With the challenge and expense of transportation, many organizational leaders are turning to on line skills development. These tools often include helpful scenarios taken from case studies. Scenarios place the participating student in a real situation in order to demonstrate the relevance for what is being taught.
However what I have found in most of these is that they are primarily text offered via the internet. They lack the interactivity that we look forward to experiencing in live sessions.
While preparing the R.A.T.E.S. E-Learning modules, we look for ways to accommodate those who simply love to read and want the information, along with those who have difficulty reading th more technical aspects of organizational development. I have incorporated a format that features information connected to a deeper understanding. This is followed by practical application and then a brief quiz that includes the type of questions found in the actual R.A.T.E.S. exam.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
R.A.T.E.S. Foundation: The Beginning
WHY WE ESTABLISHED THE R.A.T.E.S. DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
I found that even though I understood the mechanics of grant proposal writing, I felt distressed with getting funds to do a project that I really did not want to do. At the same time I felt that people who really wanted to work in a particular area should know how to get the funds and resources needed to be successful. I wanted to develop a program to get financial support for what I felt led to do rather than just do something because money was being offered for it.
I also realized that organizations that tried to stay afloat on their own had a difficult time. But those that were connected with other productive organizations helped each other to sustain. I concluded that in order to launch and sustain a results driven organization, we needed to partner with others. We needed to have other contributors who would know how to tap into their own resources for the good of overall success. We also needed to know how to work together to serve common clients while realizing that each organization is needed in order to see success. In other words we needed to enhance our ability to succeed by working together.
However, most of the organizations did not know how to work with others. Many were not certain about what they offered or what they needed. They still required help with defining themselves so that they could assess and utilize their own resources. We did not have a “user friendly” instrument that could help us to understand ourselves. We also lacked the ability to communicate what our needs and assets in order to service our mutual clients.
R.A.T.E.S. Development proved to be a valuable tool for first getting participants to have a universally understood platform for a standard of assessment, planning and operation. We could be confident that those organizations that understand and operate according to the R.A.T.E.S. principles would at least have a foundation that we could all build upon.
R.A.T.E.S. Development principles compartmentalize non-profit practices into a foundation that can be easily referenced. These foundational practices establish a comprehensive platform for building instruction and measurement tools. As a standard of operations R.A.T.E.S. allows for easy transference of knowledge and organization mentoring. An added benefit of teaching the R.A.T.E.S principles is that we could also communicate our practices according to the language of R.A.T.E.S. to help determine where each participating organization would fit into each other’s efforts. In other words the language of the R.A.T.E.S. platform made collaboration easier to establish and monitor.
I found that even though I understood the mechanics of grant proposal writing, I felt distressed with getting funds to do a project that I really did not want to do. At the same time I felt that people who really wanted to work in a particular area should know how to get the funds and resources needed to be successful. I wanted to develop a program to get financial support for what I felt led to do rather than just do something because money was being offered for it.
I also realized that organizations that tried to stay afloat on their own had a difficult time. But those that were connected with other productive organizations helped each other to sustain. I concluded that in order to launch and sustain a results driven organization, we needed to partner with others. We needed to have other contributors who would know how to tap into their own resources for the good of overall success. We also needed to know how to work together to serve common clients while realizing that each organization is needed in order to see success. In other words we needed to enhance our ability to succeed by working together.
However, most of the organizations did not know how to work with others. Many were not certain about what they offered or what they needed. They still required help with defining themselves so that they could assess and utilize their own resources. We did not have a “user friendly” instrument that could help us to understand ourselves. We also lacked the ability to communicate what our needs and assets in order to service our mutual clients.
R.A.T.E.S. Development proved to be a valuable tool for first getting participants to have a universally understood platform for a standard of assessment, planning and operation. We could be confident that those organizations that understand and operate according to the R.A.T.E.S. principles would at least have a foundation that we could all build upon.
R.A.T.E.S. Development principles compartmentalize non-profit practices into a foundation that can be easily referenced. These foundational practices establish a comprehensive platform for building instruction and measurement tools. As a standard of operations R.A.T.E.S. allows for easy transference of knowledge and organization mentoring. An added benefit of teaching the R.A.T.E.S principles is that we could also communicate our practices according to the language of R.A.T.E.S. to help determine where each participating organization would fit into each other’s efforts. In other words the language of the R.A.T.E.S. platform made collaboration easier to establish and monitor.
