One of NCI's most effective tools: 

 

The Nash Consulting
ACTION RESEARCH CYCLE
is a five-step process that can bring health to any organization

 

     


 

Action Research is a consultation cycle that begins with data collection, moves to analysis and goal setting, culminates in implementation and action planning, and is later followed by remeasurement, which brings the process full circle back to data collection.



The reason most quality improvement efforts ultimately fail to permanently and positively change a work culture can be summarized by four failures: 

      

1.  Whole-team involvement: Failure to secure buy-in from both staff & 
     management
     Often times it’s the “management” that brings in the speaker or sends
     out the employees to the seminar - but it’s done in a spirit of “I hope
     this works…to fix the employees.”   No change effort is going to take  
     root and grow without both the buy-in and the active involvement of
     both management and staff.
2.  Relevancy:  Failure to custom fit the process to the actual needs of
     the agency
     Unfortunately, most change processes are of the “one size fits all”
     variety, which leads to a low sense of relevancy, and therefore to low
     staff  “buy-in," and ultimately to cynicism - which is notoriously hard to
     combat.
3.  Skill building:  Failure to provide need-based, practical, “high 
     impact” skills
     Concepts, theories, and “wouldn’t-it-be-great-if-we-just-all-did-this”
     type motivational sessions can create excitement and hope, but they
     rarely lead to permanent and sustainable change.  Only hands-on tools
     that are need-based, practical, relatively easy to understand, and seen
     by staff as beneficial will lead to lasting change.
4.  Commitment/Accountability:  Failure to create action plans and a
     regular review process
     Without specific commitments (action plans) on the part of the
     employees and the management, as well as ways to measure and
     review progress, even great ideas are eventually “round filed” due to
     business, waning motivation, and lack of encouragement.

     Most people in the work place have experienced just enough “change  
     processes” to become cynical and wary of any new trainings, change
     efforts, or quality improvement programs – which makes building buy-in
     an especially difficult challenge for the manager, consultant, or trainer

Action Research provides the missing ingredients:

   Involvement of both management and staff is an important
    requirement to the success of any change effort.  The Action Research process
    doesn’t even begin until all the relevant players commit to this involvement. 

   Relevancy is achieved through the collection of data (surveys and one-on-
    one interviews) that bring to light the exact nature of the needs and strengths
    of that group.  The change process is then built upon this information.  No “one
    size fits all” program here.  In fact, target areas are based on this data and are
    decided upon by the participants with the coaching and encouragement of the 
    consultant.

   High impact skill building occurs during the implementation stage, and is
    the core of the change process.  During this phase, groups and individuals learn
    skills in the context of enjoyable and challenging hands-on workshops,
    conversations, and training sessions.  The skills are selected according to the 
    data previously collected, and are designed to be very high impact, that is,
    they are chosen for the degree of overall positive impact each will lend to the
    work culture as a whole and to each individual’s overall work place experience. 

   Commitment and accountability is achieved through the creation of
    action plans (commitments) and measurement tools that are based directly on
    both the original data and the implementation topics practiced during the 
    workshop and training sessions.  Further accountability is secured through the 
    6-month check up – a process designed to measure the success of that 
    group’s goals and action plans.

   THE RESULTS:
     Permanent changes in the culture of a work group, including:

  • Increased trust and respect between all levels of staff
  • A more rewarding work environment for both staff and leaders
  • Higher staff morale
  • Improved management skills
  • Less negativity and more mutual support
  • Lower staff turnover and higher commitment to quality
  • Better bottom line results (improved services to clients, higher income, etc.)
  • Improved skills in giving and receiving feedback
  • Less triangulating about fellow-employees
  • More efficiency in communications, meetings, and other group processes
  • An increase in cooperation and teamwork.