Effectiveness Programme Health Check - The …...at Toybox representatives from teams across the...

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Coordinator guide

Health Check

Effectiveness Programme

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i Introduction 1 How do I prepare my organisation?

2 How do I gather the data?

3 How should I analyse the results?

4 How do I develop an improvement plan?

5 What are the online resources?

About BondAs the UK network for international development organisations, a vital part of Bond's role is to strengthen the sector. We achieve this by providing opportunities for people to develop their skills, knowledge and expertise and by supporting organisations to better demonstrate their impact and improve their performance. bond.org.ukbond.org.uk/effectiveness

About the Bond Effectiveness ProgrammeThe Bond Effectiveness Programme supports UK NGOs to improve how they assess, learn from and demonstrate their effectiveness. This includes:

1. Developing agreement and supporting implementation of:

•An Impact Builder: a sector wide framework of indicators, data collection tools and assessment methods to improve the consistency of how NGOs measure, learn from and report results

•AnonlineHealth Check and resource database to help identify an organisation's strengths and weaknesses

2. Building knowledge and skills to support member organisations to measure and manage effectiveness through training, peer learning and support, and resource development

3. Creating an enabling environment that encourages and supports organisations to deliver improvements in their effectiveness through engagement with donors, NGO leaders and promoting greater transparency about performance

The Effectiveness Programme is supported financially by:ActionAidUK,CAFOD,CAREInternationalUK,ChristianAid,ComicRelief,DepartmentforInternationalDevelopment,EveryChild,IslamicRelief,MercyCorp,OxfamGB,PlanUK,PracticalAction,Save the Children UK, Sightsavers, Tearfund, VSO, WaterAid,WorldVisionandWWF.

If you have further questions or comments please contact the Effectiveness Programme team: [email protected] 020 7520 1042

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What is the Health Check?

The Health Check is an online self-assessment that helps to identify an organisation's strengths and weaknesses and enables benchmarking with peers. It is complemented by a comprehensive set of online resources that signpost to other relevant initiatives, guides, training and support.

The Health Check helped us to look systematically at the whole range of areas across our organisation and prioritise where we needed to be stronger.Philip Goodwin, Chief Executive, TREE AID






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Ab

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thi

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ei Introduction 1 How do I prepare my

organisation?2 How do I gather the

data?3 How should I analyse

the results?4 How do I develop an

improvement plan?5 What are the online

resources?

This guide provides all the information needed to ensure that your organisation gets the most out of the Health Check.

This guide is structured according to the five Health Check steps and explains how to:

1. Prepare your organisation: decide on the approach your organisation should use to collect and analyse the data, who to involve, how and when.

2. Gather the data: decide how you will collect the data and how you will ensure that it is robust.

3. Analyse the results: take an in-depth look at the strengths and weaknesses of your organisation with those who took part.

4. Develop an improvement plan: prioritise which areas to take forward, agreeing who will be responsible and the resources required.

5. Use the online resources: identify the quality standards and principles, guides, training courses and consultants that will help your organisation improve.

Before you startTo get the most out of the Health Check it is vital that there is buy-in to the process at a senior level and that everyone involved is clear about why the organisation is doing it, understands what will happen once the data has been gathered, and are willing to act on thefindingstoimprovetheorganisation.Itiscrucial that discussions on these issues take place before starting the Health Check.

We used the Health Check to get an idea of what the organisation feels about itself. It's especially useful for providing insight so you can smartly put new resources into the right areas.Edward Watkiss, Head of Operations, Farm Africa

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Stage of an organisations growth Example from Identity and integrity (pillar 1)

1 Nascent: your development is at an early stage. You recognise there is scope for improvement.

We have mixed understandings within our organisation of why and how we work with partners in the south. We only seek their views on the project activities they are involved in.

2 Evolving: you are taking steps to develop but your approach is ad hoc and not necessarily informed by a logical strategy.

Some staff have an understanding of why and how we work withpartnersinthesouth.Amongstothersthisisunclear.Weare looking at ways in which we can reflect partner's views in the development of our strategies and policies as well as project activities.

