Needs Assessment on a Shoestring / Kelly Jones and Jody Lumsden.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jones, Kelly, 1947- author.

Lumsden, Jody, author.

Series:

On a Sunday afternoon.

On a Shoestring

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Organizational learning.

Strategic planning.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (264 pages)

Place of Publication:

Alexandria, VA : ATD Press, [2023]

Summary:

"Determine Organizational Needs Despite Limited Resources Needs Assessment on a Shoestring offers talent development professionals a process for addressing organizational needs and determining whether training is the solution. Needs assessment pros Kelly L. Jones and Jody N. Lumsden apply the Build-Borrow-Buy approach to provide guidance, quick tips, and shortcuts for investigating and uncovering everything you can about the organizational problem you need to solve. With this book, you will learn to build a needs assessment strategy, gather insight through data analysis, and put forward effective solution recommendations. You'll also pick up strategies for borrowing existing information, talent, and resources, and for making resource management decisions. Regardless of the scope of the project, the constraints of the business problem, or how you get the job done, the steps associated with needs assessments are flexible enough to scale up or down. To conduct high-quality needs assessments, think like a detective. Sherlock Holmes, Velma Dinkley, Hercule Poirot-these detectives didn't have large teams, unlimited budgets, or a bottomless well of resources to work with, but they succeeded by identifying who, where, and how to solve mysteries that no one else could. With this book, talent development professionals can too. About the On a Shoestring series The Association for Talent Development's On a Shoestring series helps professionals successfully execute core topics in training and talent development when facing limitations of time, money, staff, and other resources. Using the Build-Borrow-Buy approach to problem solving, this series is designed for practitioners who work as a department of one, for new or "accidental" trainers, instructional designers, and learning managers who need fast, inexpensive access to practical strategies that work, and for those who work for small organizations or in industries that have limited training and development resources"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Copyright

Contents

About The On A Shoestring Series

Dedication and Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART 1: BUILD

1: Building the Strategy

ON THE CHEAP: Needs Assessment Professional Community

Be Sure You're Solving the Right Problem

TOOL: Needs Assessment Case Study

The Needs Assessment Process

TIME SAVER: Future Debrief

A Strategic Approach

Figure 1-1. Needs Assessment Methodology: Build the Strategy

10 Needs Assessment Strategy Components

Table 1-1. Categorizing the 10 Components of a Needs Assessment Strategy

TOOL: Needs Assessment Strategy Worksheet

Identifying the Problem

TIME SAVER: Cut to the Chase and Ask Five Whys

Identifying Stakeholders

Identifying the Methodology: Start With Research Questions

TIME SAVER: Making Research Questions Relevant

Identifying the Project Scope

Figure 1-2. Needs Assessment Project Scope: Milestones

Identifying Strategies for Sharing Resultsand Recommendations

Identifying Constraints: Limitations and Delimitations

Table 1-2. Prompts to Uncover Limitations and Delimitations

Identifying Success Metrics for Recommendations

Identifying Value Measures for the Needs Assessment

DEEPER DIVE: Needs Assessment Strategy and Best Practices

A Shoestring Summary

2: Building the Case: Data Collection

Figure 2-1. Needs Assessment Methodology: Build the Case

Data Collection and Data Analysis: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Data Sources

TOOL: Data Collection Plan Template

How Much Data Do You Need?

TIME SAVER: Concurrent Data Collection and Analysis

Data Collection Methods

Figure 2-2. Five Most Common Data Collection Methods

Documents and Work Products

Table 2-1. Best Practices for Documents and Work Products

Surveys

ON THE CHEAP: Free Sample Size Calculator

Table 2-2. Best Practices for Surveys.

Interviews

Table 2-3. Best Practices for Interviews

Focus Groups

Table 2-4. Best Practices for Focus Groups

Observations

Table 2-5. Best Practices for Observations

Tips for Writing Survey, Interview, and Focus Group Questions

Which Data Collection Method Is Best?

Figure 2-3. Decision Tree for Choosing a Data Collection Method

DEEPER DIVE: Data Collection Methods

What to Investigate: Categories of Insight

Contextual Discovery

Organizational Discovery

Operational Discovery

Individual Discovery

TOOL: Insights Exercise

If Opportunity Presents

3: Building the Case: Data Analysis

TOOL: Data Analysis Plan Template

DEEPER DIVE: Analytics for Talent Development Professionals

Make the Data Make Sense: The Data Analysis Process

Figure 3-1. The Data Analysis Process

Organize the Data

TOOL: Dataset Summary Template

Interpret the Data

Compare the Data

TIME SAVER: Triangulate on a Shoestring

Make Meaning From the Data

TIME SAVER: What Does This Mean to You?

Data Analysis Strategies

Table 3-1. Analysis Strategies for Qualitative and Quantitative Data

Table 3-2. Interview Coding Example

DEEPER DIVE: Analyzing Data

4: Building the Recommendations

Figure 4-1. Needs Assessment Methodology: Build the Recommendations

Work Backward: Needs Assessment Results

What? So What? Now What?

TOOL: What? So What? Now What?

Figure 4-2. Example Needs Assessment Results

Strategies for Synthesizing Research

Organizing Findings

TOOL: Findings and Conclusions

Reaching Conclusions

Root Cause Analysis

TOOL: Root Cause Categories

Knowledge Problems

Skill and Behavior Problems

Resource Problems

Process Problems

Leadership and Culture Problems

Additional Considerations

Brainstorming Solutions.

