This workshop helped me with things that no one talked about at school. We didn’t have any classes or information on job searching and this workshop really caught me up!
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My work with you goes beyond the expertise you hire me for. I am committed to enhancing your organization’s current state while ensuring its long-term viability in a constantly evolving world. Explore my values.to see how we can create sustainable growth together.
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One of the most common pitfalls in project planning is assuming or perceiving the existence of needs, gaps, or opportunities without sufficient evidence. It’s essential to first verify and substantiate these before deciding whether and how to address them effectively.
Needs, gaps, and opportunities can be validated by gathering and analyzing reliable information. This process may involve conducting needs assessments, administering surveys, performing direct or indirect research, carrying out market analyses, conducting interviews, and other methods of data collection.
If you’ve already substantiated the need, I’d love to hear about your process. If possible, I’d also like to review the data to ensure alignment and inform next steps.
An intervention is a deliberate and strategic action I take, designed to meet a need, bridge a gap, capitalize on an opportunity, or solve a problem. It is rooted in expertise, insight, and core values, ensuring thoughtful and effective implementation.
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Interventions can take diverse forms, employing a variety of tactics. These may include creating strategic plans, building collaborations or partnerships, launching awareness campaigns, developing grant programs, delivering training or educational initiatives, rebranding, implementing fundraising strategies, integrating new technologies, expanding resources or services, conducting outreach, and more.
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Interventions are seldom isolated efforts; they often overlap and amplify each other. For example, launching a grant program might necessitate complementary actions like fundraising, marketing, branding, education, outreach, and evaluation, all working in synergy to drive meaningful impact.
I use a variety of tools to create an action plan. The Logic Model is a good example of one of them. Used correctly, this model outlines the key components needed to implement the plan and helps answer important questions:
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Problem Statement: What problem does this intervention, project, or program address?
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Goal: What is the overall purpose the intervention?
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Rationale and Assumptions: What are some implicit underlying dynamics? Have we tested and substantiated them?
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Resources: What do we have to work with and what do we need?
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Activities: What will will do with your resources?
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Outputs: What are the tangible products of our activities?
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Outcomes: What changes do you expect to occur as a result of your work?
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Impact: What long-term effects will be produced by your activities? (directly or indirectly, intended or unintended.)
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I learned about escalating commitment in graduate school. It means that even though you're increasingly getting negative outcomes from a decision or action, you nevertheless continue with the original plan instead of altering your course. Bad idea!​
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Evaluation and feedback loops are embedded into my plan. When new information or changing circumstances are presented, I adapt my course of action once in progress if needed. The Lean Start-Up describes this agile method in detail.
5. Assess and communicate results.
It's time to assess the information we collected to measure expected outcomes. I collect qualitative and quantitative data to show results.
I create a report interpreting the results, describing lessons learned, and outlining next steps. The report is circulated, discussed, and used as an active strategic document.
