Every now and then it is necessary to take a step back and assess the current state of your organization. Organizational assessments are key to ensuring that your organization and its programs are on track to fulfill their mission in the most efficient way possible. The United States Hispanic of Chamber (USHCC) Foundation put together a list to help ensure that you can effectively take a look at your organization and ensure it’s on track to accomplish its goals and mission.
1. Focus on Connecting the Means and Ends
People in general tend to focus on means. Means are important, but don’t forget to connect means to ends. This will help create a deeper understanding of the connections between the two and help ensure that your organization doesn’t culturally lose sight of what you are trying to accomplish.
2. Connecting individual goals, objectives and performance to organizational effectiveness.
Connecting individual goals, objectives and performance to organizational efficiency is a key aspect of organizational evaluation. Making the connection for individuals within the organization between how their work in regard to goals, objectives, responsibilities, functions, and tasks connects to (and impacts) the organization’s performance is critical to successful organizational assessment. It also serves as a powerful motivator for these individuals. If done correctly, most individuals have a higher morale, have a renewed sense and value for their work, enhance their teamwork, and typically change the way they look at their work.
3. Become a Learning Organization
When evaluating your organization a simple organizational assessment score is often a fruitless and meaningless exercise similar to that of students being concerned more about their grades than about learning. Focus more on learning what you can be doing better and try to shift your organization from single loop learning to double loop learning.
“Single loop and double loop learning can be readily understood through the analogy of a household thermostat. Single-loop learning is about achieving a given temperature — like a thermostat set to 68 degrees that turns up the heat whenever the temperature drops below 68 (the objective). Double-loop learning involves changing the setting on the thermostat (i.e., changing the objective of the system). Double-loop learning calls for changing the objective itself. Double-loop learning is not only about changing the objective, but involves questioning the assumptions about that objective, the ways of discovering and inventing new alternatives, objectives, and perceptions, as well as ways of approaching problems” (Cartwright, 2002).
Double loop learning can often times lead to a more fluid learning environment and can shift the perception of your workers to that of a more productive work environment.
4. Continue to Build Your Evaluation Capacity
Being able to evaluate your organizations and its programs is one of the most powerful tools when assessing your organization’s work towards its mission. To be able to properly evaluate your organization and its programs, start building a framework of financial and technical resources. Generally, organizations are expected to evaluate their programs for external stakeholders without either of the aforementioned resources. This leads to a sub-par evaluation. By proactively building these resources, organizations will be able to more thoroughly evaluate their programs for themselves and external stakeholders.
Learn More at the Chamber Training Institute in Las Vegas, July 31-August 1!
To learn more about organizational and program evaluation, register for our Chamber Training Institute (CTI) in Las Vegas, July 31-August 1. This upcoming CTI will focus on “Mission Success Through Program Evaluation” and will expand on the points discussed in this article, as well as other methods and strategies for organizations to properly evaluate themselves and their programs to best ensure they are working to accomplish their mission! Register Here!
About the USHCC Foundation:
For more than three decades, the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) Foundation has been educating and empowering the next generation of Hispanic business leaders and entrepreneurs. We do this through a variety of programs and scholarships that support business growth, encourage entrepreneurship, and influence our chambers to better serve their local communities. Each year, these programs equip thousands of new entrepreneurs and established business owners with the financial and technical resources, communications networks, and business trainings they need to succeed.
