program design Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Nicole Clark Consulting

21 Oct, 2020

Try This: A Simple Way to Get Program Feedback

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T21:00:38-04:00October 21st, 2020|Categories: Research & Evaluation|Tags: program design, program evaluation, Try This|0 Comments

*Try this out and let me know how it goes.*

I enjoy coming up with things on the fly, and today’s Try This is one of those moments.

I was hired by a client organization earlier on in my consulting business to conduct several focus groups for their program participants, all of whom were young high school girls attending a 6-week summer program.

During the first two focus groups, one question I asked was, “What would you change about this program?”

Interestingly, the participants enjoyed the program so much that they didn’t have any ideas on how they could improve the program.

When I got to the last two focus groups, I decided to change the question.

Before I share how I changed the question, let’s make one thing clear: It’s very possible your program participants really do enjoy your program, and there’s a lot of information to glean from this. But this client organization specifically wanted feedback on how to evolve the program and they noticed that, outside of exclaiming they enjoy the program, participants didn’t give in prior feedback on what they enjoyed and what they’d like to see based on previous evaluations.

In response to my client’s request, I shifted the question.

This activity is ideal for:

Anyone responsible for developing, running and evaluating programs and services
Anyone interested in applying evaluative thinking

Here’s what you need:

Whatever setup you use for focus groups (though this can also be created as a survey, key informant interview, or as a World Cafe)

The steps:

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8 Jul, 2020

Your Plan B Should Be as Strong as Your Plan A

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T20:56:28-04:00July 8th, 2020|Categories: Strategic Planning & Sustainability|Tags: program design, Strategic Planning|0 Comments

I don’t like flying, but I do because I enjoy experiencing new locations, plus all of my family lives in Georgia and the majority of my current client organizations are not based in Washington, DC where I’m located.

It’s already unsettling being propelled through the air at 36,000 feet in a cylindrical tube, but one of the scariest aspects of flying for me is knowing that a twin-engine aircraft can fly with just one engine, at best, At worst, that aircraft can lose power in both engines and still travel for another 70 miles before reaching the ground.

Something like this should be scary, but what keeps me somewhat calm is knowing that pilots are highly trained and can handle most mechanical and weather situations (turbulence, ugh).

Can you imagine if pilots had to figure out how to land a plane without practicing? In addition to hours of training and the lessons learned in past aviation incidents, pilots learn how to communicate the relevant information to Air Traffic Control and flight crew.

So how does this apply to implementing your programs and services?

I once had a supervisor that would tell staff, “Your Plan B should be stronger than your Plan A”.

If your Plan A is strong enough, there would be no need for a Plan B, I thought.

As I move through the COVID-19 pandemic along with my clients, I see that my former supervisor and I were both right.

We’re living in uncertain times, and this was before the coronavirus pandemic. We’re used to routine and structure (Plan A). Even if everything is going well, there’s always something you can do to strengthen your programs and services (Your Plan B).

Planes are designed that in the event one or both engines fail, you can still glide and land safely. So, how can you build your Plan B?

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17 Jun, 2020

Try This: Pivot Your Programs & Services

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T20:51:11-04:00June 17th, 2020|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Human Centered Design, program design, Try This|0 Comments

Try this activity and let me know how it goes.

As the world began to shelter in place to flatten the curve of the coronavirus pandemic, I did what many social workers do: I checked in on my clients to make sure they were ok.

With the exception of one client, all of my client organizations turned their initial attention to orienting their staff to the world of working from home. So, naturally, most of their time was taken up with that.

My one client that was already working remotely before the shelter in place order didn’t have this issue. What they did experience, however, was a drastic shift in their programming.

To use the terminology we’ve been hearing on the news, this client (like all of my clients) had to figure out what was “essential” and what wasn’t in terms of how implementing their programs impacted staff capacity to support their program participants, many who support communities heavily impacted by COVID-19.

Putting on my social worker hat, we discussed how this organization makes decisions under normal circumstances given the work they do (abortion access and advocacy). What’s normal for them is operating with the understanding that anything (from policy introductions that can restrict abortion access, to cyberattacks and general anti-abortion rhetoric) can occur to undermine how they support their members.

So, in many ways, they’re used to being nimble. Trying to do this work during a pandemic is another experience entirely.

We talked about how this nimbleness can be applied to how they’re thinking about their programs under the pandemic. One process we’ve implemented over a year ago was the creation of an evaluation working group consisting of staff members from most of their departments who have a willingness and desire to add more intentionality in their program development, data gathering, and sense-making via evaluation. One first meeting as a group grounded the groups’ expectations as well as introduced the process of evaluative thinking.

