The Theory of Change – applying the concept to programme strategy & design

The following is an overview diagram explaining the process for preparing for a humanitarian response (although the same process applies to development programming) – incorporating the Theory of Change outlined:

Context analysis; The operating environment within which the beneficiaries are living and we are working. Assuming we have not conducted a formal "Contextual Analysis" (as defined by our key institutional donors) then we draw on 3rd party sources of information to put into context our rationale for engaging in this environment. The context should link to potential donor's broad strategy/priorities for that country (e.g. The priority for Trocaire's East Africa Appeal was "saving lives by providing emergency food, clean water and medical care"). 3rd Party soures can include PEA, HEA, recent baselines (inc. from other organisations), published literature (ICRC, ICG, Enough, etc.) and UN assessment papers (inc. FSNAU, FEWS NET, etc.). Evaluations of past programmes/projects provide a "lessons learnt" for operating in this environment

Situation analysis: This is our stated understanding of the current situation. It is at this stage that we will identify the cross-cutting themes that underpin our approach including our (Trocaire & partners) capacity to engage actively & pro-actively in responding to beneficiary needs. We draw on monitoring reports, partner feedback, recent baseline surveys, etc. to link the "context to the current” situation. The situation analysis is an indication of the escalation of specific issues within the operating context that cause us concern and support the need for our engagement at this time. This is the first point when we start to define potential cross-cutting considerations (e.g. observed coping strategies) we must address, either through direct intervention, M&E processes, accountability procedures, referral systems; engagement with coordination (inc. bilateral arrangements); approach to advocacy or simply documenting issues

Needs analysis: The specific needs of the beneficiary group, supporting our targeting methodology, beneficairy eligibility & selection criteria. Included here are cross-cutting themes as they apply to beneficiaries - including coping strategies and consequences of humanitarian crisis. Community-based needs assessments, partner feedback, monitoring reports, current updates thru' UN system/cluster; internal early warning monitoring.
• Context is the operating environment in which we are operating (National, State & Diocese);
• Situation is the present-day environment in which the intervention is justified/based (security, political, coordination, capacity; season; etc.);
• Needs brings the analysis down to the community, family & beneficiary (vulnerability) level. The needs analysis is the point where we decide what we can directly intervene on and what we can do to assist beneficiaries in their other requirements to get through this period (situation)

Note: Coping Strategies: Not all coping strategies emerge in a needs assessment, particularly when it is conducted at a geo (diocese)-level. The following is a table outlining the escalation of coping strategies that would be expected to be observed – including their severity & reversibility:

What we identify as a Coping Strategy should link back to the Context, Situation and Needs assessments (i.e. why have people adopted these coping strategies?) These coping strategies link into either the direct programme interventions or cross-cutting considerations.

Protection & Cross-cutting considerations:
In the case of Ethiopia and the protection component of the Theory of Change and design principles that underpin the ERRP are based on sound protection practices. The humanitarian interventions across each of the three objectives look to embed into the individual projects – as described both in the mainstreaming approaches outlined below to key cross-cutting themes, but also in the core concepts of the modalities of assistance that will support the LRRD approach. That is to say:
• By strengthening existing traditional community structures as part of an integrated approach to CMDRR we create an entry point for women, youth and marginalised groups to become involved in these structures – increasing their participation (their voice) in community decision-making on risk prevention and preparedness, periods when vulnerability can change to exploitation;
• By identify the needs of both the community and the individual as part of the mobilisation of crisis response (both chronic and acute) we can design modalities of assistance that address the causes of vulnerability at both community and household level – linking not only relief to recovery and development but also linking assistance to durable solutions to vulnerability within communities
• By providing more durable solutions in cash and food/dietary assistance we will be proactively protecting the beneficiary households against future vulnerability to crisis – making them less vulnerable to exploitation of future assistance.
• By adhering to good humanitarian standards during project interventions - as embodied in the approaches outlined below, we can mitigate the instances for exploitation during times of crisis

Prioritisation & targeting:
This is particularly relevant where the geographical area is too wide for any one programme/intervention to cover all communities/needs. We must justify the decision-making process for prioritising certain communities over others (e.g. number of returnees; other NGOs (avoid duplication); seasonal access; etc.). Partner knowledge of population movements (at local level); observation of seasonal changes & impact on communities/roads/livelihoods; geo-specific needs assessment (e.g. the paragraphs of FEWSNet, UN, SRA/LRA reports etc. specific to diocese); etc. Geo or Community targeting is the first key decision-point on defining vulnerability, eligibility and capacity (to assist) and requires a methodology & evidence to support the decision to target specific communities (note: it does not have to justify "why not" but must demonstrate the rationale & reasoning behind the "why")

When we are not targeting 100% of the vulnerable population we must understand how the actual targeting & selection will occur so that we can demonstrate either:
• the prioritisation of vulnerability (i.e. the comparison between communities and families to demonstrate how we chose one of another) that was the basis of beneficiary eligibility & selection; or
• the reasoning behind why we did not use a vulnerability & prioritisation approach to beneficiary eligibility & selection – there can be justifiable reasons why one locality, community &/or family is chosen but we need to document this and link it back to “cross-cutting considerations” as, although not directly involved in the programme, all communities & families within our target AoOs will be affected by the intervention.

