Using Needs Assessment to Demonstrate Value: “Show Me The Money!”

When organizational members set out to evaluate programs or initiatives, the usual focus of the evaluation is based on predetermined expectations.  Did the participants like the new training program?  Did the participants master the new training program content?  When a program seems to work, it is deemed effective and perhaps even efficient depending on resources consumed (e.g. within time and budget), participation level (e.g. attendance; completion), perceived satisfaction (e.g. participant reactions; reactions of others), and other indicators.  In these situations, the desirability of mastering that particular content is often goes unquestioned, and the data that is collected tells us little about the program contributions toward the organizational objectives.

This common approach to evaluation focuses first on the means (the training program) rather than the ends (organizational effectiveness, and in turn, positive external impact).  While it is true that the example I used above certainly reported on the program’s effectiveness in reaching the predetermined result (people liked the program, they mastered the content, and we did it within the time and budget allotted), we have to look further.  Your evaluation must also focus on whether these indicators link to important organizational ends, and in turn, the external needs of our clients and consumers.

In a strategic context, all programs, activities and internal results are interrelated and inevitably impact organizational performance-whether positively or negatively.  If not purposely linked, this very fact in itself could be negatively impacting your organization, by virtue of this activity’s consumption of resources, with no known, or expected, return to the bottom line (financial and societal).

One way to ensure that there is clear alignment between your performance solutions or initiatives and your strategic and operational objectives, is through a rigorous needs assessment (remember, rigorous does not imply slow, lengthy, or unfocused).   A needs assessment facilitates the identification of important gaps in results (or opportunities), and then through systematic problem solving and causal analysis, clearly points to the best alternatives for closing those gaps and capitalizing on opportunities.

This process minimizes your risks, because you know up front what return on investment to expect, how to track progress, and later, what to expect from an evaluation of your initiative, including how your initiative got your closer to your organizational vision and mission.