Why the “First Step” is a Needs Assessment

A "First Step" at the Great Wall of China (in 2005)

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In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., AJC submits that often a credible “First Step” is a Needs Assessment, which is how we begin many new client engagements.

Clients often ask what they will get out of a Needs Assessment, what exactly it is, and why do they need a Needs Assessment in the first place? 

To summarize what a client gets out of an AJC Needs Assessment, it provides the following deliverables:

1.       An articulated, documented, and prioritized “Laundry List” of improvement opportunities (“Issue Categories”) based on direct input from team members and leaders; objectively assessed for practicality and legitimacy

2.       (if survey scoring used): Numerical assignments for issue categories to aid in prioritization and comparison

3.       High-level implementation plans for improvement of the most important items on the list; aka the “Define” portion of a DMAIC project done, or initial “scoping” phase for other projects

The last two things a Needs Assessment provides are not true “deliverables” in the tangible sense of the word, but are instrumental in starting a new client engagement off on the right foot and establishing a positive foundation for continued work together.  These are:

1.       Rapport and trust built with client team members and consultant (team) as a foundation for continued work

2.       Quick immersion for an “outsider” to become an objective “insider” with respect to corporate needs and culture, helping provide appropriate and credible recommendations to improve the client’s actual situation

Each of these items provides different nuances of immediate and long term value to the client and overall success of the consulting engagement.  With these ends in mind, below is a description of what exactly an AJC Needs Assessment is, followed by a conclusion about why it is often “needed.”

At AJC, our Needs Assessments begin with a brief Kick-Off meeting with all the stakeholders.  We hold this introduction so everyone can meet face-to-face to discuss the goals and logistics of the Needs Assessment.  After reading the book “Your Brain at Work” by David Rock, one take-away (page 122) was that it is easier to work with people face-to-face; there is less uncertainty and a clearer mental map of what to expect.  It is extremely important to be introduced face-to-face in a proactive and transparent manner, and I strongly believe that it helps relieve many anxieties about hiring a “Consultant,” which often carries mixed connotation baggage.

Next is the “Data Collection” phase, which consists individual or focus group interviews with client team members; all the people working in or around the area being considered for improvement.  Though the number of questions are few, each interview typically lasts ~65 minutes on average.   We discuss what the team members do, frequency and durations for specific tasks/processes/activities, their pain points and ideas for improvement opportunities, and whether there are any areas of the business that they feel are unclear, and how that affects their work. 

As a side note, it is often helpful for the consultant to come into the Data Collection phase relatively “blind” to what is going on at the company; this ensures there are no pre-conceived notions, biases, or expectations about the information gathered.  AJC consultants are professionals, and we can still conduct an objective Needs Assessment for a company or group with which we have previous experience, but it is definitely ideal to come in cold.  This is why we recommend a Needs Assessment as part of our first engagement; the relationship will never be so new as in the beginning!

After all the data is collected, we aggregate the results, categorize them, and paraphrase all issues seen.  Individual comments are kept anonymous, but if there are enough interviewees, we provide an indication of the breadth and depth of each category (i.e. how many people commented on that category, and how frequently were unique statements about that category made).  This helps us with prioritization of the issue categories – items that are commented about frequently and by most people tend to be the heavy hitters.

At this point, AJC provides a Midstream Report in which the issue categories are documented with paraphrased descriptions in a first pass prioritization order.  This report is shared with the Leadership Team (as defined by the client), and we again meet face-to-face to discuss it.  This interim step has been added over our experience of conducting Needs Assessments (our own “Continuous Improvement!”) because we found that often the Consultant’s ideas about what is most important does not fully align with leadership.  There may be nuances about the business of which the consultant is not aware, and that were not brought up in conversations to date.  Also, Leadership may need certain areas to be considered first for strategic reasons, and the Consultant can often help describe the rationale for these priorities in our Final Report in a way that makes sense to the entire team. 

Once the Leadership team is aligned with the initial findings on basic priority, AJC submits the categories back out to the interviewees as a survey (optional, but recommended).  The survey is phrased for interviewees to assign prioritization weights to each issue category as it “What impact would resolution of these issue categories likely have on (Business Name) as a company?”  The question is phrased in this way to encourage respondents to think about the bigger picture and not just on their own personal pain points.  The survey also serves as validation to the interviewees that their comments were indeed head.

The Needs Assessment’s ultimate deliverable is then a Final Report which presents a prioritized list of Issue Categories based on results of data collection, discussions with leadership, and survey results.  It goes on to provide high-level Implementation Plans for resolving/improving the top 2-4 issues facing the company complete with action steps, estimated durations, and suggested accountability.  When possible, recommendations are also made for all issues presented in the Final Report, including references to other service providers if the issue itself is not part of AJC’s wheelhouse.  For example, issues around team building, HR, or sales training; AJC will recommend other resources who deal specifically with these needs.

As with the Midstream Report, the Final Report is presented in a face-to-face meeting with the Leadership team (and highly encouraged to be sent to all team members; optional “scrubbed” report available upon request).  At this meeting, we discuss the ultimate results, answer questions about the Implementation Plans, and prepare for Next Steps.  The Final Report Out  Meeting represents the “Define” step of a DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Implement, Control), or the “scoping” phase of other improvement projects.  Hopefully those Next Steps involve continuing with AJC in some way, but if not – the company now has an articulated and prioritized list of what to work on, and specific plans for how to improve the most important issue for them.

If the client would like to continue with AJC, there are three typical paths which can be followed:

First, AJC can be heavily involved in completing improvement work: there may be process mapping or kaizen sessions to facilitate, specific data to be collected and analyzed, processes to be designed or updated, or procedures to be documented or revised.  AJC can perform much of the heavy-lifting work associated with these activities, and often this is very helpful to busy clients who really want to realize the benefits of their Improvement Plans, but simply do not have the resources to dedicate toward time-consuming enabling work. 

Second, AJC can be moderately involved as an Advisor and Project Manager for improvement work; providing a certain amount of support and effort toward ultimate deliverables each week, but with the detailed completion of more time-consuming tasks often associated with documentation or data analysis/presentation allocated to client resources.  This is often the elected choice of budget-constrained clients. 

Third, AJC provides an “Accountability Model” to clients.  In this model, AJC provides light involvement, often in the form of in-person presence for weekly team meetings, then as an advisor or reviewer for work deliverables, but not independently creating any ultimate deliverables.  This option is recommended only when the client team has a specific person dedicated as a Project Manager as well as an execution team available since at this level, AJC is unable to provide the time needed to ensure minor roadblocks are overcome, or provide assistance in completing certain troublesome or “boring” documentation work.

In conclusion, why does any given company “need” a Needs Assessment in the first place?  The three main reasons are:

1.       Objectively “Define” or “Scope” prioritized improvements, with documented plans to realize results

2.       Build rapport, credibility, and trust in a short amount of time with an external resource that can catalyze or jump-start improvement work

3.       It represents taking the first step.  In the memorial words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:  “You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

If you sign up for our newsletter by February 10, we will send you a free copy of AJC’s Prioritization Matrix Template referenced in our last blog post on Strategic Planning!