisation could go through to design a

monitoring system.

Under evaluation we look at: Purpose, Key evaluation questions and Methodology.