Conducting Interviews

 Learn how to prepare for, conduct, and use information from key informant interviews.

 What is an interview?
o When you're watching the news at night or reading the paper in the morning,
you'll notice that all the stories have a point in common: They all contain
interviews. No matter what subject is being tackled, there'll always be people
willing to be interviewed about it. And that's great, because that way we can get a
sample of what people think and feel about different issues.
o Interviews are usually defined as a conversation with a purpose. They can be very
helpful to your organization when you need information about assumptions and
perceptions of activities in your community. They're also great if you're looking
for in-depth information on a particular topic from an expert. (If what you really
need is numerical data--how much and how many--a written questionnaire may
better serve your purposes.)
o Interviewing has been described as an art, rather than a skill or science. In other
cases, it has been described as game in which the interviewee gets some sort of
reward, or simply as a technical skill you can learn. But, no matter how you look
at it, interviewing is a process that can be mastered by practice.
 Why should you conduct interviews?
o Using an interview is the best way to have an accurate and thorough
communication of ideas between you and the person from whom you're gathering
information. You have control of the question order, and you can make sure that
all the questions will be answered.
o In addition, you may benefit from the spontaneity of the interview process.
Interviewees don't always have the luxury of going away and thinking about their
responses or, even to some degree, censoring their responses. You may find that
interviewees will blurt things out that they would never commit to on paper in a
questionnaire.
 Whom should you interview?
o Your choice of interviewees will, obviously, be influenced by the nature of the
information you need. For example, if you're trying to set up a volunteer program
for your organization, you may want to interview the volunteer coordinator at one
or two other successful agencies for ideas for your program.
o On the other hand, if you're taking a look at the community's response to an ad
campaign you've been running, you'll want to identify members of the target
audience to interview. In this case, a focus group can be extremely useful.
o If you're reluctant to contact a stranger for an interview, remember that most
people enjoy talking about what they know and are especially eager to share their
knowledge with those who are interested. Demonstrate interest and your chances
of getting good interviews will improve.
  How should you conduct interviews?
o Sometimes, being a good interviewer is described as an innate ability or quality
possessed by only some people and not by others. Certainly, interviewing may
come more easily to some people than to others, but anybody can learn the basic
strategies and procedures of interviewing.
When interviews are not the best option
 Interviews are not the only way of gathering information and depending on the case, they
may not even be appropriate or efficient. For example, large-scale phone interviews can
be time-consuming and expensive. Mailed questionnaires may be the best option in cases
where you need information form a large number of people. Interviews aren't efficient
either when all you need is collecting straight numeric data. Asking your respondents to
fill out a form may be more appropriate.
 Interviews will not be suitable if respondents will be unwillingly to cooperate. If your
interviewees have something against you or your organization, they will not give you the
answers you want and may even mess up your results. When people don't want to talk,
setting up an interview is a waste of time and resources. You should, then, look for a less
direct way of gathering the information you need.
Problems with interviews
 You must also be well prepared for traps that might arise from interviews. For example,
your interviewee may have a personal agenda and he or she will try to push the interview
in a way to benefit their own interests. The best solution is to become aware of your
interviewee's inclinations before arranging the interview.
 Sometimes, the interviewee exercises his or her control even after the interview is done,
asking to change or edit the final copy. That should be a right of the interviewer only. If
the subject you're addressing involves technical information, you may have the
interviewee check the final result for you, just for accuracy.
Types of interviews:
 Face-to-face interviews
o Face-to-face interviews are a great way to gather information. Whether you
decide to interview face-to-face depends on the amount of time and resources you
have available at your disposal.
 Telephone interviews
o Telephone interviews are also a good way of getting information.
o They're particularly useful when the person you want to speak to lives far away
and setting up a face-to-face interview is impractical
 Focus groups
o A focus group, led by a trained facilitator, is a particular type of "group interview"
that may be very useful to you. Focus groups consisting of groups of people
whose opinions you would like to know may be somewhat less structured;
 however, the input you get is very valuable. Focus groups are perhaps the most
flexible tool for gathering information because you can focus in on getting the
opinions of a group of people while asking open-ended questions that the whole
group is free to answer and discuss.
o During the focus group, the facilitator is also able to observe the nonverbal
communication of the participants. Although the sample size is generally smaller
than some other forms of information gathering, the free exchange of opinions
brought on by the group interaction is an invaluable tool.
Prepare for the interview
 So you've chosen your interviewees, set up the interview, and started to think about
interview questions. You're ready to roll, right?
 Not quite. First, you need to make sure you have as much information as possible about
your interview topic. You don't need to be an expert -- after all, that's why you're
interviewing people! -- but you do want to be fairly knowledgeable. Having a solid
understanding of the topic at hand will make you feel more comfortable as an
interviewer, enhance the quality of the questions you ask, and make your interviewee
more comfortable as well.
Conduct the interview
 Now that you're prepared, it's time to conduct the interview. Whether calling or meeting
someone, be sure to be on time -- your interviewee is doing you a favor, and you don't
want to keep him or her waiting.
 When interviewing someone, start with some small talk to build rapport. Don't just
plunge into your questions -- make your interviewee as comfortable as possible.
Points to remember:
 Practice -- prepare a list of interview questions in advance. Rehearse, try lines, mock-
interview friends. Memorize your questions. Plan ahead the location and ways to make
the ambient more comfortable.
 Small-talk -- never begin an interview cold. Try to put your interviewee at ease and
establish rapport.
 Be natural -- even if you rehearsed your interview time and time again and have all your
questions memorized, make it sound and feel like you're coming up with them right there.
 Look sharp -- dress appropriately to the ambient you're in and to the kind of person
you're interviewing. Generally, you're safe with business attire, but adapt to your
audience. Arrive on time if you are conducting the interview in person.
 Listen -- present yourself aware and interested. If your interviewee says something
funny, smile. If it's something sad, look sad. React to what you hear.
 Keep your goals in mind -- remember that what you want is to obtain information. Keep
the interview on track, don't digress too much. Keep the conversation focused on your
questions. Be considerate of your interviewee's limited time.
  Don't take "yes/no" answers -- monosyllabic answers don't offer much information.
Ask for an elaboration, probe, ask why. Silence may also yield information. Ask the
interviewee to clarify anything you do not understand
 Respect -- make interviewees feel like their answers are very important to you (they are
supposed to be!) and be respectful for the time they're donating to help you.