3 Maturing: you recognise the importance of developing this area and have a logical approach. Your development and practice is of a good standard.

The majority of our staff have a shared understanding of why and how we work with partners in the south. This understanding is consistent across most of our activities. We try to ensure the views of partners are reflected in the development of our strategies and policies as well as project activities.

4 Flourishing: you have a systematic and coherent approach and have evidence that it is developing consistently across your organisation. You are starting to move towards best practice.

We have a clear and widely shared understanding at all levels of our organisation of why and how we work with partners in the south. This understanding is consistent across all activities and our external communications. Partners views are reflected in project activities, the development of our strategies, policies and in our governance.

5 Leading: you have a strong evidence base collected over time that indicates your development is of a very high standard. The development is consistent across your organisation at all levels. Your practice is recognised by external actors.

We have a clear and widely shared understanding at all levels of our organisation, including the Board, of why and how we work with partners in the south. This understanding is consistent across all activities and our external communications. We have processes for ensuring partners views are reflected in project activities, the development of strategy and policy and in our governance and we can show how they influence our thinking and decisions at all levels.

Health Check structureThere are 11 pillars. These correspond to the core functions found in most organisations for example, finance, programmes and human resources (see the table on page 10).

Each pillar is broken down into a number of building blocks – these represent the specific and most important elements of a pillar against which an organisation assesses itself.

Each building block has five levels – these represent the different stages of an organisation's development. You will need to decide which level best describes your organisation. The following table displays broadly the progression across the levels. The right hand column provides an example from the Partnership building block.

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You may find that your organisation does not neatly fit into one of the five levels and achieves some elements of one level and someofanother.Inthesecases,youwillneed to select the level that best reflects your organisation's current practice.

There is no expectation that you should reach level 5 for all the building blocks. The Health Check was designed to be used by organisations of all sizes and complexities and for some building blocks the highest levels may be more relevant for larger organisations.Ithasbeendesignedsothatlevel 3 reflects a good benchmark for any organisation operating in the international development sector and should be attainable irrespective of size.

Ensuring a robust self-assessment processThe Health Check requires your organisation to be self-reflective and open about its strengths and weaknesses. To ensure an accurate picture, it is important that those engaging in the process are specific about why they think the organisation is at a certain level.Asthecoordinator,youshould

encourage people to make reference to existing policies and procedures, provide specific examples of practice and quote evaluation findings when doing the assessment. This is particularly important as youstarttomoveupthelevels.Atlevel4and5 you should have a strong evidence base that supports why the organisation has been scored at this level. There is a space for comments under each building block to help collect this evidence.

It’simportanttogatherawide-rangeofperspectives during data collection to help mitigate biases and create a more objective and balanced picture of your organisation's strengths and weaknesses. Similarly, involving different stakeholders in analysing the results can help to foster ownership and increase the likelihood of staff implementing the improvement plan.

Achecklistofquestionstotestthequalityofyour Health Check data is on page 15.

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Encourage people to reference existing policies and procedures, provide specific examples of practice and quote evaluation findings when doing their assessment.

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How do I prepare my organisation?

To get the most out of the Health Check, work through the following steps: •Approach: identify who you want to involve

in the process and how representative you want them to be of the organisation

• Timing: identify the best time to undertake the Health Check

• Build commitment and ownership among colleagues: those involved need to understand what the Health Check is, why the organisation is doing it and what it will get out of the process

The Health Check provided us with a systematic process for assessing effectiveness and a source of evidence for funding proposals.Mark Ireland, Programmes Director, Self Help Africa

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theresultsinaworkshop.Forexample,at Toybox representatives from teams across the organisation completed the Health Check individually and then representatives from most teams joined a workshop to discuss the results.

• In-depth approach might involve sending the online survey out to a large number of staff across all teams and to external stakeholders such as partners. Allstaff,partners,andboardmembersmight be invited to complete the survey individually followed by a discussion of the results in a workshop. Foranexampleof an in depth approach, see the Mothers’Unioncasestudyonpage9.






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In planning who to involve and how you will do the assessment, you might find it helpful to think in terms of a light touch, moderate or in-depth approach.