R.A.T.E.S. Organizational Development
R.A.T.E.S. Organizational development proved to be a valuable tool for first getting participants to have a universally understood platform for a standard of assessment, planning, capacity building and operation. Those who operate according to the R.A.T.E.S. principles are easier to receive targeted technical assistance which helps them to build and sustain stronger programs.
We could be confident that those organizations that understand and operate according to the R.A.T.E.S. principles would at least have a foundation that we could all build upon. We could also communicate our practices according to the language of R.A.T.E.S. to help determine where each participating organization would fit into each other’s efforts. This greatly supports effective grant proposal writing.
Each R.A.T.E.S. principle is described as follows:
Response-ability is having and demonstrating the ability to give a favorable response to problems and needs. This includes the needs of the client, staff, partners, donors and the organization as a whole. Learning Goal: Learn to develop the fundamental elements for problem and basic needs statements. Participants will first learn a technique to focus upon a specific problem to eliminate. This process is designed to encourage and demonstrate commitment to make a measurable improvement in society. Then the needs statements will be developed with projected solutions for meeting those needs.
Account-ability is having and demonstrating the ability to account for program and fiscal activities along with associated resources. Learning Goal: Learn to develop a basic intake and attendance form to account for a client’s qualification to participate in a program and to prove the level of participation. This lesion will also cover the development of budget summary and elements of a budget narrative to explain expenses.
Technical-ability is having and demonstrating the ability to apply technology in order to maximize productivity. It also includes having the ability to engage the technical communication, practices and policies that govern an area of interest. Learning Goal: Learn how to assess and plan technological support according to needs. This lesson will address basic internet communications and tips for developing a basic client and resource support database.
Evaluation-ability is having and demonstrating the ability to engage an independent and unbiased evaluator who will assess the strengths and challenges of your organization and related projects. The results of the evaluations will help develop strategies for ongoing improvements. The techniques for planning an evaluation will also help strengthen program structure and efficiency Learning Goal: Learn how to plan an evaluation strategy to demonstrate project and organizational outcomes. Learn the basic elements for developing a logic model to demonstrate the elements that will be evaluated.
Sustain-ability is having and demonstrating the ability to continue providing support and development for your organization through diverse and effective resource and revenue development activities. Learning Goal: Learn about types of contributions and partnerships to consider for donor and resource development.
We could be confident that those organizations that understand and operate according to the R.A.T.E.S. principles would at least have a foundation that we could all build upon. We could also communicate our practices according to the language of R.A.T.E.S. to help determine where each participating organization would fit into each other’s efforts. This greatly supports effective grant proposal writing.
Each R.A.T.E.S. principle is described as follows:
Response-ability is having and demonstrating the ability to give a favorable response to problems and needs. This includes the needs of the client, staff, partners, donors and the organization as a whole. Learning Goal: Learn to develop the fundamental elements for problem and basic needs statements. Participants will first learn a technique to focus upon a specific problem to eliminate. This process is designed to encourage and demonstrate commitment to make a measurable improvement in society. Then the needs statements will be developed with projected solutions for meeting those needs.
Account-ability is having and demonstrating the ability to account for program and fiscal activities along with associated resources. Learning Goal: Learn to develop a basic intake and attendance form to account for a client’s qualification to participate in a program and to prove the level of participation. This lesion will also cover the development of budget summary and elements of a budget narrative to explain expenses.
Technical-ability is having and demonstrating the ability to apply technology in order to maximize productivity. It also includes having the ability to engage the technical communication, practices and policies that govern an area of interest. Learning Goal: Learn how to assess and plan technological support according to needs. This lesson will address basic internet communications and tips for developing a basic client and resource support database.
Evaluation-ability is having and demonstrating the ability to engage an independent and unbiased evaluator who will assess the strengths and challenges of your organization and related projects. The results of the evaluations will help develop strategies for ongoing improvements. The techniques for planning an evaluation will also help strengthen program structure and efficiency Learning Goal: Learn how to plan an evaluation strategy to demonstrate project and organizational outcomes. Learn the basic elements for developing a logic model to demonstrate the elements that will be evaluated.
Sustain-ability is having and demonstrating the ability to continue providing support and development for your organization through diverse and effective resource and revenue development activities. Learning Goal: Learn about types of contributions and partnerships to consider for donor and resource development.
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