Successful Interviews: Making the most of the interview

Overview
 Preparing for interviews
 The interview experience
 Questions to expect and to ask
 Different types of interview
 Assessment Centres
 Psychometric Tests
 Interview resources
Interviews
 Interview = A meeting with an objective
 Employer’s objective is to find the best person for the job
o Employer: reviews candidate’s experience and abilities
 Can you do the job? (skills, abilities, qualifications)
 Will you do the job? (interest, attitude & motivation)
 How will you fit into the organization? (personality)
 You: impress employer and assess position on offer
o What does this position offer me?
o How does it fit with my career plans?
 Congratulations - you have passed the first hurdle
 You must prove that you are the most suitable candidate for this position
Preparation is the key to success
 Review own skills, experiences and qualities
o Check CV
o Anticipate questions and identify relevant examples
o Prepare key selling points
 Research Organization
o Websites, reports, articles, company literature, etc.
o Contacts with knowledge of organization or sector
o Relevant articles in the press
 o Personal visit or telephone call
 Research job and occupational area
o Job description – or similar
o Current Issues
 Prepare your questions
 Practice
Watch the Body Language
 First impressions very powerful
o Halo effect or Devil Effect
 Allow time to relax
 Dress Appropriately
 Entrance, introductions & handshake
 Smile and make eye contact
 Be aware of own movements
 Watch body language of interviewer
Typical Questions
 About you
o Tell me about yourself - Bring me up to date with your CV?
o Why did you choose that particular degree programme?
o What experience have you had that is relevant to this post?
o What would you consider your major achievements to date?
 About the job
o What interests you about this job?
o What do you know about this organization?
o What other options are you considering?
o How do you see your career developing – 5 years?
o If you were Head of Department, what would be your priorities?
 General knowledge
o What do you think of the Government’s policy on college fees?
o What’s your opinion of the Ryanair bid for Aer Lingus?