The first step is to decide how in-depth and detailed you want the process to be. The main things to consider are who to involve and how representative they are of the wider organisation.

Inplanningwhoyouwillinvolveandhowyouwill do the assessment you might find it helpful to think in terms of these categories:

• Light touch approach might involve a small, self-selected group of staff (e.g. senior management team) undertaking the self-assessment. They might individually complete the online survey before a regular team meeting, or they might do the assessment collectively at theteammeetingitself.Forexample,atLeonard Cheshire Disability the senior management team completed the Health Check during a three hour focus group and four regional managers working overseas completed the online survey.

• Moderate approach might involve a group of staff representing different perspectives within the organisation gathering the opinions of their team either through asking them to complete to online survey or provide their feedback individually, followed by a discussion of

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The type of assessment process you adopt is not determined by the size of your organisation.Forexample,ifyouareasmall organisation but involve all members of staff across all teams, partners and board members you have selected an in-depth approach. When you come to use the benchmarking you will be able to compare yourself to organisations that used a similar approach to you (see section 3).

Once you have identified your approach, you will need to decide which pillars you want to assess and the people and teams you might like to involve. The Health Check is designed to enable you to signpost individual staff and teams to the pillars most relevant to their areas of work. The table on page 10 provides suggestions.

Mothers’ UnionDecide who should assess each pillar

We invited 125 people to complete the Health Check. People completed different pillars according to their role, for instance, trustees and all staff at our UK headquarters completed all pillars, while thecoordinatoroftheMothers’UnioninKenyaandaselectionofMothers’Unionstaff working overseas completed the pillars related to programmes (pillars 3-5 and9-10).

This method ensured that those with direct knowledge and experience only answered the questions relevant to their role.

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The Health Check was comprehensive and useful, especially as we have a positive volunteer policy and prioritise staff involvement in all aspects of strategy and direction.Marianne Rowley, Head of International, Sue Ryder

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Pillars Building blocks Who is the best person/team to involve?

1 Identityandintegrity Shared values and vision, Distinctive contribution, Transparency, Partnership, Beneficiary voice Board, senior management team, human resources and communications teams

2 Leadership and strategy

Developingstrategy,Monitoringstrategy,Stronggovernance,Diversegovernance,Inspiringleadership Board, senior management team, human resources teams

3 Partners Selection,Sharedvalues,Rolesandresponsibilities,Monitoringpartnerships,Staffcapacity,Staffcontinuity,Capacity development, Partner sustainability

Senior management, monitoring and evaluation and programmes teams, country offices and partners

4 Beneficiaries Transparency,Participation,Feedback,Staffcapacity Programmes and institutional funding teams, country offices, partners, and beneficiaries

5 Programmes Identification,Planning,Indicatorsandtargets,Monitoringandlearning,Evaluationandlearning, Programmeresources,Resourcesformonitoring,Strategyforimpact,Sustainabilityofimpact

Senior management, monitoring and evaluation, programmes, and institutional funding teams, country offices and partners

6 People Skillsandcapacity,Recruitment,Policies,Managingperformance,Learninganddevelopment,Interns, Health,safety,andsecurity,Feedback

Senior management, and human resources teams, and all line managers, staff and interns

7 Money Planningandfundraising,Financialriskmanagement,Valueformoney,Budgeting,Accountingsystems,Financialreporting,Financialcontrols,Staffcapacity

Treasurer, senior management, finance teams, and all budget holders

8 External relations Communicationsstrategy,Creativecommunications,Media,Supporters,Institutionaldonors, Privatesector,CivilSocietyOrganisations,Networks,Government,Researchcommunity

Board, senior management and communications teams, fundraising team including institutional, corporate and individual giving staff, advocacy and policy team

9 Monitoring Culture,System,Communicatingresults,Knowledgemanagement,Innovation,Staffcapacity Board, senior management, monitoring and evaluation and programmes team

10 Internalcommunications

Communication,Collaboration,Staffparticipation,Countryoffices,Affiliates/members Board, senior management and human resources teams, all staff, country offices

11 Influencing Strategy, Evidence base, Context analysis, Planning, Monitoring and learning, Evaluation and learning, Staff capacity, Collaboration, Public mobilisation, Beneficiary involvement, Policy influence

Senior management, advocacy, policy and campaigning teams, monitoring and evaluation team






Who assesses each pillar?

