The format of feedback has a significant impact on the outcome of an evaluation. For example, checklists, a common tool in health and safety inspections, have limited potential to change practices and habits between utilizations because they don’t convey priority or provide guidance on how to solve cited issues and because there is variability in thoroughness of application. By contrast, feedback in the form of unstructured descriptive comment has the potential to magnify existing strengths which sustain overall good practice between inspections if the comments include positive citations that are specific and detailed. Without this addition to the standard, structured checklist, inspectors miss the opportunity to reinforce actions already being performed and the opportunity to build on the foundation of existing skill and knowledge. This presentation brings together principles of management, evaluation tool design, and neurological science to illustrate how to leverage inspection feedback for a more significant impact on the culture of safety.
Research impact: the University perspectiveJulie Bayley
At a recent Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) impact event, I offered a 'university perspective' on impact drivers and challenges. In this talk, I offer thoughts on the difficulties we still face trying to integrate impact into 'business as usual', and how impact evidence can be captured
Building an impact literate research culture: Research Impact Summit talk Nov...Julie Bayley
Extended slides from my talk for the international Research Impact Summit http://researchimpactsummit.com.
For a related commentary see the blog post at https://juliebayleyblog.wordpress.com
Evaluating the quality of quality improvement training in healthcareDaniel McLinden
Quality Improvement (QI)in healthcare is an increasingly important approach to improving health outcomes, improving system performance and improving safety for patients. Effectively implementing QI methods requires knowledge of methods for the design and execution of QI projects. Given that this capability is not yet widespread in healthcare, training programs have emerged to develop these skills in the healthcare workforce. In spite of the growth of training programs, limited evidence exists about the merit and worth of these programs. We report here on a multi-year, multi-method evaluation of a QI training program at a large Midwestern academic medical center. Our methodology will demonstrate an approach to organizing a large scale training evaluation. Our results will provide best available evidence for features of the intervention, outcomes and the contextual features that enhance or limit efficacy.
The release of the draft cohort default rates presents a great opportunity to review or initiate your default prevention plan. During this webcast, we discussed proven strategies that will help students successfully complete their program of study, become educated consumers regarding their student loans and provide them with the assistance they need to successfully repay their educational debt.
Research impact: the University perspectiveJulie Bayley
At a recent Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) impact event, I offered a 'university perspective' on impact drivers and challenges. In this talk, I offer thoughts on the difficulties we still face trying to integrate impact into 'business as usual', and how impact evidence can be captured
Building an impact literate research culture: Research Impact Summit talk Nov...Julie Bayley
Extended slides from my talk for the international Research Impact Summit http://researchimpactsummit.com.
For a related commentary see the blog post at https://juliebayleyblog.wordpress.com
Evaluating the quality of quality improvement training in healthcareDaniel McLinden
Quality Improvement (QI)in healthcare is an increasingly important approach to improving health outcomes, improving system performance and improving safety for patients. Effectively implementing QI methods requires knowledge of methods for the design and execution of QI projects. Given that this capability is not yet widespread in healthcare, training programs have emerged to develop these skills in the healthcare workforce. In spite of the growth of training programs, limited evidence exists about the merit and worth of these programs. We report here on a multi-year, multi-method evaluation of a QI training program at a large Midwestern academic medical center. Our methodology will demonstrate an approach to organizing a large scale training evaluation. Our results will provide best available evidence for features of the intervention, outcomes and the contextual features that enhance or limit efficacy.
The release of the draft cohort default rates presents a great opportunity to review or initiate your default prevention plan. During this webcast, we discussed proven strategies that will help students successfully complete their program of study, become educated consumers regarding their student loans and provide them with the assistance they need to successfully repay their educational debt.
Unblocking the Journey to Superior Candidate ExperienceCielo
Learn from a panel of four Talent Acquisition experts from the APAC region, as they share examples of how to overcome obstacles and take candidate experience to the next level.
The Art of Selecting Candidate Pre Hire AssessmentsAggregage
At the core of successful hiring practices is the fair and accurate evaluation of skills, abilities, knowledge and other criteria for a job. One powerful method to do this is through psychometric assessments. The RIGHT assessments used in the RIGHT way provide objective evaluation of criteria that are far more accurate than interviews alone. Unfortunately, choosing the wrong assessments or using assessments in the wrong way can lead to bad choices, biases, and even discriminatory practices that violate compliance standards.
