User:Randyfisher/TORs/Project Services/Program Support

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Program Support Services

At Intersol Group, use an inclusive, participatory and action research approach for continuous and aligned stakeholder engagement and collaboration. We have expertise in the blended use of face-to-face meetings and ICT / online / social media tools for greater buy-in, ownership and performance.

Strategic Planning / Visioning

Benefits

Environmental / Organizational Scan

A comprehensive review of the environment and Organization

The process of gathering, analyzing, and dispensing information for tactical or strategic (scenario development) purposes. The environmental scanning process entails obtaining both factual and subjective information on the business environments in which a company is operating or considering entering. This includes a broad definition of "environment" including political, cultural, environmental, and business environments.

There are three (3) ways of scanning the business environment:

  • Ad-hoc scanning - Short term, infrequent examinations usually initiated by a crisis
  • Regular scanning - Studies done on a regular schedule (e.g. once a year)
  • Continuous scanning (also called continuous learning) - continuous structured data collection and processing on a broad range of environmental factors

See also: Environmental Scan - Approach, Issues


Benefits

Needs Analysis (Learning Community) Green-Tick.svg

A Learning Community Needs Analysis identifies and addresses "gaps” between face-to-face vs. online and blended learning program/course design and/or delivery. Activities include: identifying material problems/deficits /weaknesses and advantages/opportunities/strengths; interests and motivations of (groups of) learners; and evaluation of solutions. Using an action research approach, immediate implementation and iterative development / rapid prototyping is also possible.

Benefits

  • Increased breadth and level of participation
  • Increased learner motivation and retention
  • Easier transition to online (blended) learning program delivery
  • Learning Community growth and sustainability

Organization Development & Culture Change/Transition

Designing the approach in alignment with your strategic objectives and operational and financial metrics

a whole systems approach; involving people in change process and focusing on learning; readiness Achieving organizational effectiveness through understanding the context, setting the right direction and alignment of the business elements

Organizational change involves dealing with the external events which impact an organization (i.e., merger, acquisition, government change, economic event, technology, new leader-etc.)

Organizational transition is a process that people go through in dealing with the change. Bridges, 2003 identified three (3) transition phases including: Endings, Neutral Zone - "in-between state", Beginnings. In transition, people 'lose' their identity before creating a new one. They don't have a clear picture or purpose, and consequently, resist change and their role in it. It is important for them to have assistance - managing expectations, and helping people navigate through the transition. Transitions include, but are not limited to: role change, M&As, job loss, reorganizations, etc.


for Learning Communities

  • engaging and facilitating learners from a face-to-face Learning Community to an engaging and interactive online Learning Community utilizing social media; ensuring alignment to corporate competencies, organizational mandate, culture and resources, and make recommendations for implementation

Benefits

  • Actively involve stakeholders and secure their continuous buy-in and feedback throughout project implementation
  • Reduce fear, anxiety and resistance through planned culture change
  • Distribute workload in a more equitable manner
  • Faster return-on-investment and sustainability

Program / Project Management, Coordination and Implementation

Implementation is the management and coordination execution of a plan, idea, model, design, specification, standard, or policy. In the IT Industry, implementation refers to post-sales process of guiding a client from purchase to use of the software or hardware that was purchased. This includes Requirements Analysis, Scope Analysis, Customizations, Systems Integrations, User Policies, User Training and Delivery. These steps are often overseen by a Project Manager using Project Management Methodologies set forth in the Project Management Body of Knowledge.

Benefits

  • integrated approach
  • OD perspective

Stakeholder Engagement Green-Tick.svg

for Organizations

Consultant assesses stakeholder engagement approach, alignment, communications and feedback loops and organizational responses and culture, and recommends timely and appropriate interventions for greater buy-in, ownership and performance to support and guide strategies, policies and decisions.

for ICTs, Social Media and Websites

Consultant examines ICT / social media / website purpose, underlying values, key stakeholders and their desired functionality, and evaluates the general appeal, ease of navigation, scope of site, help/tutorials, usability from different parameters (i.e., age, gender, culture, technical proficiency, community engagement, intended ICT use, etc.)

Benefits

  • Increase return-on-investment
  • Better alignment between strategy and implementation
  • Increased community engagement and relationship-building
  • Increase conversion rate - and opportunities to further engage stakeholders
  • Greater usage and leverage among and between organizational departments (i.e., marketing, HR)
  • Retain stakeholders throughout project implementation
  • Valuable member services recruitment and retention tool

Performance Analysis and Interventions Green-Tick.svg

Consultant will recommend, design, test, implement and evaluate timely performance interventions to increase learner confidence and skill development and community cohesiveness, to address individual/group dynamics and gaps identified in the Needs Analysis.