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The timing of the Health Check has a big influence on its overall success.

Itmayhelptodiscuss:

• Whyareyoudoingtheassessmentnow?Isitthebesttimetodoit?Whatelseisgoingon?

• Whatisitrespondingtoorcontributingto?

• Whatwillyoudowiththeresults?Willthey be used in a way that can lead to sustainable organisational development ratherthanadhocinitiatives?

• Howmuchinvestmentareyoupreparedtomakeintheprocess?(timeandmoney)

• Whenwillyourepeattheprocess?

Having clear answers to these questions will show staff that working through the Health Check is worth their time and will lead to tangible benefits for the organisation. The table opposite details how some NGOs have incorporated the Health Check into their ongoing processes.

Organisation Purpose and timing

Farm Africa Strategic planning and allocating resources at organisational level We used the Health Check during our strategic planning period which coincided with finalising a fundingagreementwithDFID.WeusedtheHealthCheckresultswhenwewereattheendstageofformulatingourstrategy.Itwasgoodtogetanideaofwhattheorganisationfeelsaboutitself,whatshouldbeincludedinthestrategy,andwhatresourceswererequired.ItwasespeciallyusefulforusasaPPArecipientasitenabledustoputnewresourcesintotherightareas,smartly.

EveryChild Organisational change involving structural or strategic focus shift When we rolled out the Health Check, we were in the process of changing our operating model. Our Health Check results were positive and none of them were serious enough for us to take any immediate action. The fact that there were no major trouble spots gave us confidence and confirmed that we were moving in the right direction.

Self Help Africa Collecting baseline data and evidence to input into a funding proposal The main purpose of going through the Health Check process was to collect baseline data for organisational learning and to add data into a funding proposal. The Health Check provided us with a systematic process for assessing effectiveness and a source of evidence. Our funding proposaltoDFIDwassuccessfulandwenowhaveaPPAfundingagreementwithFarmAfrica.InourfundingproposalwewereabletohighlightthatwewereusingtheHealthChecktotrackprogress over time.

ADRA and TREE AID

Preparing for becoming compliant with other standards and principles Two organisations made reference to using the process of going through the Health Check as an intermediarystepbeforeapplyingforHumanitarianAccountabilityPartnership(HAP)certification. ADRA LastyearwehadtwoDFID-initiatedKPMGduediligencereviewswhichhavealreadyhelpedusto streamline the organisation and catalogue processes and procedures. The ultimate goal of theseexercisesistoapplyforHAPcertificationintheverynearfuture.

TREE AID Wedon’tcurrentlyuseanyexistingtoolsorstandards,buttheHealthCheckandresourcesareuseful in pointing us to relevant standards. We will work on some kind of formalised internal standards, for example, we are renewing our partnership policy and the Health Check has reinforced our need to do that. We will also think about using external standards and principles.






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Ow

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hip Building shared commitment and

ownership amongst colleaguesWhoever you involve, make sure that they understand why the organisation is doing the Health Check, their role in the process and how the results will be shared and used. Some of the ways in which you could generate wider interest and commitment are:

• bringingtogetheraworkinggroupofstaffrepresenting different levels and teams to work with you to promote the roll out of the Health Check

• gettingtheworkinggroupinvolvedinplanning how you will discuss, analyse and use the results (the discussions around the results and action planning are an exciting part of the process and it is important to emphasise this whenever you can)

• collaborativelydevelopanactionplanoutlining the steps needed to improve the organisation’seffectiveness

While the reasons for doing the Health Check will be specific to your organisation and will have already been agreed at a senior level, some general benefits can be found in the Health Check leaflet on our website.