Risks, Assumptions & Dependencies (RAD) are an output of the Context, Situation & Needs Analysis; they are our assessment of the factors that influence the design of our intervention and as such we must continuously monitor these factors so that we can make promt decisions should our assessment have been incorrect or should the context, situation or needs change during the course of implementation.
• Risk: Those things that we can describe, define but cannot predict with certainty but that we presume WILL happen (e.g. There is a risk of rain). As a result we must put contingencies in place that will draw on our resources & become part of our work plans & reporting (wear gum-boots & carry an umbrella)
• Assumption: Those things that we can describe, define but cannot predict with certainty but that we presume WILL NOT happen (e.g. we assume it will not rain so no need to buy an umbrella). We monitor our assumptions to ensure that they remain sound during the course of the programme
• Dependency: Those things that we can describe, define and predict but are under the control of a 3rd party (we are dependent on the UN/state-led coordination mechanisms; on WFP supplies arriving; etc.). We monitor dependencies in the same way as we monitor assumptions as we must make decisions during the course of the intervention, that will draw on our resources, become part of our work-plans and that we must report on if we cannot depend on these 3rd parties.

There is a fourth (4th) component of RAD - Issues (RAID). Issues are emerging challenges or opportunities that we could not describe or define at the outset but which impact on our intervention. Issue management draws on Accountability requirements (e.g. complaints handling) & links directly to cross-cutting themes (e.g. documenting human rights issues for referral &/or reporting). In addition to general management, the management & monitoring issues is the continuous "needs analysis" to support advocacy, referral systems, coordination, etc. (the cross-cutting considerations not directly addressed within the direct intervention)

Programme & Partner Monitoring:
The "rule of thumb" is that if it is not reported (or at least documented in a structured way) then it did not happen. Any decision made (note: every decision will have a resource implication) requires supporting evidence which should draw upon a structured monitoring system (so that every decision is not seen as an exception).
Monitoring is Performance Management and should provide sufficient information support decision-making that allows you to continue as planned or make changes, on an on-going basis, to activities that contribute to the achievement of the objectives/outcomes.
• The progress made on agreed activities
• The impact of risks that have materialised on Progress (activities) and Purpose (objectives/outcomes)
• The impact of assumptions that were incorrect on Progress (activities) and Purpose (objectives/outcomes)

We monitor in order to gather sufficient information to make good decisions during the course of the intervention (see diagram above):
• Progress monitoring (process & control procedures; and team & work plans)
• Partner Monitoring (against agreed objectives/intervention)
• Financial Monitoring (budget; expenditure; financial controls)
• Risk (& Issue) Management (see RAD above)
• Emergency Monitoring (Early Warning)
• Context & Situation Monitoring (Assumptions & Dependencies)
• Needs & Community (changes in the original justification &/or the current conditions)
• Performance Monitoring (Results & decision-making)

The opportunity of successful monitoring is continuous improvement where we capture practical lessons that can be applied to Performance Management (decision-making & resource optimisation) during the programme.

Remember, good decision-making impacts on resources as all activities use resources, so performance management is resource optimisation. There are only three resources that are affected by decision-making:
•Time: the number of people that you have, their skills, experience and ability to complete the activities
•Things: the tangible things that are available to you to help you complete the activities
•Money: the flexibility to buy either more time (1) or more things (2) that will help you complete the activities

Evaluation is Impact Assessment & Lesson Learning - that is to say, did we achieve what we set out to achieve and how did we do it. This is measured in two phases:
1.Did we do what we said we would do (meet the objectives/outcomes)
2.Did we meet the expectations of the various stakeholders (the Goal)

Evaluation is “a systematic and impartial examination of [humanitarian] action intended to draw lessons to improve policy and practice and enhance accountability" (ECHO) - "To know that you do not know is already to know something" (Confucius))

Audit on the other hand is the determination of whether and to what extent activities and procedures conform to norms and criteria set out in advance. The “Four E”s in audit:
1.Effectiveness: doing the right things
2.Efficiency: doing things the right way
3.Economy: doing things cheap
4.Equity: doing right (being socially responsible in a social audit perspective)

Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E)

A part of my role in Somalia is to look at M&E, either through joint initiatives or internally, within the programmes and the emergency assistance that Concern is providing.

So this is a very simplified definition of M&E that I will expand upon in the future (you will notice that M&E draws on many of the principles of programme, risk, capacity, etc that are described in other parts of this blog)...