Other Type of Questions

 “What if” Questions
o No experience - how are you likely to respond to a situation
 Probing Questions
 How exactly did you deal with the situation?
 How did you know it worked?
 How did you feel about the outcome?
 Could you have handled it differently?
Competency-based Interviews
 Company identifies key skills required for job
 Designs questions to elicit evidence of skills
 Emphasis on past behavior as predictor of success
 Teamwork: Describe a team project you worked on. What problems arose? How did you
deal with them?
 Communication Skills: Describe situation when you had to persuade others to support
your view. Give an example of any reports you’ve written which illustrate your writing
skills
 Interpersonal skills: What kinds of people do you find it difficult to work with? How do
you handle those situations?
 Taking Responsibility: Describe a time when you took responsibility to achieve a
challenging goal
 Problem-solving: Tell about a time when you had several tasks to manage at one time
with conflicting deadlines.
Preparing for Competency Interview
 Identify the competencies required for job
o Review job description or ask for information
 Define each competency in behavioral terms
 Identify past experience to illustrate how you demonstrated that behavior
 Prepare examples for each competency
 Practice talking about your experience
 Try to give a complete answer – STAR
Responding to Competency Q
 Q Give me an example of a problem you encountered. How did you approach it? What
was the outcome?
 STAR response
o S: Describe the situation
o T: Explain the task/problem that arose
o A: What action did you take?
o R: What was the result or outcome?
o What did you learn from this experience?
Matching Skills to Requirements
Employer needs
Communication, Team work, Leadership, Initiative, Customer Care, and IT Commercial
awareness
Your evidence
Presentation to class, Example from Coop, Class rep, Committee, fundraising for charity,
working in Superquinn, Designed website, and Business pages
Your Answers
 Listen carefully, seek clarification
 Illustrate answers with real examples and evidence
 Be positive – constructive criticism
 Keep answers specific and succinct
 Take time to respond
 Be alert to interviewer’s body language
 Speak clearly, smile and show enthusiasm
 Know what you want to say, and find the opportunity
Qualities Employers Seek
 Good all-round intelligence
 Enthusiasm, commitment and motivation
 Good communication skills
 Team work ability
 Ability to solve problems
 Capacity to work hard
 Initiative and self-reliance
 Balanced personality
Competencies required by X Company
 Adaptability
 Integrity
 Innovation
 Teamwork
 Initiative
 Drive for Results
 Know the Business
 Open Exchange of Information
 Makes Difficult Decisions
Your Questions
 Training programs
 Career development opportunities
 Types of projects & responsibilities
 Reporting structure
 Performance appraisal
 Profile of staff
 Questions about topics raised in interview
 What happens next?
Interview Marking Sheet
Name Mark-max 100
Communication Skills Max 30
Problem Solving Max 20
Team Fit Max 20
Relevant Experience Max 20
Project Management Max 10
Total Marks
Interview Rating Scale
 Rating: 0-5; 0=no response; 5=excellent
 Selection Criteria
o Intelligence – Academic performance, Questions
o Responsibility – Work roles, external activities
o Appearance & poise – First impressions
o Interpersonal relations – Interests, team-roles
o Integrity – no inconsistencies
o Self-confidence – Relaxed manner, responsible
o Communication skills – Articulate, coherent, grammar, responsive
o Interests – External interests, involvement
o Leadership potential – Elective offices, initiative
o Interviewing skills – Logical thinking, knows priorities
What creates a bad impression?
 Poor personal appearance
 Negative attitude – evasive, using excuses
 Lack of interest and enthusiasm
 Lack of preparation
 Poor knowledge of role
 Failure to give concrete examples of skills
 Over emphasis on money/rewards
 Lack of career plan
After the Interview
Review own performance
what went well
what went badly
 what you wished you had said
prepare for next stage
Invitation to second / final round interviews
assessment centre
psychometric testing
panel interview
Rejection letter / email
if you can request feedback - use it
Telephone Interviews
 Prepare as thoroughly as for ‘real’ interview
 Select comfortable, private, quiet place
 Advise flat mates re answering phone
 Have copy of CV and company information
 Have pen and paper at hand
 Prepare for usual interview questions
 Practice on phone
o Record answers
o Try standing
o Smile and use gestures
o Avoid monotones
 Be yourself
Other Types of Interviews
 Rotating
o Like one-to-one with different interviewers
 Group
o 6-8 candidates
o Group observed while discussing topic
o Be aware of group interaction
 Panel
o 2-5 interviewers, or as many as 13!!
o Try to identify different roles
o Respond to interviewer, include others through eye contact
o May involve presentation
Assessment Centres
 Company premises or neutral venue
  Includes social or informal events
 Meeting with recent graduates or managers
 Activities include:
o Group exercises
o Practical tasks and exercises
o Report writing
o Oral Presentations
o Psychometric assessments
o Interviews
 Simulates real work environment
Psychometric Tests
 Aptitude Tests - measure skills relevant to position
o Verbal comprehension - evaluate logic of text
o Numerical reasoning - interpret statistical data
o Diagrammatic reasoning - recognize patterns
o Watch timing – complete as many as possible
 Personality Questionnaires
o Look at personality style
o No right or wrong answers
o Be spontaneous, don’t try to second-guess
o Tests include built-in checks
o Employers may be looking for different personality profiles
 Practice using online tests on www.ul.ie/careers
Web Resources for Interviews
 UL Careers website: www.ul.ie/careers
 Gradireland website: www.gradireland.com
 Careers4graduates: www.careers4graduates.org
 Doctor Job: www.doctorjob.com (Virtual Interview)
 Prospects: www.prospects.ac.uk
 Realworld: www.realworldmagazine.com
 Virtual Career Coach: www.windmillsprogramme.com
 BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/onelife/work

COMMUNITY & COMMUNITY Organizing

DEFINITION
  The term community derived from the Latin word “communis”, meaning common,
public, shared by all.
 An aggregation of families and individuals settled in a fairly compact and contiguous
geographical area, with significant elements of common life, as shown by manners,
customs, traditions and mode of speech. (Robert Morrison MacIver)
GEOGRAPHICAL COMMUNITIES Has boundaries, territories
RURAL/URBAN The traditional way of classifying
communities
SECTORAL COMMUNITIES e.g. women, farmers, fisher folks, business
FUNCTIONAL COMMUNITIES Groups of people who share some common
interests or functions
TRIBAL/INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES e.g. Aestas, Mangyans
SPECIAL TYPES OF COMMUNITIES e.g. disabled, parishes, BECs
TYPES OF COMMUNITIES