EveryChildEstablishing a working group to lead the process

The responsibility for rolling out the Health Check was shared by an internal effectiveness working group made up of departmental and functional leads and also individuals who had been with EveryChild for long enough to have a broad view of organisational effectiveness. They championed the tool internally and broke off into subgroups, analysing trends and looking at the results we needed to understand further. More specifically, the group analysed and debated discrepancies in scores, looking to understand whether these were due to individual differences in opinion, or indicatorsof‘pockets’withintheorganisation where more work was needed. They assessed whether the overall level of effectiveness for each area wasappropriateforEveryChild’scurrentand planned future state, or whether further improvements were desired. Where improvements were desired, they

began preparing action plans for enhancingeffectiveness.Finally,theeffectiveness working group instilled confidence in the participants involved in the Health Check by communicating clearly that the survey responses have been taken on board, assessed, and that relevant actions would be taken.

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Our effectiveness working group analysed and debated discrepancies in scores. and assessed whether the overall level of effectiveness for each area was appropriate.Richard Ponsford, Effective Programmes Officer, EveryChild

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How do I gather the data?

The Health Check has been designed so that it’s easy to gather data from as many participants as you want. There are direct links to the different pillars so that you can ask people to only complete certain sections. Users can save their responses and return to them at another time, and leave comments against individual indicators to either explain their scores or provide suggestions for improvement.

The comments sections helped respondents to think through the choices they had selected. It encouraged more people to respond as they viewed it as a full staff consultation.Lucy Brealey, Learning and Accountability Officer, Anti-Slavery International






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Those answering the Health Check need to set up a personal profile and select their role and location. The role and location details are then pulled into the CSV data file containing individual survey responses that you can download from the results page.

The obvious benefit of people using the online survey is that individual responses are automatically aggregated so there is no need for you to do any data inputting. That said, you may want to supplement the survey with data collected through other methods. Other options include:

• Focusgroups–thiscouldinvolveteamscompleting relevant pillars together in a smallgroup.IfyouchooseafocusgrouptherearePDFversionsofeachpillarthatyou can download and print out to use in a workshop.

• Telephoneinterviews–theHealthCheckcoordinator will need to unpack the level descriptions and break them down into a set of questions.

Of course, if you choose to run a focus group or conduct telephone interviews you will need to add the data you collect into the Health Check yourself in order for all responses to be represented in your aggregated results.






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Approaches to collecting data

We used a combination of focus groups facilitatedbystafffromTREEAIDandBond.AllUKbasedstaffwereinvitedtoparticipatein two focus groups to assess two of the Health Check pillars. The other pillars were split up based on technical expertise and availability, for example external relations (pillar 8) and internal communications (pillar 10) were assessed as part of a prearranged meeting about programme information and communication and fundraising. Similarly, managing money (pillar 7) was reviewed as part of a regular finance team meeting. Finally,wereviewedapieceofresearchwehad commissioned on our strategy process and organisational leadership to inform our assessmentofIdentityandintegrity(pillar1)and Leadership and strategy (pillar 2).

We chose this approach because at the time of doing the Health Check we were in the middle of a very participative strategy process to which staff were committing time.

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udyRobust data collection

Whichever approach you take it is recommendedthatyoudon’trelyonassumptions or the information people already have on their department or area of work. You will get a more accurate picture of the health of your organisation if staff review key documents including organisational strategies, policies, guidelines and partner agreements in order to provide evidence to back up the responses and why the particular levels within the building blocks were chosen. Evidence needs to be robust, gathered honestly and critically analysed - cutting corners will skew the findings and defeat the object of doing the Health Check. Evidence checklistThe checklist on page 15 provides a list of key questions to help your organisation assess the quality of evidence. Whilst it is not essential for you to work through the questions before you start, doing so will help ensure the evidence you collect through the Health Check is robust and will enable you to draw more accurate conclusions about the health of your organisation.

To find out more about how you can use the checklist, please contact us:

[email protected]

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Principle Criteria

1) Voice and Inclusion

Wepresentbeneficiaries’viewsontheeffects of the intervention, and identify who has been affected and how

1a.Aretheperspectivesofbeneficiariesincludedintheevidence?

1b.Aretheperspectivesofthemostexcludedandmarginalisedgroupsincludedintheevidence?

1c.Arethefindingsdisaggregatedaccordingtosex,disabilityandotherrelevantsocialdifferences?