Monitoring is Performance Management and should provide sufficient information support decision-making that allows you to continue as planned or make changes, on an on-going basis, to activities that contribute to the achievement of the objectives/outcomes.
•The progress made on agreed activities
•The impact of risks that have materialised on Progress (activities) and Purpose (objectives/outcomes)
•The impact of assumptions that were incorrect on Progress (activities) and Purpose (objectives/outcomes)

Evaluation is Impact Assessment & Lesson Learning - that is to say, did we achieve what we set out to achieve and how did we do it. This is measured in two phases:
1.Did we do what we said we would do (meet the objectives/outcomes)
2.Did we meet the expectations of the various stakeholders (the Goal)

Evaluation is always a "point in time" assessment and so, itself will have assumptions ("our conclusion is based on..."). The opportunity for continuous improvement is to capture practical lessons that can be applied to Performance Management (decision-making & resource optimisation) for the future.

Resources: activities use resources, so performance management is resource optimisation. There are only three resources that are affected by decision-making:
1.Time: the number of people that you have, their skills, experience and ability to complete the activities
2.Things: the tangible things that are available to you to help you complete the activities
3.Money: the flexibility to buy either more time (1) or more things (2) that will help you complete the activities.

A RISK is a definable, describable but unknowable event that we presume will happen ("there is a risk of rain…"). As a result a risk requires additional resources/activities to mitigate its impact (umbrella, raincoat, sandbags, etc.)
An ASSUMPTION is a definable, describable but unknowable event that we presume will not happen ("we assume it will not rain..."). No additional resources are set aside - but the assumption must be monitored in case it is wrong.

Footnote: I am currently working on developing "Theories of change" for humanitarian and resilinece-based programmes. An important definition that I draw upon is for Strength (as in SWOT): Strength – is a tangible resource (time, things, money) that you can leverage to directly achieve your objective (strength-to-opportunity) or; influence the achievement of the objective by using those tangible resources to overcome a weakness or threat

What is Capacity Building?

There are a variety of explanations (depending on the source) for what capacity building is. However, there is a simple formula to follow for any (all) organisations in order to measurably increase your capacity



Time, things and money are the only three resources that any (all) organisations have available to them. It is the optimisation of these resources that builds capacity.

Time: the people available and their knowledge,skills and attributes
Things: the physical, logistical, technological resources that are available to us
Money: the financial resources that give us flexibility to buy additional time (e.g. recruitment, over-time, training) or things (additional tangible resources) should we need them

Optimising these three resources is measured against the stated objectives of the organisation. Normally these are the strategic objectives for a period – the priorities of the organisation, towards which it intends to concentrate its resources/capacity.

And the points of intervention that an organisation can make in order to optimise the combination of resources (time, things & money) in order to achieve these strategic objectives are:


Competency focuses on “Time” – increasing the abilities of the human resources (staff, consultants, donors, supporters, volunteers, partners, beneficiaries etc.).

Capability focuses on “Things” – what tangible resources are available to the organisation to allow it to exploit its competencies (i.e. what these human resources, where, when, how, etc. ).

Cost is the enabling resource “Money” that allows us to invest in the organisations competency (buying better Time) and in the organisation’s capability (buying more appropriate things).


Take a look at Activity & Resource-based Planning on how day-to-day management of the three resources (time, things & money) can build capacity through good operational planning & management

Strategic & Operational Cost Management (SOCM)

With the change in the economic climate many enterprises - small, medium and large; will be faced with financing challenges – both strategic (debt financing) and operational (cashflow). But these challenges have been faced by enterprises in Ireland and overseas over many years and, based on proven experience of strategic and operational cost management. Taking from my corporate and consulting experience over the past 20 years, I have developed an accelerated approach to identifying and prioritise cost management opportunities. This “hypothesis-led” approach complements the other Enterprise Healthcheck tools and allows an enterprise to action the optimum cost management (reduction) opportunities based on both strategic and operational priorities. For want of a better name I will efer to this approach as SOCM.

Strategic (tomorrow) AND Operational (today) approach
The SOCM is an accelerated approach to cost management – where “best practices” have been embedded in the project methodology and tools. Then, using a hypothesis-led approach (identifying the most likely 20% of the enterprise where 80% of the costs/savings will lie), accelerates the review – ensuring speed of delivery and minimum project costs. The proven cornerstones for successful cost management reviews:
+ Creation of an integrated, hypothesis-led programme
+ Focus on realising benefits early
+ Achieving buy-in and sustaining the savings

Because “best practice” and past experience of cost management are directly incorporated into the project methodology, organization and tools (see the graphics), project quality is equally embedded, supported by proven project management techniques plus the experience of the consultants that will work with the enterprise.

Applying Best Practices
A critical element of any cost management review is to understand where costs are actually incurred during the ongoing operations of the enterprise. Based on “best practice” and past experience I have developed the SOCM Cost (Value) Chain – a way of looking at an enterprise from the five areas that both incur costs and generate value.


