The intent of this session is to give the team some practice in using "tools" for analyzing their partnership's internal environment. This unit continues and deepens the focus of the day on the internal environment of the partnership. The analysis generated in this unit is intended to yield an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the partnership so that its ATOD abuse planning efforts can build on the former and strengthen the latter.
Planning efforts that do not take into account the specific and concrete strengths and needs of the partnership itself may be thwarted or stalled. This session encourages teams to begin or continue a planning process built on the partnership's strengths.
In previous sessions, participants learned about planning in general and about some tools they might use for internal analysis. This session encourages them to consider specifically how their partnership might take stock of itself and how this analysis fits with their vision of an effective partnership. The strengths and needs of the partnership identified in this session should be tied to the sessions on analyzing the external environment, overall planning, and developing the teams' reentry plans.
During this unit, teams are divided into 2 subgroups for the learning exercise. The 2 groups must be somewhat isolated from each other in order to work on that exercise properly. This can be accomplished in several ways, depending on the space available. Ideally, one subgroup would work in the team room, and the other would work in a separate breakout room. However, one subgroup can work in any viable area away from the other subgroup, such as a lobby area or a participant's room. The sociogram exercise could be done satisfactorily with 2 subgroups in each team room, provided that the subgroups were from different teams and could work without distracting one another. Each subgroup needs clear wall space in its breakout area for posting several sheets of newsprint side by side.
The exercises will proceed most smoothly if the breakout arrangement is carefully worked out prior to delivery.
The trainers should compile the pretraining inventories (completed by the partnerships before the training) before beginning to deliver this unit-a task that could take an hour or so. The results should be written on the laminated chart (Summary of Preinventory Training Resources). If the inventory is also to be completed by team members at the training site, it should be distributed at registration. Participants should be instructed to complete and return it in sufficient time to permit responses to be compiled and summarized.
The generic processing questions in the Introduction to this manual for use in team meetings should also be addressed during the team discussion at the end of this unit, if the team has not yet addressed them. Be sure to refer participants to other tools not used in this unit.
Trainers may wish to consult the following book:
Bryson, J.W. (1988). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
A. Briefly provide the team with some context for this unit and the next in terms of the planning framework.
Content Points
B. The emphasis in this day of the Institute has not been on traditional "program planning," i.e., goals or objectives, but rather on some of the important preconditions for effective planning.
C. Refer to the statement of purpose and learning objectives for the unit and to the planning framework. This unit explicitly addresses the phase of planning called "assessing the partnership's internal environment."
D. Effective prevention planning depends on a careful analysis of all the environments of the partnership.
E. These environments are inside and outside the partnership. This unit uses the following definitions:
The internal environment is primarily composed of the organizational members of the partnership itself. It does not include potential members, the communities of which the partnership is part, or others external to the partnership.
The external environment consists of all those organizations, forces, and persons outside of the partnership.
Clearly, by these definitions, the many environments of the partnership change over time. Therefore, the partnerships would benefit from periodically analyzing these environments to ensure that their planning properly takes into account such changes.
F. As was shown in the concurrent workshops earlier in the day, the internal environment can be analyzed using many tools. The focus in this unit will be on giving each team an opportunity to practice using 2 tools of internal analysis: the pretraining inventory and a drawing or picture (sociogram) to represent key features of the partnership.
G. Partnerships may find these kinds of tools helpful in analyzing their internal environments back home.
H. Note that this unit relies on only 2 of many possible tools. Other tools or techniques can be used, some of which were covered in the concurrent workshops.
A. Break the team into 2 small groups of 2 to 7 persons each (HO-1: Pretraining Inventory, blank).
Trainer Note: These exercises can be done with the whole team, but far more learning comes from the varying perceptions of subgroups. In some cases, 3 small groups may be more useful, depending on the size and dynamics of the team.
B. Display the Summary of Pretraining Responses. HO-1 is a blank copy of the inventory found in the Participant Manual.
C. Tell each subgroup that shortly they will:
Spend a few minutes digesting the range of responses, comparing the response with their own perceptions, and discussing any patterns they see.
Trainer Note: The range of responses is most important to this exercise because it shows how the responses are different. The average, on the other hand, shows the degree to which the responses are similar.
On the basis of this summary, discuss what they think are strengths and needs of their partnership.
List the identified strengths and needs on newsprint.
Select a reporter to tell the other subgroup the result of the analysis.
D. Send one subgroup to a separate breakout area, and tell both subgroups to begin.
B. Give each group 5 minutes to report its findings.
C. Ask the whole team to discuss the strengths and needs of the partnership, noting points of agreement and disagreement and how these might sharpen and deepen the analysis.
D. Focus the discussion on using the reentry planning session on Day 5 to address needs (e.g., training, technical assistance).
A. Drawing a "sociogram," of the team's partnership is another simple, powerful way to illustrate an analysis of the internal environment of the partnership.
B. A sociogram is a picture or graphic representation of selected features of any social entity, concept, or object. It can be used as well for a baseball team as for a coalition of groups, such as a partnership.
C. Once the depiction is done, it can be used to assess current strengths and weaknesses in the internal workings of the partnership.
Directions
D. Break the team into different subgroups of not more than 4 nor less than 2 persons each.
E. Each subgroup will work in a different breakout area.
Trainer Note: This exercise can be done by a whole team of up to 8 or 9 persons, but using a larger group may reduce participation and the richness of the results.
F. Each subgroup is to take 30 minutes to draw, on abutting sheets of newsprint, a sociogram of its partnership, including each member, as the subgroup perceives it.
Trainer Note: While the same technique can be used to depict the external environment of the partnership, it is important to remind the subgroups to focus on the partnership itself, not the community.
G. All subgroups should use the keys in HO-2 so that the whole team can compare and discuss the sociograms in a common "language." However, participants may add other figures with labels to represent additional attributes of members of the partnership (HO-2: Keys for Sociogram).
H. Briefly review the types of leadership in HO-2.
I. Explain that the sociogram is best done in the freewheeling spirit of brainstorming. It does not require any skills in drawing. It should be fun and stimulating, even though it embodies serious content.
J. Tell subgroups to begin work on their sociograms.
A. Lead a discussion of the whole team about the perceived strengths and needs of their partnership that the sociogram exercise revealed. List strengths and needs on newsprint for use by the team in reentry planning on Day 5.
B. Ask the team to spend a few minutes discussing the implications of the analysis for their partnership.
C. Encourage the team to think about how they might get their partnership to engage in a similar process after this training.
Trainer Note: The generic processing questions in the introduction to this manual for use in team meetings should also be addressed at this time, if the team has not yet addressed them. Be sure to refer participant to other tools not used in this unit.
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