1d.Didbeneficiariesplayanactiveroleindesigningtheevidencegatheringandanalysisprocess?

2) Appropriateness

We use methods that are justifiable given the nature of the intervention and purpose of the assessment

2a.Arethedatacollectionmethodsrelevanttothepurposeoftheenquiryanddotheygeneratereliabledata?

2b.Isthesizeandcompositionofthesampleinproportiontotheconclusionssoughtbytheenquiry?

2c.Doestheteamhavetheskillsandcharacteristicstodeliverhighqualitydatacollectionandanalysis?

2d.Isthedataanalysedinasystematicwaythatleadstoconvincingconclusions?

3) Triangulation

We make conclusions about the intervention’seffectsbyusingamixofmethods, data sources, and perspectives

3a.Aredifferentdatacollectionmethodologiesusedanddifferenttypesofdatacollected?

3b.Aretheperspectivesofdifferentstakeholderscomparedandanalysedinestablishingifandhowchangehasoccurred?

3c.Areconflictingfindingsanddivergentperspectivespresentedandexplainedintheanalysisandconclusions?

3d.Arethefindingsandconclusionssharedwithandvalidatedbyarangeofkeystakeholders(e.g.beneficiaries,partners,peers)?

4) Contribution

We can show how change happened and explain how we contributed to this

4a.Isapointofcomparisonusedtoshowthatchangehashappened(e.g.abaseline,acounterfactual,comparisonwithasimilargroup)?

4b.Istheexplanationofhowtheinterventioncontributestochangeexplored?

4c.Arealternativefactors(e.g.thecontributionofotheractors)exploredtoexplaintheobservedresultalongsideourintervention'scontribution?

4d.Areunintendedandunexpectedchanges(positiveornegative)identifiedandexplained?

5) Transparency

We are open about the data sources and methods used, the results achieved, and the strengths and limitations of the evidence

5a.Isthesizeandcompositionofthegroupfromwhichdataiscollectedexplainedandjustified?

5b.Arethemethodsusedtocollectandanalysedataandanylimitationsofthequalityofthedataandcollectionmethodologyexplainedandjustified?

5c.Isitclearwhohascollectedandanalysedthedata,andisanypotentialbiastheymayhaveexplainedandjustified?

5d.Isthereaclearlogicallinkbetweentheconclusionspresentedandthedatacollected?






Assessing the quality of evidence checklist

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5 How do I use the online resources?






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Itisimportanttobeclearwiththosegathering the data how the process will move forward and key milestones. They are more likely to engage positively in the process if they understand how their input fits into the bigger picture. Make sure that you give a realistic timeframe and a firm deadline for people to complete the self-assessment. Finally,beforeyouruntheresultsworkshopmakesureyouand/ortheworkinggrouphave sufficient time to do an initial analysis of the results to start to draw out emerging issues, areas of possible focus and key strengths and weaknesses. This will give you a strong base for a detailed and informed discussion at the workshop itself.

We invited 40 members of staff and board members and eight partners to complete the Health Check and gave them three weeks to enter their Health Check scores. The Health Check was completed alongside developing our Theory of Change and we’ll use both to revise our strategy and develop an improvement plan.Lucy Brealey, Learning and Accountability Officer, Anti-Slavery International

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How should I analyse the results?

Our approach to segmenting the results involved looking at why particular groups were responding in specific ways.Ian Hanham, Director of Corporate Resources, EveryChild






Once you have the results, you will need to investigate the scores thoroughly and take stock of the findings. Benchmarking your results against other similar organisations might help you to prioritise the areas you want to improve.

A workshop to analyse and interpret the results is a vital part of the process as what emerges from these discussions should be an accurate picture of current practice in your organisation.

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1

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Average scores per pillar

Identity and integrity

Leadership and strategy

PartnersInternal

communications

BeneficiariesMonitoring

ProgrammesExternal relations

PeopleMoney

Influencing

Once all your data has been collected and entered into the Health Check, the results page displays a spider diagram with the aggregate results for your organisation for each of the pillars you have completed. The scores are an averageofallsurveyresponses.Asecond-levelspider diagram displays the aggregate results forthebuildingblockswithineachpillar.Again,each second-level spider diagram presents the average of all responses. You can either print theresultspageordownloaditasaPDFfile.

