RESULTS OF SEMINAR EVALUATIONS

Evaluations were completed by participants at the end of each seminar. Responses indicated that the great majority of participants found value in the seminars by the end of the week. Two of the most important questions and responses were:

Did the seminar effectively offer an examination of where we are and where we would like to be with regard to current leadership practices in the NPS? – Yes, 83%

Was the seminar effective in motivating you to think about your leadership behaviors? – Yes, 95%

The above data was taken from all evaluations between January 1, 1997, and March 14, 1997.

A follow-up evaluation randomly sampled 300 participants 6-18 months after their seminars. Seventy-one people responded, a 24% response rate. Participants were asked to use one of two forms (A or B). Form A was for those who had completed an action plan and were implementing it. In most cases, participants either had not completed an action plan or had forgotten whether or not they had done so; the answers to form A were few. Most attendees had not followed up with their action plan items and said the seminar had had little impact on their career development or work unit. Most attributed lack of follow up to lack of time or lack of support from superiors.

The results of the follow-up evaluation were disappointing on the surface, but it was encouraging that a significant number of participants were positively impacted by the seminars. Organizational change is a long process, and the seminars were only a single early step in implementing that change. A longer term measure of the impact of the seminars is needed, such as might be accomplished by repeating Benchmarks™ in 2-3 years or by a study of the raters’ perceptions of the leadership behavior and skills of their supervisors after attending the seminars.

If for no other reason, Benchmarks™ should be repeated in 2-3 years so that individual participants can see whether their leadership behaviors and skills have improved.

Cover Letter:

To:    Leadership Seminar Participants

From:    Program Manager, Leadership Seminars

Subject:     Leadership Seminar Follow-Up

Earlier you attended, along with a number of your colleagues, a National Park Service Leadership Seminar. As you know, many of these seminars have been held across the country.

It is important that we thoroughly evaluate this program so that we know if the time and money have been well spent, to decide to what extent the Seminars should be offered in the future, and to help determine future direction in employee development. You and the other participants were asked to complete an End of Seminar Evaluation Form on the last day of the Seminar. The information from those evaluations has been very useful in the short term for evaluating and improving the Seminars. We are now asking for your assistance in evaluating the longer lasting impacts of the Seminars. WILL YOU PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONNAIRE?

The questions are designed to assess the value of the Seminar to individual employees in terms of their personal and career development as well as the impact it had on employees’ performance back on the job. Secondly, the questions assess the contribution of the Seminar experience to the overall Service mission – as a result of changed employee performance.

The managers of the servicewide training and employee development effort are certain to be asked by top management to respond to these questions. It will be expected that their answers be based on something more definitive than the personal views and perspectives of the Seminar facilitators and training and development managers. We believe that those persons who had the first-hand experience of attending the seminars are among those in the best position to evaluate the seminars.

Your input will be kept confidential. It will be consolidated with input from other randomly selected participants, and analyzed by Al Werking, a training and development professional who works as a volunteer at the Mather Training Center, and who was not involved in the design or implementation of the Seminars.

We are asking that you complete one of the following forms:

Form A - if you completed a personal Action Plan at the conclusion of the seminar,

OR

Form B - if the participants in your seminar were not asked to complete Action Plans.

PLEASE COMPLETE ONE OF THE TWO FORMS BELOW, AND FORWARD THIS ENTIRE MESSAGE BY CC:MAIL TO THE “STMA - SUPERINTENDENT’S OFFICE” AT THE MATHER TRAINING CENTER BY JULY 22, 1997. If you prefer to give your input verbally, please call Al Werking at 304-535-1162 on any Thursday.

Leadership seminar follow-up questions – form A w/results

Date: ___________________

Name: ______________________

Current park: _____________

Park during training: ________

You are not being asked to mention or to comment on any of the specific items in your action plan. However, you are not restricted from doing so if you wish to more fully express your feelings or concerns regarding any aspect of the program.

A. Action plan

1. Did you complete an Action Plan as a part of your Seminar experience?

2 responded in the negative

2. How many action items were included in your action plan?

2 responded in the negative

3. How many of your action plan items have you attempted to implement to-date?

3 responded in the negative

4. Had you hoped to attempt more items by this time?

1 responded in the negative

5. Do you remain optimistic that most of your action plan CAN BE accomplished?

4 positive responses; 5 negative

B. Actions attempted:

1. How would you characterize the response of your peers, colleagues, managers, et al., to your attempts to implement change?

6 positive; 9 negative; 2 mixed comments

2. What factor(s), if any, have stood in your way of additional progress?

17 negative comments

3. On how many of the items attempted have you enjoyed some degree of success?

1 positive; 1 negative comments

4. On how many of the items attempted have you been provided the hoped for support of others?

2 negative comments

5. Can you identify a single item which could have helped you to enjoy greater progress in your attempts to implement change?

3 positive; 9 negative comments

Leadership seminar follow-up questions - form B w/results

Date: ___________________         Name: ______________________

Current park: __________________       Park during training: ________

1. Did your supervisor attend the seminar? Yes 39 No 14

2. How many of your colleagues attended the seminar?

none 0 some 13 most 21 all 19

Please enter a number from 1 to 5 for the following questions:

3. To what extent have you been able to implement seminar learning back on the job? (scale of 1 to 5

not at all = 1 extensive = 5 avg - (2.64)
1 - (4)     2 - (22) 3 - (19) 4 - (5) 5 - (3)
1 negative response

4. Extent to which your work environment supports the change(s) discussed in the seminar? (scale of 1 to 5)   

not at all = 1 extensive = 5 avg - (2.81)     
1 - (7) 2 - (15) 3 - (15) 4 - (13) 5 - (3)

5. What value would you place on the seminar in terms of your personal and career development? (scale of 1 to 5)    

none = 1 high = 5 avg - (2.66)     
1 - (9) 2 - (17) 3 - (15) 4 - (7) 5 - (5)

6.    What value would you place on the seminar in terms of its impact on operations? (scale of 1 to 5)    

none = 1 high = 5 avg - (2.21)     
1 - (11) 2 - (25) 3 - (13) 4 - (3) 5 - (1)    
1 positive; 6 negative; 4 mixed comments