Needs Assessment for a Growing company
This project, completed on my own, was conducted on behalf of a locally owned food service company who was trying to streamline operations and training to create uniformity among all locations. This was important to them because they were entering a period of rapid expansion and needed to understand where performance gaps from store to store were occurring and how they could address it.
COMPETENCIES DEMONSTRATED:
In addition to understanding the importance of an assessment at the beginning of the project, this artifact demonstrates my ability to analyze an organization from various key areas in order to fully understand underlying issues. It also highlights my ability to create and utilize assessment tools such as observations, surveys and interviews for primary and secondary data analysis.
The process began with a project plan outlining the steps that were going to be performed. It includes the background of the organization and the reason for needing an assessment at this stage. The philosophy and framework behind the needs assessment process is based on the Performance Pyramid designed by Dr. Wedman which examines six key support mechanisms to probe for causes of skill gaps:
|
|
|
The final assessment is presented in the form of a final report. It includes an executive summary, the problem/opportunity statement, who the audience is as well as what techniques were used to gather data. The data is then analyzed and summarized to include recommendations for next steps as a result of the findings. This project was given a passing score and was well received by the company it was conducted for. As a result of the Needs Assessment, the organization put into place a plan to address the gap s identified. For example, to build Knowledge and Skills they started a University type program to teach managers soft skills. They also tackled gaps in Tools, Environment and Process by committing to creating necessary job aids. |
|
|
|
| The Needs Assessment course was quite eye opening for me. I had never conducted a Needs Analysis prior to this. In my work experience, problems were never verified prior to solutions being implemented. I really liked the Performance Pyramid and the concepts it brought up because I do believe that there can be multiple reasons for gaps in performance and not all of them are skill related. I like the holistic approach to verifying and understanding a problem.
Another key take away for me was the creation and utilization of various assessment tools for both primary and secondary data analysis. I had never designed an interview guide before and I found it challenging at times to design questions that were a good balance between being open ended enough to elicit honest responses vs. guided to give me insight into a specific area of concern. One of the things that I would have liked to have more of during this process was access to secondary data. I felt that my report skewed towards primary data simply because it was more readily available. The company I completed the assessment for did not allow for me to review items such as past performance reviews for individuals or financial records. Seeing the P&Ls for example could have highlighted for me whether or not there were stores performing better in certain aspects than others therefor allowing me to follow up with primary data tools to further understand discrepancies. |
|