Hypothesis-led approach
Hypothesis-led approach involves working with senior management in the initial stage of the SOCM project, identifying priority areas – based on enterprise-specific insight & experience; where managers believe cost saving opportunities exist.

An SOCM question-based “ready-reckoner” has been developed, incorporating “best practice” & past experience, to facilitate hypothesis generation. Once identified, this approach ensures that the review focuses on areas that are known to be costly or where senior managers believe that costs could (or should) be managed better.


In addition to analyzing costs (as part of an SOCM review) there are also sound cost management disciplines and principles that are incorporated into an SOCM review:

SOCM Principles:
 Strategy
 Incentives & Controls
 Business Design
 Cost Management
 Continuous Improvement

SOCM Disciplines
 Strategic cost management
 Cost transparency
 Management tools
 Cost culture
 Continuous improvement

Business Mentoring – a group (peer) based approach

Drawing on my experience of business mentoring to a group of as part of the PLATO mentoring programme I identified seven phases of the mentoring process during the programme. The challenge for the mentor throughout the programme is to broaden the scope of issues to accommodate all participants, without losing the focus in specific issues that may benefit individuals.

The Mentoring Process incorporates the key aspects of proven mentoring programmes and also looks to incorporate a structure that allows for risks to be reduced and to successfully manage the learning transition from group to individual.

1.Meet, as PLATO engage in the participant selection in advance the first real encounter between participants and mentor is the first meeting.
2.Plan, brain-storming the types of issues and challenges that face the participants.
3.Credibility, continuously & consciously building credibility between the group leaders & the group and between the participants.
4.Share, the peer-to-peer dialogue around the issues, challenges and potential solutions - drawing on facilitation skills & guest speakers.
5.Accompany, encouraging participants to "take-away" things from each meeting that may help them in their personal &/or enterprise development.
6.Action, where commitment to the group and to each other is demonstrated over the course of the programme.
7.Network, encouraging the participants to continue the relationships that they have built with each other and to share potential contacts with each other beyond the programme.



Establish, build and maintain credibility:
Credibility is built during the initial stages of the mentoring process – when the participants first meet at the launch and the sponsor companies (Mazars in my case) are introduced as large, credible organisation whose staff (credible by association) have volunteered to support the programme. First impressions may or may not have a part to play, given the context (hotel, drinks, etc.) but the message from PLATO of matching & mentoring does set an expectation that establishes an initial level of credibility.

Planning the overall content of the programme at the launch and initial group meetings further builds credibility as it shows the group that their priorities are the focus of the programme. The difficulty is to ensure that the topics selected are broad enough for all participants so that none are left out (or behind).

And the peer-2-peer nature of the programme and the meetings, where individuals share their concerns and experiences with the other group members builds a degree of consolidation within the group – where they are confident to discuss topics and give advice to each other. The best example of this related to merchant payment services, where the group discusses the pros & cons of creditcard payments and how to approach merchant service providers to obtain the best rates.

Engagement, participation and progress of the group:
Drawing on the programme plan, the sharing of experience plus accompaniment of the individual group members together, through the PLATO meetings did allow for individuals to progress. Again, best explained by an example where Irish recruitment Partners, drawing on some of the insights and general personal support that he received from the group, progressed with his franchise plans – not as originally anticipated (where he would franchise his operations to others) but by becoming a franchisee for an international online recruitment service – where his Irish business remained, but was complemented by an international element.

Personal development (of the individual group members):
The engagement, participation and progress of the group, linked to the individual successes of participants within the group, reinforced for me the need to incorporate “action-planning” into the overall programme. Not what you must do for next month, but rather what must you do if you want to progress this idea, this initiative, resolve this problem – giving a tangible output to the meetings for those participants who needed to translate sharing & accompaniment into action.

Following on from this was also the opportunity to support the individuals in building their networks – bringing the programme beyond the monthly meetings (and the end of the programme). There were some opportunities for networking with the group, but more interesting was learning from some of the members about techniques such as “Contact Spheres”.

Encouraging the participants to engage in the various PLATO training programmes, so as to learn new things but also meet new people (potential clients or contacts) is a natural extension of the PLATO mentoring programme into the network (future) phase of my mentoring diagram above.

Grant Management Guiding Principles

“Best practice” can be an inappropriate term to use – as what suits one organisation may not suit another. But having assisted a number of grant providers over the past number of years, there are common themes – “guiding principles” - that impact a grant provider and its grant management processes. So, while I have not listed out these “guiding principles” here, I have gathered these common themes together.

Naturally, there will be certain assumptions that support grant management “guiding principles” (to try and close the gap between grant providers and the way that they work) so I have used the following grant management process as the basis (drawing on the practical experience that I encountered with grant providers):

Supporting this value chain are the following assumptions (which underpin the “guiding principles” which I have identified:

 Grant management is an end-to-end process that is initiate with the initial application for a grant through the final payment of that grant
 Compliance with all donor requirements can be met throughout the grant management processes (initial grant application, through to final payment), including compliance with sound financial management practice and controls.
 The actual payment (settlement of the financial responsibility) of a grant is a financial transaction within the accounts payable (AP) function and as such must meet the appropriate financial management standards of control, reconciliation and audit.

