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Question:
Read the case study and determine what action you think would be most appropriate for the leader to take at the first place in this situation.
You serve as the Project Manager in your department and have been assigned responsibility to design and implement a new initiative. You have hired a Project team that is eager to
begin work with you in developing and implementing the new initiative. You have scheduled a planning meeting with your team. Please select the most appropriate action point for your first meeting *

(1 Point)




Present & discuss an overview of the design process


Direct team in designing and implementing the new project.


Closely monitor progress in implementing the initiative


Gauge performance of team member
Answer:

Hi Neeraj,
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor, we're so pleased you came to us for advice about how to design and implement a new initiative, how to lead the design and implementation team, how to monitor and evaluate the initiative's progress, and how to evaluate team members.  In community work these are very important issues to consider and can present challenges to even the most seasoned community development veteran.  Before we get started working though each issue I want to make sure you understand the role of a CTB advisor: it is job of the advisor to suggest the best resources the CTB has to offer, to point you in the right direction so to speak, and then leave it up to you to determine which resource (s) will serve you best in what you want to do. I hope that's very clear.  Okay, let's get started.  I think it best that we take each issue one at a time and figure out which CTB resources serve that issue best. Oh, a couple of quick side-notes, first the terms initiative and intervention mean the same thing so are used interchangeably throughout the CTB, and second, the two major types of resources are chapters for reading (with multiple sections) and toolkits (with examples) which, if you don't have time are the best bet for learning how to tackle any issue more efficiently.  You still need to read and study, but the toolkits are more hands-on oriented.
 
Designing and implementing a new initiative
Chapter 18 - Deciding Where to Start: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/developing-intervention (sections 1 and 2 in particular)
Chapter 19 - Choosing and Adapting Community Interventions: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/analyze/choose-and-adapt-communi... (sections 1 - 6).  Note: read this chapter if you're not developing your own intervention or initiative, but want to choose from a range of interventions or initiatives that already exist and have proven to be effective.
Toolkit 3 - Analyzing Problems and Goals: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/analyzing-problems-and-goals (all plus examples)
Toolkit 7 - Developing an Intervention: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/developing-intervention (all plus examples)
Toolkit 5 - Developing Strategic and Action Plans: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/developing-strategic-and-action-plans (this will inform how to implement the initiative so read all of it plus the examples)
 
Leading the design and implementation team
Chapter 13 - Orienting Ideas in Leadership: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/leadership-ideas (sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 11)
Chapter 14 - Core Functions in Leadership: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/leadership-functions (sections 1 - 10)
Chapter 15 - Becoming an Effective Manager: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/effective-manager (sections 1, 2, 3, 4)
Toolkit 6 - Building Leadership: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/building-leadership (all, plus the examples)
Suggested, Chapter 16 - Group Facilitation and Problem-Solving: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/group-facilitation (sections 1 and 2)
 
Monitoring and evaluating the initiative's progress
Chapter 36 - Introduction to Evaluation: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluation (all sections)
Toolkit 12 - Evaluating the Initiative: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/evaluating-initiative (all plus examples)
Chapter 37 - Operations in Evaluating Community Interventions: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluate-community-inte... (sections 1 - 5)
Chapter 38 - Some Methods for Evaluating Comprehensive Community Initiatives: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluate-community-init... (sections 1 and 2 in particular, the remaining sections for your edification)
 
Evaluating team members
Chapter 13 - Orienting Ideas in Leadership, Section 4: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/leadership-ideas/team... (checklist and PowerPoint)
Chapter 15 - Becoming an Effective Manager, Section 2: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/effective-manager/sta... (main section, checklist, tools -an evaluation form, and PowerPoint)
 
Well, Neeraj, I've thrown a lot of resources at you, but I think that by looking through each one offered you will find exactly what you're looking for, if not, please stop by the CTB and Ask an Advisor and we'll keep working at it until we get it right!  Again, the role of the advisor is to tease out resources from the CTB that point you in the right direction, hopefully I've provided you with all the resources you need for each of the issues you presented.  With that I thank you for bringing these four issues to our attention and we wish you the very best of success in all that you do on behalf of your community.
 
Ask an Advisor 

Question Date: Wed, 07/08/2020