Approaches to Environmental Scanning

Approaches to Environmental Scanning

Program Overview

Understanding historical and industry context when planning programs or projects is imperative to completion, success and sustainability. Groups get confused and stuck when unreliable data is presented to them and ineffective or biased approaches are used to facilitate change. When the terrain for change is misaligned with the needs of a community or organization, success is not an option.

Participants will Learn to:

• Facilitate a Group Research Project: Gather pertinent information for effective decision making by making research engaging and meaningful to maximize group contribution and commitment.
• Ask Quality Research Questions: Who is in the room? What is the historical context and importance of this work? Where are we going? What are the factors of success and failure? What are emerging trends? How can we respond?
• Implement Context Specific Tools: Learn ten unique ways to conduct group assessments and research through hands-on practices by pairing the best approach with the specific challenge being faced.
• Improve Group Functionality: Increase productivity, team effectiveness and partnerships and collaborations by understanding the historical connections, challenges and successes of various initiatives and programs.
• Visualize & Tell a Group’s Story: Document organizational history and anticipate future trends by quickly studying industry materials and reports to establish a foundation of knowledge to use in preparing an individual or group plan.