The art of selecting candidate pre hire assessments - 202003 -v1Aggregage
At the core of successful hiring practices is the fair and accurate evaluation of skills, abilities, knowledge and other criteria for a job. One powerful method to do this is through psychometric assessments. The RIGHT assessments used in the RIGHT way provide objective evaluation of criteria that are far more accurate than interviews alone. Unfortunately, choosing the wrong assessments or using assessments in the wrong way can lead to bad choices, biases, and even discriminatory practices that violate compliance standards.
Training program effectiveness a measuring instrument (1)TheGrowthFactor
In addition to enhancing knowledge and skills, measuring training effectiveness has proven to be an important tool to boost employee engagement and retention. ... Organizations should ensure that employees can demonstrate a positive impact of training through improved productivity and overall skill development
Evaluation and Assessment for Busy ProfessionalsSara Rothschild
As higher education prevention professionals, we know how important it is to evaluate and assess our prevention efforts, especially when it comes to our efforts to address alcohol and sexual assault. But, between juggling multiple roles and competing demands, too often this important effort ends up falling off our plates.
EVERFI Senior Director of Impact and Education, Holly Rider-Milkovich shares new strategies for evaluating and assessing your prevention efforts when you’re short on time, resources, or both!
This was presented by Dr. Kaali Dass, at ASQ World Quality Improvement Conference at Milwaukee, WI, USA on May 18th, 2016.
This speech focuses on the following topics:
Organization Culture
Agile Transformation
Quality Culture
Building Quality Culture
Key Takeaways on Leadership, Communication, Process, Technology, People, and Analytics.
Running Head BECOMING A BETTER PRACTITIONER .docxsusanschei
Running Head: BECOMING A BETTER PRACTITIONER 1
BECOMING A BETTER PRACTITIONER
2
Becoming a Better Practitioner II
Diana Carter
University of South Carolina
Practice Setting and Role:
WellPartners provide a complete range of Vision care, free comprehensive eye care, vision exams, prescriptions, eyeglasses, dilation, glaucoma screening, refraction, retinal photography and visual field ex. My role as an intern is to administer the initial assessment and assist with the procedures of services rendered with the patients, from vision exams to the actual customer satisfaction survey.
Client System Description:
Our Adult non-profit clinic provides free eye care to residents of Fairfield, Lexington and Richland counties, 18 years or older with South Carolina driver’s license or ID, low income (≤ 200% of poverty level) and no vision insurance.
Customer Satisfaction As a practitioner my focus is on the effects produced on the people we serve. For instance, the result of a training program might be the number of graduates who get a job and keep it for a particular period. Seeing the outcome is a way to create avenues for excellent customer service. Measuring outcomes requires a bigger commitment of time and resources, while impacts are what we hopes for, positive outcomes are what we work for.
A viable measurement tools/approaches to assess your goal.
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
CSAT measures customer satisfaction with a specific experience. A single question typically determines: How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the service you received?
Description of measure - CSAT score is the sum of respondents that answered somewhat or very satisfied. The higher the number the higher your customer satisfaction will be. The CSAT would you rate patients experience with using 5 unit scales consisting of Very unsatisfied / unsatisfied / Neutral / Satisfied / Very satisfied. CSAT reflects content validity: This is related to our ability to create questions that reflect the issues we are researching and make sure that key related subjects are not excluded. Reliability is reflected with CSAT concerned with the consistency of our measurement, that’s the degree to which the questions used in a survey elicit the same type of information each time they are used under the same conditions.
Who? The clinical director or the intern will administer the survey/tool.
What? CSAT stands for Customer Satisfaction. The metric measures how a customer feels about a specific service.
Where? The survey will be administered in theprivate waiting area in Clinic
When? The survey/tool will be administered at the end of services rendered/termination. (2weeks process)
Reference
Braunsberger, K., & Ga ...
Unblocking the Journey to Superior Candidate ExperienceCielo
Learn from a panel of four Talent Acquisition experts from the APAC region, as they share examples of how to overcome obstacles and take candidate experience to the next level.
The Art of Selecting Candidate Pre Hire AssessmentsAggregage
At the core of successful hiring practices is the fair and accurate evaluation of skills, abilities, knowledge and other criteria for a job. One powerful method to do this is through psychometric assessments. The RIGHT assessments used in the RIGHT way provide objective evaluation of criteria that are far more accurate than interviews alone. Unfortunately, choosing the wrong assessments or using assessments in the wrong way can lead to bad choices, biases, and even discriminatory practices that violate compliance standards.