Mind Mapping

Figure 4-3. Using Mind Mapping to Brainstorm Solutions

The 80/20 Rule

Minimal Viable Solutions

Synthesize the Findings

Futures Wheel

Case Studies Benchmarking

DEEPER DIVE: Better Brainstorming

Making Informed Recommendations

Recommendation Categories and Considerations

Recommendation Blueprint

Figure 4-4. Key Components of a Recommendation

TIME SAVER: Recommendations

TIME SAVER: ON THE CHEAP Crawl-Walk-Run

Sharing Results

What to Include: Need to Know vs. Nice to Know

TIME SAVER: Elevator Pitch

Needs Assessment Results Report

TOOL: Needs Assessment Results Report Template

TOOL: Worked Example: Executive Summary

Results Summary Presentation

Table 4-1. Outline for Results Summary Presentation

Visuals

DEEPER DIVE: Build Your Presentation Skills

Weave a Golden Thread

Figure 4-5. Connecting It All Together

PART 2: BORROW

5: Borrowing Existing Data

Borrowing Data Strategically: Repurpose on Purpose

Figure 5-1. Data-Borrowing Strategy: Eight Steps to Success

Step 1. Determine Information Standards

DEEPER DIVE: Standards for Borrowed Data Example

Step 2. Identify Credible Data Sources

TIME SAVER: Stakeholders' Go-To Data Sources

Step 3. Identify Access Options

Step 4. Save Your Sources

Step 5. Evaluate, Validate, and Triangulate

Step 6. Format for Usability

Step 7. Use With Acknowledgment

Step 8. Appreciate and Reciprocate

Borrowing Benchmark Data

DEEPER DIVE: Benchmarking Basics

Internal Benchmarking

External Benchmarking

TIME SAVER: Talent Development Benchmarking Reports

Borrowing Internal Data: Shop in Your Own Pantry

Organizational Charts

Internal Systems

Curiosity Chats

The Art of the Ask

Managing Incoming Data

Table 5-1. Crafting the Ask Checklist.

Borrower Beware: GIGO, Red Herrings, and Confirmation Bias

GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out)

Red Herrings

Confirmation Bias

DEEPER DIVE: Mitigating Bias

Keep, Toss, or Donate:Decluttering Borrowed Data

TOOL: Data Keep Pile Template

6: Borrowing Time and Talent

Which Hat Will You Wear?

Borrowing Internal Resources:Build a Needs Assessment Team

Borrowing the Best: Stakeholders and SMEs

Understand the Stakes They Hold

Set Expectations

Manage Disruptions

TOOL: Cause-Consequence Analysis + (CCA+)

Borrowing Perspective: Identifying Participants

TOOL: Participant Mind Map

Borrowing Others' Time: Accessing Participants

Borrowing With Positive Intent:Working With Participants

Borrow Broadly and Inclusively:Not Just the Usual Suspects

TOOL: Graphic Organizer for Selecting Participants

Borrowing Expertise: Learn FromPeers and Thought Leaders

DEEPER DIVE: Borrowing Best Practices

Be Borrowable: Gain Experience by Helping Others

PART 3: BUY

7: Budgeting for Time

You Pick Two: Quality, Time, or Cost. Managing the Iron Triangle

Figure 7-1. The Iron Triangle

Do You Want It Done Right? Managing Stakeholders' Expectations

Table 7-1. Sample Project Timeline

TIME SAVER: Add 20 Percent

Estimating the Timeline: Break It Down

TOOL: Breaking It Down Into Phases, Milestones, and Tasks

Table 7-2. Kelly's Style of Breaking Down Tasks

Figure 7-2. Jody's Style of Breaking Down Tasks

TOOL: Example Task Details

More Than a Best Guess:Making Informed Timeline Estimates

Rule-of-Thumb Percentage Estimates

Figure 7-3. Rule-of-Thumb Percentage Estimates for Needs Assessment Timelines

Benchmarking Estimates

Data-Based Estimates

Down to the Hour: Assigning Hours to Tasks.

Table 7-3. Sample Time Estimates for a Needs Assessment Project

Visualize the Timeline

Figure 7-4. Timeline Visualization With a Pie Chart

Figure 7-5. Timeline Visualization With a Gantt Chart

ON THE CHEAP: Visual Tools

Project Management Tools

ON THE CHEAP: Project Management Tools for Teams of One

After Action

You Are Your Most Critical Resource

8: Buying Smart

Before You Buy: Building Your FQ (Financial Intelligence)

ON THE CHEAP: Increase Your FQ for Free

DEEPER DIVE: Building Your Business Acumen

Plan First, Budget Next: WhatDo You Need to Buy?

Building the Budget

DEEPER DIVE: Budgeting Basics

Budgeting for Conducting Needs Assessments

TOOL: Cataloging Needed Resources

Budgeting for Recommended Solutions

Thrift Shop Like a Boss: Bargains and Best Buys

ON THE CHEAP: Data Collection and Analysis Tools

Buying External Talent and Solutions

Table 8-1. Benefits and Limitations of Buying Help

DEEPER DIVE: Negotiation Skills

TOOL: Evaluating Vendors Worksheet

Advocating for Resources

Measuring Needs Assessment Value

Managing the Budget

9: Buy-In

What You Need Most Can't Be Bought

Think Like a CEO

DEEPER DIVE: The Business of Talent Development

The Platinum Rule: Managing Communications

TOOL: RACI Chart

The Good, the Bad, and the Inevitable

The Currency of Trust

DEEPER DIVE: Trust

Bringing It All Together

Key Takeaways

What's Next?

DEEPER DIVE: Capabilities

APPENDIX A: TOOLS AND TEMPLATES

Needs Assessment Strategy Worksheet

Data Collection Plan Template

Data Analysis Plan Template

Dataset Summary Template

Data Keep Pile Template

A Visual Summary of Needs Assessment Results

Root Cause Category Template

Results Report Template.

CCA+ Framework Tool.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Print version: Jones, Kelly Needs Assessment on a Shoestring

ISBN:

9781957157085

1957157089

OCLC:

1402818322