Assessment

Insight Through Inquiry:

Assessment Services

Without a roadmap, it can be hard to get where you want to go. Often, assessment is the best way to provide you with that roadmap. By giving you a fuller picture of your organization, your team, or even yourself as an individual leader, assessment results let you know your strengths and growth edges, and can point you toward the action steps you need to take next. I’ll work with you to create or select the best tool for your needs, and to help you use the assessment for optimal results.

Contact me to discuss how I can help you or your group with any of the following:

‣Personality, work style, and other standardized assessments – I’m approved to administer and interpret tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, the FIRO-B® (Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior), the Strong Interest Inventory®, and the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i®). I’ll work with you or your group to use assessments like these to help you with your leadership, career, or team development.
‣360-degree feedback – Multi-rater or “360-degree” feedback provides leaders with a fuller perspective on their unique strengths and growth edges by compiling input from their supervisor, peers, direct reports, clients, and/or other colleagues. I’ll help you choose the right 360 assessment tool, make sense of the results, and formulate a plan for your continued development. I can even provide supportive coaching as you put your plan in action.
‣Climate surveys – How are your staff really thinking and feeling about life in your organization? I’ll develop and administer a survey that will uncover your employees’ attitudes and concerns, providing information that you can use to create positive change in your organization or department.
‣Needs assessments – When developing a new program or initiative, a needs assessment is the place to start. Gathering key information about the needs of your target audience will ensure that your program does what it’s intended to do. I’ll help you develop the right questions, determine the right methodology for collecting the information, and will work with you to gather and interpret the data.
‣Focus groups – Often the best way to really understand the nuances of a target group’s perspective, focus groups allow us the opportunity to bring group representatives together to discuss their answers to your key questions. I’ll help you craft the right questions, facilitate the group for you, and produce a report highlighting key themes.
‣Other assessments – I can address a variety of other assessment needs, utilizing various tools and techniques. Social network analysis, key informant interviews, and web-based surveys are some of the tools in my toolbox.

“Your report is amazing – and I mean amazing. I can’t believe you pulled together something that’s so professional and thorough in so short a period of time.”

Sample Projects

‣Professional development needs assessment for a national association of public health professionals. I created a web-based survey for the group’s membership, building on the association’s list of professional competencies, as well as interviews with key leaders in the organization. After collecting responses from nearly 100%(!) of the represented states and territories, I conducted an analysis of the data and produced a comprehensive report of findings and implications. I also helped the association plan next steps by facilitating a conference call with its professional development committee.
‣Student focus groups for a professional school. This educational institution took its student satisfaction scores from good to great after taking action on the themes identified through the focus groups. I refined the questions for the students, facilitated the groups, and produced a report detailing key themes and recommendations.
‣Job and competency analysis for a large department within a major university. After we interviewed staff members about their work, I worked with a colleague to identify both department-wide core competencies and job-specific competencies for each position in the department. We also created a competencies “dictionary”, defining each one and outlining key actions that would epitomize those competencies at the managerial, professional, and support staff levels.