I have prepared 27 “guiding principles” (15 management principles and 12 process principles that, combined support the overall grant management) under the following headings
 Planning & Design (5)
 Operations Management (5)
 Performance Management (5)
 Technology Management & Enablement (6)
 Data Management (3)
 Financial Management (3 – not including corporate governance & compliance requirements)

Enterprise Healthcheck Update

Drawing on the work that I have done with small and medium enterprises in capitalising on the opportunities of the internet (see eCommerce for Success) I have updated the Enterprise Healthcheck tool to include an eReadiness assessment that covers the following:

- Company Commitment to the internet
- Competitive Environment
- Distribution Chain (website/internet)
- Product Database
- Product Photos
- Online Sales fulfillment
- Legacy Computer Systems
- Internal (IT & Website) Maintenance Staff
- Development/Developer Readiness

Managing NGO/Programme finances

This Financial Management approach is supported by a full set of procedures and is linked to the Development Value Chain; the Logical Framework and sound Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) processes & controls


Underpinning the day-to-day financial management responsibilities of the Board, Executive Director, staff, partners and service providers are a series of Financial Management (FM) processes. These are based on a “Grant Recipient” approach as follows:

Purpose and objectives of the accounting system: The objectives of the grant recipient’s accounting system are:
# To record and classify all transactions accurately and completely
# To maintain a complete record of all:
- Revenue received
- Expenditure incurred
- Assets owned
- Liabilities due to third parties
# To report to donors on all required financial information

Enterprise Healthcheck

Over the years I have worked with a number of companies and organisations in the areas of organisation, people, performance and cost management. In today’s economic environment I looked back at these past experiences and took the lessons that I learnt and the techniques that I used and I have brought them together into a single “Enterprise Healthcheck” tool.

Depending on the priorities of your organisation and the challenges that face it, you can chose to spend between 2 hours and two days on the “Enterprise Healthcheck”. A question-based approach that can be conducted via one-2-one interview of group facilitation, the healthcheck provides a scored assessment of your organisation across a set of areas that are proven – through research and experience; to have a major impact on the ability of an organisation to maintain its focus, optimise its resources and achieve its objectives.



These proven areas )in addition to revenue management & resource management) include:
# Human Resource Management: HR Budget; HR Staff; Organisation mission & goals; HR Planning; Staff Data; Computerisation of Data; Personnel Files; Job Classification; Compensation & Benefits system; Recruitment, Transfer & Promotion; Orientation Programme; Policy Manual; Discipline, Termination and Grievance procedures; Industrial Relations (Unions); Labour & Employment law compliance; Job Descriptions; Staff Supervision; Evaluation; Staff Training; Management & Leadership Development
# Performance Management: Service; Strategy; Objectives; Alignment; Performance; Management; Development; Competency; Training; Communications; Mutual Agreement
# Cost Management: Work unit right-sizing; Deduplication; Roles and Responsibilities; Product Review; Poject Review (IT, capital and other); Employee overheads; Connectivity; Sans of control and levels; People, skills and capabilities; Pay rates, allowances and premiums; Demand Challenge – Non Core Processes; Operating Model; Ativity and Process Efficiency; Process Benchmarking; Process Effectiveness (Core Processes)

And supporting these three areas are a set of simple, insightful organisation assessment tools:

- 7-Cs quick assessment tool: Coordination; Commitment; Competence; Communication; Conflict Management; Creativity; Capacity Management
- McKinsey’s 7-S organisation assessment tool: Strategy; Structure; Systems; Style; Staff; Skills; Shared Values
- Organisation Culture assessment tool: Vision; Strategic Direction; Goals & Objectives; Core Values; Creating Change; Customer Focus; Organisation Learning; Empowerment; Team Orientation; Capacity Development; Agreement; Coordination & Integration

These tools will allow you to understand the most relevant aspects of your organisation for today’s challenging environment; identify the most appropriate opportunities that you should focus on in order to consolidate your current position and to prioritise these opportunities so as to maximise your resources in order to achieve your objectives

What is Stakeholder management

Stakeholder: One who holds the bets in s game or contest; one who hasa share or an an interest, as in an enterprise

Management: "Management" (from Old French ménagement "the art of conducting, directing", from Latin manu agere "to lead by the hand")
- characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organisation through
- the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible).

Stakeholder + Management = organisation-wide change cannot be implemented unless individuals change, and for this buy-in and consensus to change is required from certain stakeholders to change successfully. For example:
- Powerful and supportive change champions can be leveraged
- Fearful or negative reactions can derail the change
- Failure to lay the groundwork early creates problems
- Different stakeholders see the same changes in different ways

Identifying & prioritising stakeholders:

What is Change Management?