CO is one of the approaches in community development work.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING (CO)
CO as a Process:
 Educating the people to consciously and critically understand their existing conditions;
 Organizing people to work collectively and efficiently on their common problems;
CO as a Method:
Mobilizing people to develop their capability and readiness to respond and take action on their
immediate needs towards solving their long term problems.
(UP College of Social work and Community Development)
PROCESS in the sense that it is perceived as a progressive and forward movement from one
condition to another.
METHOD because it consists of a dynamically conscious and deliberate understanding to bring
about social change.
GOAL OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Community Organizing transforms a complacent community to become self- nourishing.
Importance of CO
 People work together in an organized manner.
 People become more effective when social change takes place.
But what basically is community organizing for? (to be defined…)
  PEOPLE EMPOWERMENT
 IMPROVED QUALITY OF LIFE
 LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND MOBILIZATION
 SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
1. “Go to the People, Live Among the People”
One cannot help the community towards its development if the organizers stay and work
within the comforts of an office/school and do not integrate with the people
2. “Learn, Plan and work with the People”
The people know better than any other outsider what their needs and problems are. The
community members, with the assistance of the community organizer, must be the one to
determine the program appropriate to answer their needs/problems.
3. “Start with and Build on what the People Know”
Community organizers must begin with the indigenous resources, technologies and
structures that the community has improved on their strengths.
4. “Teach by Showing, Learn by Doing”
For the Community to learn effectively, the CO must demonstrate different procedures or
techniques and not merely give instructions.
5. “Not Piecemeal but an Integrated Approach”
Community organizing is an interrelationship of various elements and factors.
6. “Not Relief but Release”
Community organizing is a process that liberates a community from its identified
problems.
7. People Act on Basis of Self Interest
a. People act because they feel they have to, in an effort to get what they need
b. As long as people are affected by the issue, and that issue is common to all or
many…they will be challenged to act and resolve the problem / issue themselves
THE COMMUNITY ORGANIZNG PROCESS
Community Selection (Pre-Entry/Entry), Integration (Problem Identification), Analysis Planning
Implementation/Mobilization, and Monitoring and Evaluation.
PHASE ONE: COMMUNITY SELECTION
Pre-Entry Stage
After your specific community has been identified, organizers are then expected to:
a. Conduct a Social investigation (SI) b
b. Conduct initial interviews with the community persons and to go around performing a
site/ocular inspection
Entry Stage
The community has the right to know of the organizer’s entry in the area. A courtesy call to the
barangay officials and respected leaders from the said community is necessary. An orientation on
the assisting organizer’s background and purpose must also be clearly relayed.
PHASE TWO: INTEGRATION
“Integration rather than Immersion”
 Immersion – Complete involvement
 Integration – acceptance in to a Community
 When you perform the tasks of an organizer, you do not get the community and just make
yourself felt by merely showing-up. No matter how frequent you go to the area but fail to
exert any effort to integrate with the community members, your visits will just go to
waste.
Integrating with the locals is also one of the best strategies one organizer can practice in order to
catch-up with the current situation of the community.
Joining a small umpukan of housewives, or some of the local youths at their tambayan, can one
way or another help you gather pertinent information (identification of problems and current
issues) on the community.
Be observant.
Attentively watch the community’s- pagpangabuhi or ways of living.
What do the youths normally do?
How do the community spend their spare time?
What is their common source of income?
What type of houses do they have?
These are just some of the things you can initially observe during your visit. TRUST or Rapport
BUILDING is important at this stage.
PHASE THREE: ANALYSIS
The CO during this stage assists the community in identifying, analyzing and prioritizing current
community needs and issues.
A compromise between the felt and objective needs must be met. Let the locals decide on to
which program they think is appropriate for them.
The SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a technique to analyze the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
of a decision, problems, place, etc.
In community development and urban planning, SWOT is often use at community meetings to
structure conversations about quality of life in a neighborhood or a controversial project.
Carrying out this analysis often illuminates what needs to be done and put problems into
perspective.
STRENGTHS:
 Attributes of the community that are helpful to achieving their development
 The human/material resources
 What are the advantages/strengths of the community?
 What are the untapped resources in the community that can be utilized?
WEAKNESSES:
 Attributes of the community that are harmful to achieving their development
 The lack of trained/skilled manpower
 What could be improved in the community?
 What factors/Forces should be avoided?
OPPORTUNITIES:
 External conditions which are helpful to achieving their development.
 Like support from LGUs, NGOs, GOs
 What are the good opportunities facing community?
 What opportunities where not taken advantage of?
THREATS:
 External conditions which could do damage to the community’s performance.
 Like outside organization’s implementation problem
 What should the community be mindful of?
 What has to be overcome to increase opportunities?
 What external factors threaten community?
THE COMMUNITY ORGANIZER
 An organizer, while at the community, plays various roles, depending on what the
situation calls for
 There are the four basic roles they portray, at one time or another
 A FACILITATOR – facilitates the community process through listening and
questioning and by giving continuous encouragement and support to the local strivings.
 AN ANIMATOR – Stimulates the people to think critically when identifying problems
and finding new solutions.
 A CATALYST – one who hastens process of change whose sign of success is the
coming of time when organizing processes has been fully internalized by the people. The
CO serves as a model, not only in words but also in deeds.
  AN ENABLER – Consistently directed the community (through key persons like
leaders) to realize their strengths and potentials in cooperative work.
IDEAL PERSONAL QUALITIES OF A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER
 CREATIVITY
o Anything can be used as organizing material…but it requires a creative
imagination to see possibilities…
o Creativity does not develop in a vacuum. There is no such thing as creative
thinker spinning off one brilliant idea after another from his or her armchair.
Creativity has better chances of developing when the organizer accumulates a rich
store of experiences observations and tactics…
 COURAGE
 FLEXIBILITY
o No two situations are exactly alike. Conditions can change in a short time. The
organizer must therefore always be on his or her toes, sensitive to change in the
situation so that he can adjust his or her plan accordingly. Flexibility means
adapting to conditions to reach your basic goal.
 OBJECTIVITY
 SELF-DISCIPLINE
 TENACITY (NSD)
o Tenacity has been called the most important quality of an organizer. While
organizing has its excitement and dramatic moments, it is tedious process.
o Since the organizer must keep at his / her task day in and day out, he / she may be
tempted to give up.
o But if an organizer is tenacious, even if he/she is not talented, he/she will learn
and improve with the passage of the time…
o Tenacity is needed is and assuming responsibility for themselves needed because
organizing for people’s power is not a one-shot deal but a process of the
oppressed people’s growing up…
 SENSITIVITY
 HONESTY
 ADAPTABILITY
 IMAGINATIVE/VISIONARY
 SENSE OF HUMOR
o To keep same enthusiasm and avoid giving up in frustration, the organizer must
maintain a sense of humor. This means keeping a sense of proportion about
everything: the people, their problems/issues, their enemies and especially
oneself…
o Definitely, the organizer must avoid thinking that the whole liberation of the
people is his or her burden and obligation. He or she has to do his or her best in
his or her place but remember that it is only part of the whole struggle…
 o It doesn’t mean you are going to crack jokes all the time…as an organizer you
have to listen to the people and learn what are the things they appreciate and
laugh at, the jokes and stories the share and find it funny…
o A good and balanced sense of humor is one way of getting closer to the people…

