Tag: NeedsAnalysis

Performance Consulting

Consulting Skills for Educational Technologists (ETEC 673), Winter 2022

This project was my course work in Consulting Skills for Educational Technologists class in winter 2022. In this course project, I have produced:

Airflow Airways Performance Consulting

  • Cause Analysis
  • Stakeholder Presentation
  • Executive Summary
Brief Introduction of the Project
  • Subject: Performance issues of the cleaning crews at Airflow Airways
  • Client: Joe Wright, the Training Department Manager
  • Background: Airflow Airways is experiencing increased flight delays and customer complaints caused by cleaning crews
  • The Request: Developing a performance improvement campaign

Summary of Cause Analysis

  • According to the interview with Joe Wright, the cleaning crews at the Airflow Airways cause 3% increase in flight delays.
  • Cause analysis identified the bottlenecks in the work process within the department.
  • Lack of feedback prevented cleaning crews from improving their performance, and increased tasks without incentives demotivated them.
  • Managers and supervisors lack the skills and knowledge on giving performance reviews.
  • There was no adequate recognition/incentive for the role of Crew Leaders which is crucial in the work process.
Opening of the presentation

Examples of Analysis

My reflection on the project

Working on this case study provided me with practical experience because we were given some realistic data. The simulation process also consisted of some key stages for us to practice. Starting with the client interview, we gathered information to understand the case and formulate further questions. Responses from the client (performed by the instructor) were also similar to the experience that I had with some of my clients – not always available, not always giving clear answers to the request. Working on the cause analysis as a team was an excellent peer learning experience. We all had different strengths and we were able to help each other to complete the tasks. Finally, having former students who took this class before us and currently working in the performance consulting field as our acting stakeholders also provided the class with the taste of real presentation experience.

The most interesting work on the project for me was the gap analysis using Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model. It taught me to look at every performance issue in the 360 degrees, without jumping to solutions immediately. I learned to look for the root causes instead of reacting to symptoms, while remaining solution agnostic. There are many models like BEM to help us find these root causes, however, without understanding the business goals first, it will be difficult to provide solutions that could improve the performance. Therefore, as many models suggest, we need to look at not only the workers and their work but also the organizational and societal goals and benefits. Understanding the several levels of goals involving individual performance, broadened my eyes to realize we can only treat issues successfully when we look at them with the environment instead of examining them in isolation. Working on this analysis was a great practice of systems thinking.

Finally, I learn to treat cases with the human in mind. Oftentimes, I thought consultants are experts that find solutions for given mandates. However, I learned that it is more successful when we partner with the client in analyzing the case and finding solutions. Secondly, while working on restructuring Airflow Airways, my workplace hired an external consultant who brought up a restructuring solution for the organization. I could have first-hand experience of what the employees go through when such change happens. This is why my ‘planner’ position is transferred to become a ‘supervisor’ instead of crossed out in my suggested solutions. It is important to find a solution that maximizes the benefit of the organization, however, ignoring the motivation and emotion of workers in the process could in fact cause losing the core employees. Therefore, I learned that it is crucial to find solutions that consider the pushback from the affected employees.

Key takeaways from this course:

  • Appreciative Inquiry – asking the right questions!
  • Reinvention – be aware of the Titanic Syndrome!
  • Storytelling – the power of storytelling!
  • Human-centered – the center of performance is a human!

Performance Improvement Campaign

Human Performance Technology (ETEC 651), Winter 2021

This project was my course work in Human Performance Technology class in winter 2021. In this course project, I have produced:

Toward the Culture of Reading Together Campaign

  • Performance Needs Analysis (PNA)
  • High Level Design (HLD)
  • Detailed Design (DD)
Brief Introduction of the Project
  • Subject: Performance at OSSLT (Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test)
  • Sponsor: A school literacy lead at a high school in rural Ontario
  • Background: All grade 10 high school students in Ontario must pass OSSLT to graduate high school. The current supporting program at the target school is not effective.
  • The Request: Developing a performance improvement campaign

Summary of PNA

  • According to the interview with the literacy lead, the area that teachers struggle the most is motivating students.
  • Cause analysis and the related studies show the most effective way to motivate students pursue academic success is by nurturing a healthy relationship between the students and teachers.
  • Many of the recent studies show the close correlation between academic success and culture of pleasure reading in students.
Read Full PNADownload

Summary of HLD

The Road Map of High Level Design
Read Full HLDDownload

Summary of DD

Read Full DDDownload

My reflection on the project

Working on the Performance Improvement Campaign has been an exciting journey. As it was the second time writing a Need Analysis after the Fundamentals of Instructional Design class in the previous year, I gained much more confidence in producing one. I struggled much with my first Need Analysis last year because I was not familiar to academic writings. Thanks to the past year of reading extensive amount of academic reading in learning theory, I find myself more comfortable and enjoying writing one now. Moreover, I find working on a PNA much more exciting than merely focusing on instructional interventions.

The most interesting part of this project was working on the cause analysis using many different matrix. Because it was helpful for the work, but also, I could immediately apply to my performance in everyday living. Using these matrix in small life problems around me, I experienced my view on problems changed. I realized that we fail to notice many important causes to a problem by jumping to finding solutions in haste. This exercise taught me to look at a problem in a various angles thoroughly and broadly before prescribing a solution.

One of the challenges I had was producing the Detailed Design. Since this project was a course project which is not a real world problem, however, everything had to be designed in detailed steps focusing on the performer’s environment, I found it lacking the reality in my design. Having more feedback from the performers’ perspective would have helped.