The art of selecting candidate pre hire assessments - 202003 -v1Aggregage
At the core of successful hiring practices is the fair and accurate evaluation of skills, abilities, knowledge and other criteria for a job. One powerful method to do this is through psychometric assessments. The RIGHT assessments used in the RIGHT way provide objective evaluation of criteria that are far more accurate than interviews alone. Unfortunately, choosing the wrong assessments or using assessments in the wrong way can lead to bad choices, biases, and even discriminatory practices that violate compliance standards.
Training program effectiveness a measuring instrument (1)TheGrowthFactor
In addition to enhancing knowledge and skills, measuring training effectiveness has proven to be an important tool to boost employee engagement and retention. ... Organizations should ensure that employees can demonstrate a positive impact of training through improved productivity and overall skill development
Evaluation and Assessment for Busy ProfessionalsSara Rothschild
As higher education prevention professionals, we know how important it is to evaluate and assess our prevention efforts, especially when it comes to our efforts to address alcohol and sexual assault. But, between juggling multiple roles and competing demands, too often this important effort ends up falling off our plates.
EVERFI Senior Director of Impact and Education, Holly Rider-Milkovich shares new strategies for evaluating and assessing your prevention efforts when you’re short on time, resources, or both!
This was presented by Dr. Kaali Dass, at ASQ World Quality Improvement Conference at Milwaukee, WI, USA on May 18th, 2016.
This speech focuses on the following topics:
Organization Culture
Agile Transformation
Quality Culture
Building Quality Culture
Key Takeaways on Leadership, Communication, Process, Technology, People, and Analytics.
Running Head BECOMING A BETTER PRACTITIONER .docxsusanschei
Running Head: BECOMING A BETTER PRACTITIONER 1
BECOMING A BETTER PRACTITIONER
2
Becoming a Better Practitioner II
Diana Carter
University of South Carolina
Practice Setting and Role:
WellPartners provide a complete range of Vision care, free comprehensive eye care, vision exams, prescriptions, eyeglasses, dilation, glaucoma screening, refraction, retinal photography and visual field ex. My role as an intern is to administer the initial assessment and assist with the procedures of services rendered with the patients, from vision exams to the actual customer satisfaction survey.
Client System Description:
Our Adult non-profit clinic provides free eye care to residents of Fairfield, Lexington and Richland counties, 18 years or older with South Carolina driver’s license or ID, low income (≤ 200% of poverty level) and no vision insurance.
Customer Satisfaction As a practitioner my focus is on the effects produced on the people we serve. For instance, the result of a training program might be the number of graduates who get a job and keep it for a particular period. Seeing the outcome is a way to create avenues for excellent customer service. Measuring outcomes requires a bigger commitment of time and resources, while impacts are what we hopes for, positive outcomes are what we work for.
A viable measurement tools/approaches to assess your goal.
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
CSAT measures customer satisfaction with a specific experience. A single question typically determines: How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the service you received?
Description of measure - CSAT score is the sum of respondents that answered somewhat or very satisfied. The higher the number the higher your customer satisfaction will be. The CSAT would you rate patients experience with using 5 unit scales consisting of Very unsatisfied / unsatisfied / Neutral / Satisfied / Very satisfied. CSAT reflects content validity: This is related to our ability to create questions that reflect the issues we are researching and make sure that key related subjects are not excluded. Reliability is reflected with CSAT concerned with the consistency of our measurement, that’s the degree to which the questions used in a survey elicit the same type of information each time they are used under the same conditions.
Who? The clinical director or the intern will administer the survey/tool.
What? CSAT stands for Customer Satisfaction. The metric measures how a customer feels about a specific service.
Where? The survey will be administered in theprivate waiting area in Clinic
When? The survey/tool will be administered at the end of services rendered/termination. (2weeks process)
Reference
Braunsberger, K., & Ga ...
Student-generated videos: a model for developing written standard operating p...Melinda Box
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) have an important role to play in laboratory operations, not only to maintain data consistency but also to ensure safe practice. Even so, development and use of them may be hindered by the perceived expense of time and effort relative to their expected benefit. While that cost can be minimized via the use of templates, this approach may produce documents that are not essential to practice if sufficient consideration is not given to the user’s experience. If, for example, the content does not have a clear beginning, middle, and end with regard to a process, users will not necessarily recognize their own successful (or unsuccessful) application of the information. Instead, SOP’s can be made more central in lab function by leveraging the experience of recent trainees. Their fresh awareness of carrying out the steps can shape the content into a more story-like format, thereby amplifying the power to connect with future users. In addition, unlike a template, this immediate navigation of the process tends to better focus the content on the most straightforward essentials. In our experience of producing and utilizing student-generated videos for instructional labs, we have observed the impact of these benefits. Our goal in this presentation is to identify and further explain those, based on human factors analysis, cognitive research, and instructional design principles, and to demonstrate how those aspects of procedural communication can be applied in making and utilizing SOP’s in academic research labs.
