Dear All
Some thoughts on the 'toolkit' following last week's meeting.
What we saw was a fairly elaborate diagnostic tool. Such a tool is a useful precursor to using the toolkit, but is not - of itself - a toolkit.
The use of How? questions tends to encourage description rather than evaluation, but both descriptions and ratings are useful.
I'd favour a two-part approach where I can both A. evaluate against the indicators on a 5-point scale to produce a profile of my areas of strength and weakness and B. describe some of my areas in more detail.
Before this, though, I feel that I need three things:
- something to encourage me to identify my change so that I can relate more concretely to the questions
- some high-level questions about how this change is aligned with institutional and lower-level strategies, and probably something on the drivers
- an indication of how the sections of the diagnostic relate to each other and some less dense guidance on how to use the whole thing
I can't easily access the indicators at present, but I'll try to offer some comments later.
Then I think I would want a tool selection tool. This would allow me to choose tools using the theme and other information that I'd have for each tool (see below).
So I think the sections of the toolkit are:
1. Introduction, use of tool, change identification, high-level questions.
2. Diagnostic audit tool.
3. Tool selection tool and guidance on using tools.
4. Access to the tools.
Presumably, too, we'd want somewhere for comments etc.
What I don't know - of course - is the resource that might be available to do all this. I would think that the tool generation could be largely shared around the pilots using a template such as this...
TITLE - Stakeholder Straplines
THEME(S) - change management, organisational development, staff development
OVERVIEW - This tool helps you to identify the stakeholders in your project and to understand their likely reactions to your initiative.
FOR USE BY OR WITH - By individual managers or change agents and with groups of managers or with teams.
PURPOSE(S) - To enable people involved with managing a change process to identify the full range of interested individuals or groups and to develop their understanding of how they feel about the proposed change.
When used with groups, to develop a team ethos through joint working.
PROCESS - Draw a series of circles on a sheet of paper, or board, or screen.
Encourage brainstorming to identify all the individuals or groups who will be affected by the change or who will have an impact upon it. Write their names in the top half of the circle.
Then get people - either individually, in sub-groups, or in the whole group - to think about the stakeholders' views of the project. Get them to sum up these views in a pithy strapline. (The discussion before and during the production of the strapline will deepen the understanding of the issues.)
Write these straplines in the lower part of each circle.
Then discuss the lessons learned and the implications of the straplines.
PITFALLS - The process may reveal surprising complexities and there may be differences of opinion that have to be managed.
PREREQUISITES - You need some measure of facilitation skills to manage the group sessions.