In hatching the eggs, who breaks the shell of the eggs? The Hen or the Chicks?
A Genuine Love for the People
Some organizers interpret love for the people to mean sheltering them like children. But this is
just a disguised form of paternalism where the people remain dependent and powerless.
An organizer who truly loves the people must not shield them from the hardships necessary to
real growth.
The organizer must watch himself when the people in the community starts getting results,
people will feel grateful and the organizer will be strongly tempted to enjoy the glory, people’s
appreciation and “pagtanaw ng utang na loob” …and will feel needed forever…
The organizer must from the very beginning look for another people and community to
whom/where he or she can pass what he knows so that the people will not be dependent on him
or her…that’s genuine love for the people…that’s empowering the people…
As a Community Organizer, Be like John the Baptizer…” They must increase, I must
decrease” …
CO Is building a
TEaM
Together Everyone Achieves More

Action plan
An action plan is a detailed plan outlining actions needed to reach one or more goals.
Alternatively, it can be defined as a "sequence of steps that must be taken, or activities that must
be performed well, for a strategy to succeed".

Process
Origin
An action plan is a tool in social planning. It is an organizational strategy to identify necessary
steps towards a goal. It considers details, may help limit setting for an organization, and is
efficient in that it saves resources over trial and error. A written action plan also serves as a token
for an organization's accountability.
Setting goals
A goal is the primary objective of an action plan. Setting goals gives the possibility of your
dreams and prospects being brought to life. It creates motivation and provides you with a
certainty that the final outcome will be worthwhile, preventing any wasted time and effort. This
is achieved by being fully dedicated to the process and using the structured guide to
accomplishing it. Although hard work may be produced, without a successful end goal the ideal
result you set to achieve, will not prevail.
Creation
When creating action plans there are guided steps that need to be followed to ensure success,
however the structure can be altered in the process. Firstly, you will need to outline what you
want to achieve from the project, by doing this you set yourself targets. After this the specific
roles will need to be allocated ensuring sufficient amount of training, resources and issues have
been considered to ensure solving any problems that may occur. The next stage allows members
of the group to analyse the progress by outlining milestones, solving any issues and making any
necessary changes. Lastly once the project has come to an end the final stage can be examined to
ensure future success.
Execution
Mike Desjardins has suggested the following:

 Ownership: one person must be responsible and accountable for tracing the progress,
keeping team informed, ensuring timely action steps are occurring and adjusting the actions.
 Action steps should be clear and actionable versus vague ideas or thoughts.
 Responsibility: each action step needs to have one person responsible.
 Support: For each action step, determine who will support the person responsible. This
can be multiple people. The key is that they're not responsible for the action or outcome.
 Informed: keeping the right people in the communication loop for each action is critically
important. Key people might need to understand the state of progress around your actions to
see how they affect other actions and objectives.
 Metrics and budget: each action step must have a metric that tells us that the action is
complete. For example, if you needed to survey your customers and don't have the internal
resources to run the survey or want to protect anonymity, using an outside resource will
require money that might not be included in your current operating budget.
 Milestone date: date the action step needs to begin
 Completion date

