Custom Program: Manager Accountability and Communications
Plant Manager Louis Woods, of Magotteaux Manufacturing, hired Shift Management to create customized training to address a specific production issue involving scrap and shift changeovers. In the first half of the training, managers learned first to emotionally regulate themselves and calm their team members to avoid unnecessary resistance. Many reported that they were seeing positive results with their team members by using these techniques. During the second part of the training, participants collaboratively created a system to address one aspect of the scrap/changeover issue that had been plaguing production results. One month following the training they had:
- successfully implemented their system,
- resolved the scrap/change over issue and
- increased production yield.
Better communication between shifts reduced non billable time and frustration.
Managers now know how to find and solve production problems systematically without blaming or making incorrect assumptions.
Program Evaluation Development and Staff Training for Evaluation
Executive Director of the Sinkunia Community Development Organization (SCDO), Issa Kamara secured a grant to hire Shift Management for staff training in program evaluation. After working with Marie Gervais over 18 months using appreciative inquiry methods, staff was able to effectively evaluate three very different programs: Children’s Summer Camp, Food Distribution Project, and Community Garden Project. Each program showed successively increased responsibility over the planning and implementation of the evaluation process from start to finish. From their evaluation experience, SCDO staff developed a working Theory of Change depicting their approach to capacity development in Pan-African community development projects, and highlighting the success of their approach. This resulted in higher funder satisfaction and increased access to new and repeat funding sources.
Staff Skills Developed Through this Process Were:
- Creating an evaluation framework for programs
- Collecting data and storing it for theming and evaluation
- Making in-program adaptations and changes within evaluation process
- Administering tasks and engaging volunteers in data collection processes
- Asking probing questions to use evaluation findings to more objectively keep, stop, and make changes to existing programs