Change: The following are some interesting perspectives on what “change” is
- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. [George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950, Irish playwright and critic#
- If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change. [Giuseppe di Lampedusa 1896-1957, Italian writer in The Leopard]
- The real problem is what to do with problem solvers after the problem is solved. ‘Gay Talese 1932-, American (Italian-born) journalist]
- "Bury me on my face," said Diogenes; and when he was asked why, he replied, "Because in a little while everything will be turned upside down." [Diogenes 412BC-323BC, Greek philosopher ]

Management: "Management" (from Old French ménagement "the art of conducting, directing", from Latin manu agere "to lead by the hand")
solved. ‘Gay Talese 1932-, American (Italian-born) journalist]
- characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organisation through
- the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible).

Change + Management = is the managerial processes and tasks that are undertaken to support the development of an organisation and its staff from one state in time to another.

When ever we introduce the word “manage” we move away from the uncertainty of change to a more structured, coordinated [managed] initiative that is to move us from one defined state to another, defined state. It is only be defining where we are and where we want to be that we can “manage” this transition.

There are a number of tools that we can use to help us define where we are, where we want to be (change) and how we are going to get there (manage). These include:

- Project Management techniques that would complement the organisation in defining the scope for change (the actual starting point and the desired ending point), support the planning process and facilitate the monitoring of tasks and achievement of milestones
- Operations & Process Design Techniques, such as IDEF or the Organisation Development Models for providing a structured method for defining the organisation and mapping responsibilities, values and performance to the various units or roles
- Role Profile templates that map to performance management techniques including development needs analysis
- Dynamic RAID logs (Risk, Assumptions, Issues, and Dependencies) that provide enhanced support to the change management coordinator and project reporting.
- Stakeholder management techniques that support the appropriate participation of both internal and external parties that may have an influence of the pace and success of change
- Management training experience (content and delivery) – ranging across the three C formula (Competency + Capability = Capacity)
Competency (re-usable/transferable skills) +
Capability (experience & personal abilities) =
Capacity (overall breath & depth to achieve organisation objectives)

Risk, Issue & Opportunity Management

What is the difference between Risk & Assumption "in a sentence".
A Risk is a definable, but unknowable event that we presume WILL occur where as an Assumption is a definable, unknowable event that we presume will NOT occur.

The distinction between "WILL" and "will NOT occur" is the extent that we need to increase our project activities and budget to put in place the monitoring & mitigating resources & responsibilities associated with the risks (WILL occur). A comprehensive Risk management approach - linking risks to opportunity, activity, resource & responsibility is to use a RAID log.

The RAID log is a key programme & project management tool that allows the organisation (& if appropriate it’s external stakeholders) to see the progress of the project and issues impacting on the successful implementation from a practical “action and resolution” perspective. It is a structured, consistent tool that facilitates daily programme & project management decisions and sets the agenda for the management/stakeholder meetings that will provide oversight for the programme/project



Risks: Any external element that may influence the success or failure of the programme or project and element within it. Each risk must have mitigating action(s) set against it – that action that will reduce or pre-empt the risk should it materialise

Assumptions: Understandings of aspects of the programme, organisation or situation at a point in time that are understood to be fact or finite at that point in time. As with risks, assumptions must have mitigating action(s) set against it should the assumption prove to be incorrect.

Issues: Changes in the day-to-day activities of the programme/project that must be tracked and addressed to ensure the continued progress of the programme. Every issue should be assigned an action, owner and completion date to ensure that it is addressed so that it does not escalate to being a risk to the success of the overall programme

Dependencies: These must be identified and tracked as they impact on people’s ability to undertake tasks and address issues. Dependencies form a key part of workload prioritisation during the programme and are a basic agenda item for any meetings and decision-points and as such must be consistent with all other aspects of the plans, projects and programmes.

Strategy Road Map

Vision & Mission: It is vital for any organisation to be able to demonstrate the strategic opportunities available over a three to five year cycle. A projection of the future state of the organisation with supporting rationale should be prepared, validated and quantified as accurately as possible so that the various stakeholders can see how the organisation will meet its statutory objectives

Strategy & Objectives: Once the Vision and Mission are documented and agreed the next step is to explicitly identify the strategy that would be pursued. Supporting this strategy must be specific objectives that support the ongoing decision-making process (prioritisation of actions, allocation of resources, delegation of responsibility, monitoring of performance, etc.).

There must be a direct alignment between the Vision and Mission and the strategic objectives as it will be through achieving these objectives that the vision will be realised.

Organisation: The areas of strategic importance that are identified in step two and the associated objectives for these areas must be aligned to the recommended staff (roles and responsibilities) to help make the case for approving the budget for each recommendation.

Supporting these resources will be reporting and process requirements which in turn will be determined by the extent to which tasks are retained internally (service delivery) or managed via third party suppliers (contract management).