CSV fileOn the results page you can also download a CSVfilecontainingrespondent’sdataforeachof the pillars, including their individual comments.Respondentusernamesarehiddensothatdataisanonymous.AstheHealth Check coordinator, you can contact us to a receive a more detailed file to help you disaggregate the data. Email: [email protected]

Forexample,ifyouwanttoknowhowresponses for Leadership and strategy (pillar 2) varied according to whether a respondent was on the senior management team or not, the data in the CSV file allows you to do this segmentation.

Res

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Key

Organisation score

Benchmark score

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Ifyouareinterestedinseeinghowyourorganisation is doing against other organisations there is the option to use the HealthCheckbenchmarkingfilters.Resultscan be filtered by:

• organisationsize

• themesofwork

• countriesofwork

• approachtoprogrammes

• approachtotheassessment

Using the benchmarking filters will give you a unique opportunity to get a picture of where your organisation sits in relation to the average score among a group of peer organisations. Some organisations have found it useful to use the benchmarking to galvanise staff interest in the process. Some have found that the benchmarking can help prioritise the areas to improve, while others havedecidednottouseitatall.TREEAID,for example, felt that emphasising the benchmarkingcouldskewpeople’sresponses and discourage them from honestly reflecting on current practice. You will need to decide how best to use the benchmarking within your organisation.

Interpreting the resultsOrganisations complete the assessment in different ways and while we have emphasised the need to be robust when evidencing your scores, Bond has no control over the accuracy of the scores that are inputted to produce the benchmark score. Similarly, while we have tried to be as specific as possible in defining what best practice for each level looks like, there will always be differencesininterpretation.Itisimportanttoview the benchmarking as providing an indicative picture of current trends. Interpretingtheresultsismoreofanartthana science.

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Segmentation of respondent groups really added something. We could identify where there was a difference in understanding.Richard Ponsford, Effective Programmes Officer, EveryChild

EveryChildAnalysing your results and developing an improvement plan

We used an in-depth approach. We circulated the survey to team members and some teams completed the scoring as a group exercise. When it came to analysing the results, we held a workshop to moderate scores and propose priority action areas. The management team then met to review the proposals and allocate responsibilities.Wedidn’tfocusonlowscoresversus high scores; instead we concentrated on where we were and where we needed to be in order to deliver our plans.

We used a traffic light approach - if we were close to achieving an area of improvement it was labelled green, if we were moving in the right direction and had a plan it was amber, andforallothersitwasred.Reddidn'talwaysmean an area needed urgent work as for some we expected to score low. Segmenting the results by respondent group was extremely useful and probably the most insightful part of the exercise.

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International Childcare TrustInvolving an external facilitator in your results workshop

The advantage of working with an external facilitator who has worked on assessing organisational effectiveness is their impartiality.Withinmostorganisation’stherewillbedifferencesofopinion.Anexternal facilitator will have worked with diverse organisations and have a broader knowledge of the sector and so can help to break down power dynamics and facilitate conversation to ensure that differentvoicesareheard.Fromapracticalpointofview,itwasourexternalfacilitator’sidea to show the visual matrix of how we scored, which helped us to decide how we would focus our time and energy.

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udyPreparing for a results workshop

Before the results workshop, make sure that those taking part have a chance to see the pictureoftheorganisationthat’semerging. You can print out and enlarge the spider diagramsorsendthemasPDFs.Attheworkshop you will want to take stock of the emerging picture and check that it accurately represents current practice within your organisation.

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Key considerations

Do the results provide you with a full enough pictureofthehealthofyourorganisation? Aretherefollowupquestionsyoucoulddiscuss at the results workshop that will provide you with more insights and a way of validating responses or are there more people you could interview to provide a fuller understandingofapillar?

How will you ensure that all groups involved in the Health Check are involved in the discussion ofresults?