Benefits

  • Prioritize gaps in alignment with organization culture and business results.
  • Adapt, modify and evaluate business processes informed by stakeholder feedback. (Performance Analysis, Action Learning)
  • Focus on continuous and iterative process improvement, using action research
  • Mitigate fear, anxiety and resistance to change (including using ICTs), and build stakeholder confidence, mastery
  • Leverage peer group knowledge and dynamics to increase productivity and motivation
  • Support learners to fully engage in their own learning, including developing (online) community leadership behaviour and job-relevant social media and digital literacy skills.

Leadership Development

Leadership / Capacity Building

Teamwork & Leadership: Encouraging and valuing the participation and involvement of everyone on the team. Ability to lead and foster positive productive relationships at all levels of seniority with colleagues from within the organization and externally. Capacity to establish and expand a network of contacts to be drawn upon in support of executing the mission. Bringing conflicts and disagreements into the open and attempting to resolve them collaboratively.

Building Bonds: Ability to build coalitions internally. Valuing diversity of all types (i.e., gender, race, class, culture, personality types) while building and maintaining positive relationships and networks with all stakeholders. This is demonstrated by encouraging and taking into account different perspectives and experiences of others.

Communication skills: Ability to convey concise, well articulated and accurate information (written and verbal), tailored appropriately to audiences, and to all levels of seniority. Strong written and verbal presentation skills, particularly capacity to communicate complex and technical issues in simple terms.

Initiative and Drive for Results: Acting independently and resourcefully in response to work demands. Demonstrating motivation to produce quality, and acting with a sense of urgency to meet the objectives of the organization and its member countries.

Benefits

Team Building and Leveraging Diversity

Benefits

Community Development and Facilitated Discussions Green-Tick.svg

Consultant will facilitate the design and delivery of successful meetings in the learning program in various learning spaces (i.e., threaded discussions, fora, blogs, wikis, webinars, collaborative projects, etc. Consultant will work to ensure a safe and productive environment, and achieve a high level of participation from group members, while being cognizant of leadership competencies; group dynamics, culture, language (i.e., English, French, and professional fields), goals and aspirations. Facilitated discussions may be a blend of online and face to face conversations and use social media.

Benefits

  • Increased learner participation, collaboration and interaction
  • Less anxiety and resistance to change
  • Easily assess learner motivation and behavioural changes

Curricula / Instructional Design & Delivery (face-to-face and e-learning)

Consultant will develop, review, analyze, and recommend modifications to curricula based on qualitative and quantitative data collection, to ensure a high level of learning and skills/knowledge transfer in the online learning environment. Consultant may deliver portions of the online program, either directly to learners or to facilitators (i.e., train-the-trainer).

  • Curricula/Instructional design (include Train-the-Trainer), updating, revision - traditional & elearning

Benefits

  • Increase learner engagement, buy-in and ownership in a well-designed, online Learning Community
  • Increase individual leadership competencies and community capacity (i.e., using Train-the-Trainer model)
  • Well-esigned collaborative learning strategies and pedagogies have been shown to be effective in online settings (Norm Friesen, 2010)

Professional Development & Learning Communities

– Learners & Course Facilitators/Trainers

Consultant will review, analyze, recommend and make modifications to curricula based on qualitative and quantitative data collection, to ensure a high level of learning and skills/knowledge transfer in the online learning environment. Consultant may delivery portions of the online program, either directly to learners or to facilitators (i.e., train-the-trainer).

  • professional development and learning communities – at scale – that will be a big value..

Learning Communities

Learning Communities are:

  • are strategically-designed and aligned to organizational vision, mission and culture
  • are an inclusive and participatory action-oriented model for continuous engagement across time and distance,
  • sustainably and scalably evolve existing face-to-face and elearning training into ongoing global networked conversations
  • facilitate competency development and leadership behaviour, and
  • disseminate and implement the latest evidence for improving your professional field of interest.

LCs can be designed with appropriate curricula and pedagogic capacities, with key employees/stakeholder champions and influencers who are engaged, coached and mentored to lead within the larger community and sub-communities to sustain innovation, change and growth and implement strategies and policies for achieving your organization's stated mission.

Benefits

  • Increase learner engagement, buy-in and ownership in a well-designed, online Learning Community for adult learners;
  • Increase return on investment from social media;
  • Increase individual leadership competencies and community capacity (i.e., using Train-the-Trainer model)
  • Leverage, partnering, learning communities

Communications, Outreach & Advocacy

  • for the organization’s Learning Community including the development of key messages for high priority stakeholders and make recommendations for implementation thereof;
  • iterative development and rapid prototyping
  • an integrated process by which organizations determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return. It includes communications and the development of key messages to support stakeholder engagement.