Operations: Operations focus primarily on the business, financial and governance model that would be adopted. The Operations structure answers the questions of “What is required to achieve performance targets, manage working capital and revenue streams, ensure seamless service delivery, invest in market access and retention, etc?”

Accurate recording of financial performance and monitoring of this performance against the business plan is vital to prevent, pre-empt or mitigate challenges in a manner that minimises any negative impact on the achievement of the mission and objectives (steps one and two above)

Business Plan: The business plan (or Business Case) is the key strategic management tool that incorporates the key performance indicators for the year-on-year progress against the strategic objectives.

The Dynamic Planning Circle (DPC)

The Dynamic Planning Circle (DPC) has four axes, or the 4 “M’s”;
- Mapping and Markets – the external influences and
- Mechanism and Motivations – the internal factors.

Around these four axes the Basic Business Elements – specific to an organisation, are identified. These basic elements are what make the planning circle dynamic. Each element is interrelated with the others, allowing the small enterprise-person to quantify specific goals and ensure that all elements of the business plan (goals and objectives) are appropriate and achievable.


The DPC has been used as a planning and a facilitation tool to allow SMEs; NGOs and other organisations affected by both internal and external stakeholders, to identify the particular sources of influence on their enterprises/organisations and how these influences have, or could, manifest themselves. The DPC can then be used as an operational tool to aid project definition; partner (donor) selection; proposal preparation and project management & delivery

What is Project Management

Project: A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.
- Temporary means that the project has an end date.
- Unique means that the project's end result is different than the results of other (business-as-usual) functions of the organisation

Management: "Management" (from Old French ménagement "the art of conducting, directing", from Latin manu agere "to lead by the hand")
- characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organisation through
- the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible).



Project + Management
Both a process and set of tools and techniques concerned with defining the project's goal, planning all the work to reach the goal, leading the project and support teams, monitoring progress, and seeing to it that the project is completed in a satisfactory way.

The application of modern management techniques and systems to the execution of a project from start to finish, to achieve predetermined objectives of scope, quality, time and cost, to the equal satisfaction of those involved.

PLATO & Business Mentoring

Plato Ireland is dedicated to the successful development of Ireland's indigenous small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. Plato offers owner managers a business support forum where they can tackle the challenges and issues of today's business world.

Having competed the comprehensive PLATO training programme I was a group leader for the Dublin programme, supporting a group of 10 business owners/ manager via monthly meetings, sourcing materials based on the groups needs; facilitating introductions to appropriate advisers and/or networks; and providing ad hoc accompaniement and support over the two tear period of the programme.

I am currently completing my “Learning Log” for a qualification in Business Mentoring. The log is based on my experience as a mentor to both individual organisations and, via PLATO to groups.

Business Mentoring Theory: Focusing on current challenges and issues facing the self-employed and how the business facilitator/mentor can support those involved to overcome the barriers and inhibitors encountered.

Business Mentoring Process: Drawing on organizational theory and practice this module should identify perspectives on the group process, group dynamics and individual behaviour

Business Mentoring in Context: the core components of the effective management of organizational principals and in the context of the Plato Network the entrepreneurial personality

Sustaining the Mentoring Relationship: building an understanding of strategic planning including analytical skills to formulate, explain, implement and evaluate the strategies that create, maintain and sustain the Mentoring relationship

Based on my review of academic & professional research into the area, aligned to my own experience – both with PLATO and working with individual organisations; I prepared a model of what Group-based mentoring would require:

What is the Logical Framework (LogFrame)?

Having worked with a number of NGOs & project-based organisations during 2008, I have designed an MSExcel-based integrated planning tool - based on the LogFrame:


The main concept of the LogFrame is “means & ends”. The better the means and end linkages between each level of aims (the matrix), the better the programme design. By definition, each programme has an “if-then” or “means-&-end” logic embedded in it.
o If we produce certain results under certain conditions,
o Then we can expect to achieve certain other outcomes

The LogFrame has the following advantages:
- It brings together in one place a statement of all the key components of a project (this is particularly helpful when there is a change of staff)
- It presents them in a systematic, concise and coherent way, thus clarifying and exposing the logic of how the project is expected to work
- It separates out the various levels in the hierarchy of objectives, helping to ensure that inputs and outputs are not confused with each other or with objectives and that wider ranging objectives are not overlooked
- It clarifies the relationships which underlie judgments about likely efficiency and effectiveness of projects
- It identifies the main factors related to the success of the project
- It provides a basis for monitoring and evaluation by identifying indicators of success, and means of quantification or assessment
- It encourages a multidisciplinary approach to project preparation and supervision.


The MSExcel tool allows for all aspects of the LogFrame planning process, that is to say good-decisions around objectives, activities and resource (time, money & things) optimisation, to be captured in a sinlge, integrated tool.