How did the results differ amongst the different groupsinvolvedandwhatdoesthistellyou?People tend to be more critical of the areas they have the most involvement with.

Was there anything that came out of the results thatsurprisedyou?Didyouexpecttoscorehigherinspecificareas?

What does the overall distribution of levels look like?Iftherearelotsofhighandlowlevelsyoumayneedtodiscusswhythismightbe.Areyoudeliberately prioritising your development in someareasattheexpenseofothers?

Aretherepatternswherethesametypeofbuildingblockisatasimilarlevel?Forexample,levels may be consistently low in the strategic dimension of a number of pillars (ie, developing strategy in pillar 2, planning and fundraising in pillar 7, communications strategy in pillar 8, strategy in pillar 11)

Where you reached levels 4 and 5, what helped yougetthere?Canyourepeatthisforotherpillars?

What are the key things holding the organisation back from achieving the higher levels?

Which areas do you think need to be tackled as apriority?

When could you repeat the Health Check to seeifprogresshasbeenmade?

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How do I develop an improvement plan?

Our Health Check results have provided very useful intelligence, highlighting priority areas in our systems and practice where more focus is needed. Michael O'Donnell, Head of Programme Support and Impact, Plan UK






There are two phases to developing an improvement plan: prioritising capacity building needs, and planning the strategic approach.

After you have decided what to focus on, you should write a development plan detailing how you are going to make the improvements. This could also be used to form part of an organisational strategy or business plan, or added into country or departmental workplans.

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• avoidover-committingtheorganisationby tackling too many capacity needs at the same time

• considerotherchangeprocessesthatare happening in the organisation and the potential for synergy

2. Planning the strategic approach

Once you have decided which areas to focus on, discuss and agree practical and realistic stepstoaddresstheissues.Ideascouldbegenerated and analysed in a workshop, which could also include discussion of possible consequences of the interventions and any likely risks.

When examining options for the interventions, you should consider those which you can do yourselves, those which you can do with other organisations and those where you may wish to bring in additional, external help. Bring in external help only where it will add value.

Writing the planThe development plan can be a standalone document or form part of an overall organisational strategy or operational or businessplans.Itcanalsobefedintocountry or departmental work plans.

The plan should include:

• foreachbuildingblockaddressedintheplan, include the current average score andthe‘goalscore’anddescriptiontoremind you what you are aiming for

• abriefdescriptionoftheproposedcapacity building intervention or activity and details of how you will carry it out

• timescales

• additionalresourcerequirements(finances, tools, specialists)

• whoisresponsiblefordelivering the activity

• howprogresswillbemonitored,when,and by whom

• aspaceforcomments,forexample,noting when an activity has been completed or delayed






Imp

rove

men

t p

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The Health Check process provided a way to arrange the discussion around formally improving the organisation and enabled all staff to participate. Philip Goodwin, Chief Executive, TREE AID

There are two phases1. Prioritising capacity building needs

The final spider diagram shows the areas where your organisation may need to build its capacity. Your next step will be to prioritise which areas to focus on. This should be done through participatory discussion, taking into account a number of factors including the need to:

• strengthentheareascriticaltothesuccess of the organisation

• addressseriouscapacitydeficits

• considerwhereacapacitydeficitcreatesa problem in meeting important internal and external stakeholder requirements

• considerwhereimprovementstoindividual building blocks would have positive effects on a number of other related building blocks

• considerwhereimprovementincapacitycould be achieved quickly or relatively easily to give confidence to those involved and send a signal to others in the organisation that change is attainable and the assessment process can lead to tangible benefits

• considertheresourceimplicationsofmaking any required changes

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What are the online resources?

For each pillar there are a range of online resources including: •Practicalhandbookswithcasestudies

•Step-by-stephow-toguides

•Bestpracticestandardsandprinciples

•Diagnostictoolsthathelpidentify organisational strengths and gaps in capacity and performance

•Organisationalperformanceandimpactmeasurement frameworks

•LinkstorelevantBondtraining

The tool is timely and it coincided well with our our existing strategic planning cycle. Other staff could definitely see the usefulness and value of the tool.Mark Ireland, Programmes Director, Self Help Africa






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