Context
Advantages
Producing an action plan can be beneficial not only for individual basis but also for businesses.
For example, it allows project managers or any member of a group to monitor their progress and
take each task step-by-step, therefore allowing them to handle the project efficiently. The
advantage of doing this is, it allows you to execute a structured plan for the end goal you intend
to achieve. Furthermore, it provides the team with appropriate foundations, therefore prioritising
the amount of time you spend on each task. This will then prevent any sidetracking that may
occur. Lastly, it creates a bond within a team, as each member is aware of their individual role,
as well as providing necessary information to ensure success of the project.
Issues
When using action plans limitations will need to be considered. Firstly, each member of the team
will need to be allocated individual roles and tasks which will require completion by a set date.
This can be demanding for some, due to coping with the stress and distractions that may occur.
Another issue is not being guided thoroughly and effectively, leading to the lack of effort and
passion a member has for the project. In addition to this, if the communication throughout the
team is non-existent, key information will not reach members of the group, causing lack of
confidence. Lastly failing to obtain the goal you set to reach can lead to frustration and in turn
the planning would have been a waste of time. There can be more addition to this article.
Risk management
To benefit from risk management action plans, you need to examine certain possibilities that
could affect the process, such as observing any threats and correcting them. For example, key
aspects of risk management are to ensure you allocate members specific roles and monitor the
risks throughout, to ensure tasks are completed with efficiency. This being a major factor, as
evaluating what happens during and after the project, will allow finding the positive and negative
elements of each stage in the planning, providing you the ability to develop on the risks further.

WHAT IS PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION?

Problem Identification consists of:

1. Clearly identifying the root cause of a problem

2. Developing a detailed problem statement that includes the problem’s effect on a
population’s health
WHY IS PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION IMPORTANT?
You need to make sure you are identifying the true, underlying problem causing the public health
issue—and this is not always obvious.

WHO SHOULD YOU INVOLVE IN PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION?

Many stakeholders are involved in the policy process. Stakeholders are people or groups closely
affected by or concerned with the problem and are interested in policy solutions for it. Talking to
stakeholders about the problem will help you with:

1. Identifying the true, underlying problem

2. Framing the problem accurately

Problems are unique to their contexts, so you will probably have to talk with several different
stakeholders to get the full picture.

HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM?

1. Identify the root cause of the problem by collecting information and then talking with
stakeholders.
Combining existing research and information from your stakeholders can offer some insight into
the problem and its causes. Consider data sources that could help you more clearly define the
problem. Start by doing an environmental scan, a literature review, and if necessary, surveys
in the community.

Be specific! - For example, search for “lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables” instead of
“obesity.” Doing this can help you better understand what is contributing to the issue and
identify possible policy solutions.
2. Develop your problem statement.
Describe how the problem occurs, how serious it is, and its outcomes and impacts. Doing this
can also help you identify any gaps in the data you have gathered. The problem statement you
develop might include:

LITERATURE REVIEW: an examination of the current body of research about your policy
problem that can include possible policy options. This kind of review may help you identify what
is known about the policy options as well as gaps in the current research.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN: a proactive, systematic collection of information about events,

trends, and expectations of what you might encounter during the policy process.
EXAMPLE: DEVELOPING PROBLEM STATEMENTS
The public health example below is for illustration and demonstrates the concept of developing a
problem statement and can be used for a variety of health topics.

Data from CDC show the scope of teen drinking and driving at the national and state levels and
breaks it down by demographic. However, those data alone aren’t enough to help you understand
whether it is a problem in your community. To learn more about how the problem affects your
community, you can consult experts in public safety, groups working on prevention of drunk
driving, and school officials. After doing that, you can write your problem statement, which
might look like this:

Although fewer teens are drinking and driving, this risky behavior is still a major public health
problem in this community. Drinking and driving among U.S. teens decreased by 50% from
1991-2012. However, high school teens often still drive after drinking—about 2.4 million times
per month. In 2010, 1 in 5 teen drivers involved in fatal crashes had some alcohol in their
systems. Of those drivers, most of them—about 4 in 5—had blood alcohol concentrations higher
than the legal limit for adults. National, state, and local data show that risk factors for teen
drinking and driving include lower socioeconomic status (which is associated with not having
access to a car), lower driver education levels, and less access to alcohol.

Look ahead! – Make sure to frame the problem in a way that helps illuminate possible policy
solutions.

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED PROBLEM

IDENTIFICATION?

 You collected information about the problem by combining existing research and
information from your stakeholders, and you collected new data from the community if
necessary
 You involved all relevant stakeholders when defining the problem
 The data you collected identifies the root cause of the problem and provides a complete
picture of it
 Your problem statement includes:
o Who is affected
o How big the problem is
o What contributes to the problem
o When and where the problem is most likely to occur
 You framed the problem in a way that helps illuminate possible policy solutions

Strategic design is the application of future-oriented design principles in order to increase

an organization's innovative and competitive qualities. Its foundations lie in the analysis of
external and internal trends and data, which enables design decisions to be made on the basis of
facts rather than aesthetics or intuition. The discipline is mostly practiced by design agencies or
by internal development departments.
What is Strategic Implementation?
Implementation is the process that turns strategies and plans into actions in order to accomplish
strategic objectives and goals. Implementing your strategic plan is as important, or even more
important, than your strategy.

Critical actions move a strategic plan from a document that sits on the shelf to actions that drive
business growth. Sadly, the majority of companies who have strategic plans fail to implement
them. According to Fortune Magazine, nine out of ten organizations fail to implement their
strategic plan for many reasons:

 60% of organizations don’t link strategy to budgeting

 75% of organizations don’t link employee incentives to strategy
 86% of business owners and managers spend less than one hour per month discussing
strategy
 95% of the typical workforce doesn’t understand their organization’s strategy.
A strategic plan provides a business with the roadmap it needs to pursue a specific strategic
direction and set of performance goals, deliver customer value, and be successful. However, this
is just a plan; it doesn’t guarantee that the desired performance is reached any more than having
a roadmap guarantees the traveler arrives at the desired destination.