Encouraging Transparency in Lab Safety via Teachable Moments and Positive Fee...Melinda Box
Transparency is an essential part of developing and maintaining an ethical culture and a safety culture. We found two practices that significantly contributed to both - capitalizing on teachable moments and the active provision of detailed positive feedback. When we applied these to instances of evaluating performance, we found that they facilitated communication and supported the inquiry necessary to develop and sustain openness. While enforcement, an alternative approach, may evoke rapid compliance, it may also tend to reduce discussion. By contrast, we found that consideration of the vulnerability of those in non-compliance tended to ease the exchange and support the robust relations needed to create and maintain safe conditions. Appreciation for the state of intense interest and hunger for information characteristic of these teachable moments led to providing specific guidance that recipients were ready to use immediately. In addition, reinforcement of existing desirable practice via specific positive comments gave recipients the guidance necessary to build on their current foundation of skills, knowledge, and strengths. This presentation brings together research in neurological science, principles of management and evaluation, and cases of our observation to illustrate how performance evaluations can be leveraged to achieve an ethically responsive culture.
Supporting a Culture of Safety with Teachable MomentsMelinda Box
Recognizing teachable moments and transforming them into occasions of learning can be a useful strategy in developing a culture of safety in an academic department. Responding with recognition of the vulnerability of those experiencing undesired outcomes can open communication and support the inquiry necessary to develop and sustain safety changes. In this vulnerable state of momentary failing, people can experience intense interest in specific information that they are prepared to apply immediately. They are hungry to learn and thus teachable, meaning ready to actively construct new understanding. In addition, we discovered that once a teachable moment is met with support, people tend to initiate other inquiries rather than wait for their safety shortcomings to be discovered. Therefore, learning how to recognize and respond to teachable moments is an essential skill for safety officers to develop in pursuit of a self-regulating environment of good safety norms. Here, we present four short teachable moment case studies in order to demonstrate what qualities they have, how to utilize the opportunities provided by a user-driven approach, and what benefits can be anticipated from a partnership between students and the safety organization within an academic department.
Slide 1: Title Slide
Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Slide 2: Introduction to Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Definition: Extrachromosomal inheritance refers to the transmission of genetic material that is not found within the nucleus.
Key Components: Involves genes located in mitochondria, chloroplasts, and plasmids.
Slide 3: Mitochondrial Inheritance
Mitochondria: Organelles responsible for energy production.
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA): Circular DNA molecule found in mitochondria.
Inheritance Pattern: Maternally inherited, meaning it is passed from mothers to all their offspring.
Diseases: Examples include Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) and mitochondrial myopathy.
Slide 4: Chloroplast Inheritance
Chloroplasts: Organelles responsible for photosynthesis in plants.
Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA): Circular DNA molecule found in chloroplasts.
Inheritance Pattern: Often maternally inherited in most plants, but can vary in some species.
Examples: Variegation in plants, where leaf color patterns are determined by chloroplast DNA.
Slide 5: Plasmid Inheritance
Plasmids: Small, circular DNA molecules found in bacteria and some eukaryotes.
Features: Can carry antibiotic resistance genes and can be transferred between cells through processes like conjugation.
Significance: Important in biotechnology for gene cloning and genetic engineering.
Slide 6: Mechanisms of Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Non-Mendelian Patterns: Do not follow Mendel’s laws of inheritance.
Cytoplasmic Segregation: During cell division, organelles like mitochondria and chloroplasts are randomly distributed to daughter cells.
Heteroplasmy: Presence of more than one type of organellar genome within a cell, leading to variation in expression.
Slide 7: Examples of Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Four O’clock Plant (Mirabilis jalapa): Shows variegated leaves due to different cpDNA in leaf cells.
Petite Mutants in Yeast: Result from mutations in mitochondrial DNA affecting respiration.
Slide 8: Importance of Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Evolution: Provides insight into the evolution of eukaryotic cells.
Medicine: Understanding mitochondrial inheritance helps in diagnosing and treating mitochondrial diseases.
Agriculture: Chloroplast inheritance can be used in plant breeding and genetic modification.
Slide 9: Recent Research and Advances
Gene Editing: Techniques like CRISPR-Cas9 are being used to edit mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA.
Therapies: Development of mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) for preventing mitochondrial diseases.
Slide 10: Conclusion
Summary: Extrachromosomal inheritance involves the transmission of genetic material outside the nucleus and plays a crucial role in genetics, medicine, and biotechnology.