Marketing is used to identify the customer, to keep the customer and to satisfy the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, it can be concluded that marketing management is one of the major components of business management. The evolution of marketing was caused due to mature markets and overcapacities in the last decades. Companies then shifted the focus from production to the customer in order to stay profitable.

Benefits

  • create readiness for your message
  • inform key stakeholders and ambassadors; support them for action
  • develop key messages

Knowledge Transfer / Translation

  1. Knowledge Translation: To promote exchanges between researchers, health professionals, policy makers and other stakeholders that yield innovative and effective obesity prevention and treatment solutions.
  2. Capacity Building: To increase interdisciplinary capacity among future researchers and health professionals in Canada.
  3. Networking / Partnerships: To create key inter-sectoral, national and international partnerships with stakeholders to translate research, build capacity and generate solutions.

Benefits

Coaching and Mentoring

  • for supporting key learners in the Learning Community; capacity development

Coaching / Mentoring

Coaching is a method of directing, instructing and training a person or group of people, with the aim to achieve some goal or develop specific skills. There are many ways to coach, types of coaching and methods to coaching. Sessions are typically one-on-one either in-person or over the telephone. Direction may include motivational speaking. Training may include seminars, workshops, and supervised practice.

Business coaching is the practice of providing positive support and positive feedback while offering occasional advice to an individual or group in order to help them recognize ways in which they can improve the effectiveness of their business. Coaching is an excellent way to attain a certain work behavior that will improve leadership, employee accountability, teamwork, sales, communication, goal setting, strategic planning and more. It can be provided in a number of ways, including one-on-one, group coaching sessions and large scale [seminars]. Many corporations are instilling the practice of 360 degree coaching, which permits employees to utilize their own life or professional experiences in a positive way to create team participation attitudes even with superiors.

Coaching for skills helps the executive learn specific skills, abilities and perspectives over a period of several weeks or months. The skills to be learned are usually clear at the outset and are typically related to skills associated with an executive assuming new or different responsibilities.

Coaching for performance focuses on the executive’s effectiveness in his or her current position. Frequently it involves coaching for one or more management or leadership competencies, such as communicating vision, team building or delegation.

Coaching for development refers to coaching interventions that explore and enhance the executive’s competencies and characteristics required for a future job or role. It can be associated with outplacements, restructuring and reengineering in the organization.

Coaching for the executive’s agenda generally entails working with an executive on any personal or organizational concerns he or she may have. It can focus on issues surrounding the executive, such as change and company downsizing. Personal issues are more likely to arise in this type of coaching.

Executive coaches can also work with training managers to formalize coaching in their leadership roles and bec


Benefits

  1. Develop skills you already have
  2. Learn new skills
  3. Gain insight into yourself and the people you work with
  4. Gain fresh perspectives on your issues, advice and suggestions and opgtions

Monitoring and Evaluation (Outcome Mapping)

  • for identifying and qualifying trends and evaluating and communicating outcomes and opportunities for individual learning, leadership, innovation and performance.

OM does three innovative things that add value to existing PM&E methods: Defines the system borders, roles and responsibilities where the program operates; Identifies the prominent actors who are the ongoing drivers of the changes; and Sets milestones that mark the path of change;

The way a focus on measuring ‘impact’ plays out is not suitable in the context of many projects and programmes -> we need to recognise the limits of a project’s influence, and shape our planning, learning, and accountability functions around “outcomes”, which are further ‘upstream’ from impacts.

Limits depend on time, geography, resources, contacts, politics

Evaluation is methodologically diverse using both methods qualitative methods and methods quantitative methods, including studies case studies, research survey research, analysis statistical analysis, and model building among others. A more detailed list of methods, techniques and approaches for conducting evaluations would include the following:


Benefits

  • focusing on outcomes (beyond simple inputs (i.e., how many meetings, users, hits, publications) and impacts - decrease in learner dropouts, new policies, access to learning community, etc.)
  • dashboard for depth of change, signals that change is happening, milestones, spectrum of transformation
  • support for other strategies
  • partnerships and networks that sustain change when program ends
  • Behavioural change
  • influence boundary partners\
  • program staying relevant and viable
  • delviery of program interventions
  • changes in behaviour of partners
  • situational changes
  • contextual changes

Strategic Partnering & Alliance Management Green-Tick.svg

Consultant will facilitate the assessment, negotiation, management, coordination and implementation of strategic partnerships / alliances and support value-added stakeholder participation, while being cognizant of complexity and strategic alignment, group dynamics, organization culture, language, goals and objectives and opportunities for internetworking and leverage.

Benefits

  • Viable alliances and partnerships that deliver on promises, objectives
  • Aligned communication, reporting and results
  • Extended internetworking/bridging at different levels of the partnership / alliance
  • Strengthened trust, rapport and productive working relationships

Other

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