Getting Your Strategy Ready for Implementation

For those businesses that have a plan in place, wasting time and energy on the planning process
and then not implementing the plan is very discouraging. Although the topic of implementation
may not be the most exciting thing to talk about, it’s a fundamental business practice that’s
critical for any strategy to take hold.

The strategic plan addresses the what and why of activities, but implementation addresses the
who, where, when, and how. The fact is that both pieces are critical to success. In fact,
companies can gain competitive advantage through implementation if done effectively. In the
following sections, you’ll discover how to get support for your complete implementation plan
and how to avoid some common mistakes.

Avoiding the Implementation Pitfalls

Because you want your plan to succeed, heed the advice here and stay away from the pitfalls of
implementing your strategic plan.
Here are the most common reasons strategic plans fail:
 Lack of ownership: The most common reason a plan fails is lack of ownership. If people
don’t have a stake and responsibility in the plan, it’ll be business as usual for all but a
frustrated few.
  Lack of communication: The plan doesn’t get communicated to employees, and they
don’t understand how they contribute.
 Getting mired in the day-to-day: Owners and managers, consumed by daily operating
problems, lose sight of long-term goals.
 Out of the ordinary: The plan is treated as something separate and removed from the
management process.
 An overwhelming plan: The goals and actions generated in the strategic planning
session are too numerous because the team failed to make tough choices to eliminate non-
critical actions. Employees don’t know where to begin.
 A meaningless plan: The vision, mission, and value statements are viewed as fluff and
not supported by actions or don’t have employee buy-in.
 Annual strategy: Strategy is only discussed at yearly weekend retreats.
 Not considering implementation: Implementation isn’t discussed in the strategic
planning process. The planning document is seen as an end in itself.
 No progress report: There’s no method to track progress, and the plan only measures
what’s easy, not what’s important. No one feels any forward momentum.
 No accountability: Accountability and high visibility help drive change. This means that
each measure, objective, data source, and initiative must have an owner.
 Lack of empowerment: Although accountability may provide strong motivation for
improving performance, employees must also have the authority, responsibility, and tools
necessary to impact relevant measures. Otherwise, they may resist involvement and
ownership.
It’s easier to avoid pitfalls when they’re clearly identified. Now that you know what they are,
you’re more likely to jump right over them!

Covering All Your Bases

As a business owner, executive, or department manager, your job entails making sure you’re set
up for a successful implementation. Before you start this process, evaluate your strategic plan
and how you may implement it by answering a few questions to keep yourself in check.

Take a moment to honestly answer the following questions:

 How committed are you to implementing the plan to move your company forward?
 How do you plan to communicate the plan throughout the company?
 Are there sufficient people who have a buy-in to drive the plan forward?
 How are you going to motivate your people?
 Have you identified internal processes that are key to driving the plan forward?
  Are you going to commit money, resources, and time to support the plan?
 What are the roadblocks to implementing and supporting the plan?
 How will you take available resources and achieve maximum results with them?

Making Sure You Have the Support

Often overlooked are the five key components necessary to support implementation: people,
resources, structure, systems, and culture. All components must be in place in order to move
from creating the plan to activating the plan.

People
The first stage of implementing your plan is to make sure to have the right people on board. The
right people include those folks with required competencies and skills that are needed to support
the plan. In the months following the planning process, expand employee skills through training,
recruitment, or new hires to include new competencies required by the strategic plan.

Resources
You need to have sufficient funds and enough time to support implementation.  Often, true costs
are underestimated or not identified. True costs can include a realistic time commitment from
staff to achieve a goal, a clear identification of expenses associated with a tactic, or unexpected
cost overruns by a vendor. Additionally, employees must have enough time to implement what
may be additional activities that they aren’t currently performing.

Structure
Set your structure of management and appropriate lines of authority, and have clear, open lines
of communication with your employees. A plan owner and regular strategy meetings are the two
easiest ways to put a structure in place. Meetings to review the progress should be scheduled
monthly or quarterly, depending on the level of activity and time frame of the plan.

Systems
Both management and technology systems help track the progress of the plan and make it faster
to adapt to changes. As part of the system, build milestones into the plan that must be achieved
within a specific time frame. A scorecard is one tool used by many organizations that
incorporates progress tracking and milestones.

Culture
Create an environment that connects employees to the organization’s mission and that makes
them feel comfortable. To reinforce the importance of focusing on strategy and vision, reward
success. Develop some creative positive and negative consequences for achieving or not
achieving the strategy.  The rewards may be big or small, as long as they lift the strategy above
the day-to-day so people make it a priority.

Determine Your Plan of Attack

Implementing your plan includes several different pieces and can sometimes feel like it needs
another plan of its own. But you don’t need to go to that extent. Use the steps below as your base
implementation plan. Modify it to make it your own timeline and fit your organization’s culture
and structure.