Advantages of the Integrated LogFrame tool include:
1. Defining the objectives in the most concise, manageable way – SMART


2. Directly linking the objectives to outputs (results); inputs (resources), ensuring that the activities (who) are Measurable & Achievable

3. Activity & resource-based planning to better define the Relevant, Time-bound responsibilities of participants & partners in the programme – and the resources (that, combined, make up the budget) available to the programme


5. An integrated Project Plan – aligning objectives to results (outcomes) to activities to responsibilities (who) and to resources (time-money-things).


6. It also integrates the LogRisk register into the same tool – reflection risks & assumptions:
• A Risk is a definable, but unknowable event that we presume WILL occur. – as a result additional activities and resources will be required in the programme to monitor &/or mitigate these risks
• An Assumption is a definable, unknowable event that we presume will NOT occur, and so additional resources are not immediately required in the programme, although these assumptions should be monitored as part of Monitoring Indicators


7. And finally the tool allows you to “link” the programme LogFrame to the MDGs and, inn this case the Irish Aid donor priorities – aligning programmes to both strategic goals and donor priorities

What is “programme”?

Programme is the term used to describe the consolidated approach to an NGOs projects, partners and participants (a project being “a planned endeavour, usually with a specific goal and accomplished in several steps or stages”). From a practical perspective there are two types of Programmatic approach:

Ways of working: this is where the approach draws on and shares appropriate management practices & policies that enable the efficient delivery of the NGO’s supports & services

Type of intervention: is where a shared understanding of the beneficiaries requirements allows suitable, sustainable, successful development interventions to be designed and implemented where the challenges of poverty alleviation are similar

The focus of a programmatic planning process is based on a participative engagement with partners & participants, where possible, facilitating a bottom-up approach to planning that maximises reflection, research & discussion – which provides the basis for good decision-making.

Planning is the processes of reflection, research and discussion that allow the organisation to make “good decisions”.


Good decisions are those decision made with the best information available at the time. It is only with hindsight that the organisation can determine if “good decisions” were the right decisions.

Good decisions can be made around resource requirements & optimisation over longer & shorter time periods plus key activities, risks & dependencies that will impact on the progress towards meeting the identified objectives.

Good decisions made at the outset here will allow for good plans to be prepared and these plans will form the basis of project funding (dispersals & accounting), monitoring (progress), evaluation (achieving objectives) and impact (success of projects, programmatic lesson learning, etc.).

Plans are the documented outputs and actions associated with “good decisions”. As a result it is better for an organisation to have good planning (reflection, research & discussion) that achieves “good decisions” than to have Plans based on poor decision-making. It is these good-decisions that build the organisation's & programme's (projects, partners & participants) capacity

Capacity is the optimisation of the three primary resources available to any organisation – Time; Money & Things. Capacity is built through improving the quality of decision-making within the organisation so as to better optimise these three resources towards the achievement of the organisations objectives {Plans})

Activity and Resource Based Work Planning

Having worked with a number of large and small organisations over the years I have come to understand that there are only three (3) primary resources available to any & all organisations - no matter what their size, sector in which they work, funds available to them, number of employees, etc. These three resources are:

Time: the people available and their knowledge,skills and attributes
Things: the physical, logistical, technological resources that are available to us
Money: the financial resources that give us flexibility to buy additional time (e.g. recruitment, over-time, training) or things (additional tangible resources) should we need them

Drawing on this understanding I have developed, and successfully used a work planning tool that looks to make the optimum use of these three resources when prioritised against organisational objectives (i.e. work plans, business plans & strategic plans):

The planning tool looks to address the key questions that any organisation should look to monitor as it goes about it normal working period (be that daily, weekly, monthly, etc.):
- What are we (as a team)working towards?
- What am I (as a team member) working towards (contributing)?
- Are we on track? Do we need to change anything?
- Are we doing the right things?
- Are we making best use of what we have (time, money & things)?
- Do we have all that we need?
= And is it all working together?

eCommerce for Success

The "eCommerce for Success" programme provides incremental & applied learning approach for both your own personal development as an entrepreneur and for the development of your business, combined with an interactive, participative programme that allows you to build on your own business ideas and experiences


The programme helps you to understand how visitors to your website will behave and how to design your website to influence that behaviour, helping you to develop strategies and tactics to encourage these visitors to become customers


The incremental learning builds on earlier sessions of the programme and drawing on your own business…

…to define what it is that you need from the internet to develop and grow that business…

…helping you to match your available resources (time; money; 3rd parties; equipment & facilitates; etc.) to your eCommerce plans

Throughout the programme there are practical session on how to get the best return for your investment in eCommerce (the internet & your website)


You will be provided with tools & working papers that we use to build your own eCommerce plans – for both you (personal development) and for your business (enterprise development)


And we draw upon research, from Ireland and Internationally – including research that you undertake as part of the assessment of you and your business' capacity to deliver on these eCommerce plans


What participants said…