Success Stories:   Executive Workshop

Business Objective

To provide a high level overview of the competencies required by senior public health executives to lead initiatives that support the implementation of new technologies and software to meet the challenges facing public health.

Background

The tragic events of September 11, 2001 and the focus on homeland security have created an increased awareness of the need for a coordinated effort among health care and public health professionals to easily communicate and share knowledge. Bringing timely health information to professionals for the purpose of better prevention, treatment and cure of diseases is key to advancing the work of health professionals in this century.

Knowledge Design Group Methodology

Knowledge Design Group believes that a successful workshop is developed through the use of a structured instructional design methodology. The ADDIE model was used for this project as described below.

Analysis

Knowledge Design Group designed a six-step process to understand the requirements for this workshop:

 
 
1. 
 A visioning meeting with the project champions and stakeholders to clarify their vision, goals, and objectives for this training intervention.
2. 
 A review of the audience survey findings.
3. 
 A review of the draft curriculum developed by the stakeholder advisory group.
4. 
 A review of the findings from focus groups.
5. 
 Structured interviews of subject matter experts.
6. 
 A review of relevant research and publications.

These critical success factors were identified as a result of the Analysis phase:

 
 
  		• Set the stage by providing compelling information that defines future requirements and identifies strategies for creating, planning and implementing technologies that the executives need today and in the future.
  		• Develop learning outcomes that map to the competencies required by the audience to achieve the goals of the workshop.
  		• Provide information in the context of the audience's experience.
  		• Demonstrate a high level of sponsorship.
  		• Provide meaningful solutions that will serve as performance and support decision tools after the workshop.
  		• Engage the audience through interactive group activities that encourage collaboration, teamwork, capture best practices and provide opportunities to apply the principles being taught.

    Design

    Based on the outcome of our analysis a design plan was developed to accomplish the following goals:

     
     
  		• Determine the color scheme and graphical elements to be used for presentation slides and participant materials.
  		• Map learning outcomes to topics and activities.
  		• Identify the appropriate delivery modalities.
  		• Sequence topics and activities to the appropriate modules.
  		• Identify the criteria to measure the effectiveness of the workshop.

    Development

    The workshop was developed in four modules. Each module was highly interactive with activities that were designed to reinforce key concepts and develop collaboration that allowed colleagues to have meaningful discussions and discovery regarding the topics. In addition, best practices were utilized to reinforce key concepts.

    Since each module was delivered by a subject-matter expert who acted as a facilitator, a leaders guide was developed that mapped the slide presentation to the participants guide and provided detailed facilitators notes to guide the learning process.

    A participant guide was created with documentation and activities for each module. In addition, decision support tools were developed and provided in this guide.

    Implementation

    To prepare the facilitators, practice sessions were conducted with each facilitator one week prior to the workshop and a dress rehearsal was conducted with all four facilitators the evening before the workshop.

    To set the stage for the participants, a feature sheet that detailed the topics and benefits of the workshop was distributed by email to all participants prior to the workshop.

    Key sponsors and stakeholders for this training provided brief presentations at the beginning of the program.

    The workshop environment was designed to encourage collaboration. Approximately six participants were randomly grouped at round tables. Stakeholders facilitated discussions at each table. Feedback from the activities was collected and posted on large sheets on boards at the front of the conference room.

    Evaluation

    A three-tier evaluation process was designed to capture feedback from the participants, the sponsors and the workshop developers.

    The participant feedback was gathered on paper surveys completed at the end of the workshop. Participants were asked to rate their level of satisfaction on the pace of content delivery and quality of instruction. Participants were also asked to rate the level of learning that occurred in each module.

    Immediately following the workshop, the workshop developers conducted a feedback session to collect the observations of the sponsors in regard to the workshop. Since this workshop would provide the basis for other future workshops, it was critical to gather as much input as possible in a very timely fashion. Knowledge Design Group prepared the final phase of the evaluation. In this phase the entire workshop development cycle was reviewed and rated based on industry best practices.