 Finalize your strategic plan after obtaining input from all invested parties.
 Align your budget to annual goals based on your financial assessment.
 Produce the various versions of your plan for each group.
 Establish your scorecard system for tracking and monitoring your plan.
 Establish your performance management and reward system.
 Roll out your plan to the whole organization.
 Build all department annual plans around the corporate plan.
 Set up monthly strategy meetings with established reporting to monitor your progress.
 Set up annual strategic review dates, including new assessments and a large group
meeting for an annual plan review.

Following are the few steps involved in the process of evaluation:

(i) Identifying and Defining General Objectives:

In the evaluation process first step is to determine what to evaluation, i.e., to set down
educational objectives. What kind of abilities and skills should be developed when a pupil
studies, say, Mathematics, for one year? What type of understanding should be developed in the
pupil who learns his mother tongue? Unless the teacher identifies and states the objectives, these
questions will remain unanswered. 

The process of identifying and defining educational objectives is a complex one; there is no
simple or single procedure which suits all teachers. Some prefer to begin with the course content,
some with general aims, and some with lists of objectives suggested by curriculum experts in the
area.While stating the objectives, therefore, we can successfully focus our attention on the
product i.e., the pupil’s behaviour, at the end of a course of study and state it in terms of his
knowledge, understanding, skill, application, attitudes, interests, appreciation, etc.

(ii) Identifying and Defining Specific Objectives:

It has been said that learning is the modification of behaviour in a desirable direction. The
teacher is more concerned with a student’s learning than with anything else. Changes in
behaviour are an indication of learning. These changes, arising out of classroom instruction, are
known as the learning outcome.

What type of learning outcome is expected from a student after he has undergone the teaching-
learning process is the first and foremost concern of the teacher. This is possible only when the
teacher identifies and defines the objectives in terms of behavioural changes, i.e., learning
outcomes.

These specific objectives will provide direction to teaching-learning process. Not only that it will
also be useful in planning and organising the learning activities, and in planning and organising
evaluation procedures too.Thus, specific objectives determine two things; one, the various types
of learning situations to be provided by the class teacher 10 his pupils and second, the method to
be employed to evaluate both—the objectives and the learning experiences.

(iii) Selecting Teaching Points:

The next step in the process of evaluation is to select teaching points through which the
objectives can be realised. Once the objectives are set up, the next step is to decide the content
(curriculum, syllabus, course) to help in the realisation of objectives.

For the teachers, the objectives and courses of school subjects are ready at hand. His job is to
analyse the content of the subject matter into teaching points and to find out what specific
objectives can be adequately realised through the introduction of those teaching points.

(iv) Planning Suitable Learning Activities:

In the fourth step, the teacher will have to plan the learning activities to be provided to the pupils
and, at the same time, bear two things in mind—the objectives as well as teaching points. The
process then becomes three dimensional, the three co-ordinates being objectives, teaching points
and learning activities. The teacher gets the objectives and content readymade.

He is completely free to select the type of learning activities. He may employ the analytico-
synthetic method; he may utilise the inducto-deductive reasoning; he may employ the
experimental method or a demonstration method; or he may put a pupil in the position of a
discoverer; he may employ the lecture method; or he may ask the pupils to divide into groups
and to do a sort of group work followed by a general discussion; and so on. One thing he has to
remember is that he should select only such activities as will make it possible for him to realise
his objectives.

(v) Evaluating:

In the fifth step, the teacher observes and measures the changes in the behaviour of his pupils
through testing. This step adds one more dimension to the evaluation process. While testing, he
will keep in mind three things-objectives, teaching points and learning activities; but his focus
will be on the attainment of objectives. This he cannot do without enlisting the teaching points
and planning learning activities of his pupils.

Here the teacher will construct a test by making the maximum use of the teaching points already
introduced in the class and the learning experiences already acquired by his pupils. He may plan
for an oral lest or a written test; he may administer an essay type test or an objective type of lest;
or he may arrange a practical test.

(vi) Using the Results as Feedback:

The last, but not the least, important step in the evaluation process is the use of results as
feedback. If the teacher, after testing his pupils, finds that the objectives have not been realised to
a great extent, he will use the results in reconsidering the objectives and in organising the
learning activities.

He will retrace his steps to find out the drawbacks in the objectives or in the learning activities he
has provided for his students. This is known as feedback. Whatever results the teacher gets after
testing his pupils should be utilised for the betterment of the students.

Evaluation Phases and Processes

In general, evaluation processes go through four distinct phases: planning, implementation,

completion, and reporting. While these mirror common program development steps, it is
important to remember that your evaluation efforts may not always be linear, depending on
where you are in your program or intervention.

Planning
The most important considerations during the planning phase of your project evaluation are
prioritizing short and long-term goals, identifying your target audience(s), determining methods
for collecting data, and assessing the feasibility of each for your target audience(s).

Implementation
This is the carrying out of your evaluation plan. Although it may vary considerably from project
to project, you will likely concentrate on formative and process evaluation strategies at this point
in your efforts.
Completion
Upon completion of your program, or the intermediate steps along the way, your evaluation
efforts will be designed to examine long term outcomes and impacts, and summarize the overall
performance of your program.

Reporting and Communication

In order to tell your story effectively, it's critical for you to consider what you want to
communicate about the results or processes of your project, what audiences are most important
to communicate with, and what are the most appropriate methods for disseminating your
information.