Given that this client’s focus with me as been on evaluation capacity building, not much changed on my end in terms of still being able to engage staff, but as with all evaluations, I had to pivot the project to address this client’s emerging need: supporting their member base. The client informed me that they had to make quick decisions on which programs can still operate. If their programming could no longer operate as intended, 1) what can they learn from this, 2) how can they pivot programs deem essential to their work, 3) what qualifies a program as “non-essential”, and 4) how can they make a “non-essential” program more “essential” in the future?

I once had a supervisor that would tell staff, “Your Plan B should be as strong as your Plan A.”

I thought he was wrong. If your Plan A is strong enough, there would be no need for a Plan B.

As I move through the pandemic along with my clients, I see that my former supervisor and I were both correct. Your Plan B should be just as strong as your Plan A.

In response to my client’s needs, I created an evaluative thinking activity.

This activity is ideal for:

Anyone responsible for developing, running, and evaluating programs and services
Anyone interested in applying evaluative thinking

Here’s what you need:

Download the Evaluative Thinking Discussion Guide Download

The steps:

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19 Feb, 2020

Try This: Fortunately, Unfortunately

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T20:49:15-04:00February 19th, 2020|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: program design, Try This|0 Comments

“Fortunately, Unfortunately” is an improvisational storytelling game used in drama classes, with kids, and in group activities.

The game involves coming up with a plot and building on as the story goes.

It’s also a great way to add some program design and evaluation into your staff meetings.

With “Fortunately, Unfortunately”, we’re using this game to review processes and identify outcomes with our programming. Use this as a rapid-fire method to keep your staff on its feet by quickly identifying what went well, what didn’t go well, and how issues were addressed during the program cycle.

To add in the storytelling element, we’re retelling the program and its activities from start to finish, adding in moments of reflection where things went as planned (“fortunately”), where hiccups occurred (“unfortunately”), and how they were addressed (“fortunately”).

This activity is ideal for:

Anyone responsible for developing, running and evaluating programs and services
Students interested in evaluative thinking

Here’s what you need:

A space large enough to fit in your program staff
A space to write on that’s large enough for everyone to view
Something erasable to write with
Your program’s logic model or curriculum may be useful, too

The steps:

Have a program staff member start off, setting the foundation for the “story”. Here’s an example of how the game can go:

“Fortunately, we were able to recruit the program participants we needed. We outreached to our unusual programming participants, as well as from local schools and other programs.”

The next staff member, building on this aspect of the program design, can say:

“Unfortunately, we recruited more participants than we could accommodate.”

The rest of the game can play out like this:

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19 Apr, 2019

Try This: Put the Pieces Together

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T20:31:30-04:00April 19th, 2019|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Capacity Building, program design, Try This|0 Comments

Get clear on your program’s purpose and everyone’s role.

During one of my first major evaluations, I asked the client if I could view the program’s curriculum. As I looked through it, I asked how often the curriculum is revised based on participant feedback.

The program had been around for some time, and while the client was consistent with evaluating the program and drawing out the positive feedback to share with funders, they hadn’t used the feedback to revise the actual program.

During another site visit for this program, I noticed that staff were familiar with certain aspects of the program, but not the program in its entirety, or who was responsible for what. Understandable when you’re dealing with newer versus more seasoned staff. Also, some staff were confused about the purpose of some activities and when each activity was supposed to take place.

I’ve always been of the mindset that, in order to create or revise data collection and analysis tools and processes, you need to have a general sense of program goals and how the program is supposed to function. This is important as staff will come and go. Also, there should be a process built in for revising the program so that it’s meeting the emerging needs of participants.

Similar to putting together a puzzle, it can be daunting to look at the multiple components of a program. Instead of working on the entire puzzle at once, focus on one section at a time so that it all comes together.

This activity is ideal for:

Staff responsible for developing and overseeing the implementation of programs, services, and strategies

Here’s what you need:

Your program’s logic model
Your program curriculum
Bonus: Your most recent program data that gives you insight about the program (compiled and synthesized data)

The process:

Typically with my Try This exercises, I lay out all the steps. For this exercise, I’m going to leave that up to you.

To frame it, there are three parts to this process. First, review your program’s goals and objectives. Second, look at your staff roles to assess 1) whether everyone currently connected to the program is being utilized in ways that align with the programs and objectives, 2) if those involved are utilizing their expertise, and 3) who is responsible for what. Third, review the program’s activities to assess if these activities currently align with the goals and objectives.

(Also, it should go without saying that “program” can also mean service, workshop, training, initiative, strategy, and so forth).

Here are some guiding questions (and feel free to add more):

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Try This: A Simple Way to Get Program Feedback

Your Plan B Should Be as Strong as Your Plan A

Try This: Pivot Your Programs & Services

Try This: Fortunately, Unfortunately

Try This: Put the Pieces Together

This Is A Custom Widget