Future Directions: Continued research and technological advancements hold promise for new treatments and applications.
Slide 11: Questions and Discussion
Invite Audience: Open the floor for any questions or further discussion on the topic.
Richard's entangled aventures in wonderlandRichard Gill
Since the loophole-free Bell experiments of 2020 and the Nobel prizes in physics of 2022, critics of Bell's work have retreated to the fortress of super-determinism. Now, super-determinism is a derogatory word - it just means "determinism". Palmer, Hance and Hossenfelder argue that quantum mechanics and determinism are not incompatible, using a sophisticated mathematical construction based on a subtle thinning of allowed states and measurements in quantum mechanics, such that what is left appears to make Bell's argument fail, without altering the empirical predictions of quantum mechanics. I think however that it is a smoke screen, and the slogan "lost in math" comes to my mind. I will discuss some other recent disproofs of Bell's theorem using the language of causality based on causal graphs. Causal thinking is also central to law and justice. I will mention surprising connections to my work on serial killer nurse cases, in particular the Dutch case of Lucia de Berk and the current UK case of Lucy Letby.
Nutraceutical market, scope and growth: Herbal drug technologyLokesh Patil
As consumer awareness of health and wellness rises, the nutraceutical market—which includes goods like functional meals, drinks, and dietary supplements that provide health advantages beyond basic nutrition—is growing significantly. As healthcare expenses rise, the population ages, and people want natural and preventative health solutions more and more, this industry is increasing quickly. Further driving market expansion are product formulation innovations and the use of cutting-edge technology for customized nutrition. With its worldwide reach, the nutraceutical industry is expected to keep growing and provide significant chances for research and investment in a number of categories, including vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and herbal supplements.
Multi-source connectivity as the driver of solar wind variability in the heli...Sérgio Sacani
The ambient solar wind that flls the heliosphere originates from multiple
sources in the solar corona and is highly structured. It is often described
as high-speed, relatively homogeneous, plasma streams from coronal
holes and slow-speed, highly variable, streams whose source regions are
under debate. A key goal of ESA/NASA’s Solar Orbiter mission is to identify
solar wind sources and understand what drives the complexity seen in the
heliosphere. By combining magnetic feld modelling and spectroscopic
techniques with high-resolution observations and measurements, we show
that the solar wind variability detected in situ by Solar Orbiter in March
2022 is driven by spatio-temporal changes in the magnetic connectivity to
multiple sources in the solar atmosphere. The magnetic feld footpoints
connected to the spacecraft moved from the boundaries of a coronal hole
to one active region (12961) and then across to another region (12957). This
is refected in the in situ measurements, which show the transition from fast
to highly Alfvénic then to slow solar wind that is disrupted by the arrival of
a coronal mass ejection. Our results describe solar wind variability at 0.5 au
but are applicable to near-Earth observatories.
Richard's aventures in two entangled wonderlandsRichard Gill
Since the loophole-free Bell experiments of 2020 and the Nobel prizes in physics of 2022, critics of Bell's work have retreated to the fortress of super-determinism. Now, super-determinism is a derogatory word - it just means "determinism". Palmer, Hance and Hossenfelder argue that quantum mechanics and determinism are not incompatible, using a sophisticated mathematical construction based on a subtle thinning of allowed states and measurements in quantum mechanics, such that what is left appears to make Bell's argument fail, without altering the empirical predictions of quantum mechanics. I think however that it is a smoke screen, and the slogan "lost in math" comes to my mind. I will discuss some other recent disproofs of Bell's theorem using the language of causality based on causal graphs. Causal thinking is also central to law and justice. I will mention surprising connections to my work on serial killer nurse cases, in particular the Dutch case of Lucia de Berk and the current UK case of Lucy Letby.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MARTIAN ATMOSPHERE SAMPLE RETURN.Sérgio Sacani
The return of a sample of near-surface atmosphere from Mars would facilitate answers to several first-order science questions surrounding the formation and evolution of the planet. One of the important aspects of terrestrial planet formation in general is the role that primary atmospheres played in influencing the chemistry and structure of the planets and their antecedents. Studies of the martian atmosphere can be used to investigate the role of a primary atmosphere in its history. Atmosphere samples would also inform our understanding of the near-surface chemistry of the planet, and ultimately the prospects for life. High-precision isotopic analyses of constituent gases are needed to address these questions, requiring that the analyses are made on returned samples rather than in situ.
Earliest Galaxies in the JADES Origins Field: Luminosity Function and Cosmic ...Sérgio Sacani
We characterize the earliest galaxy population in the JADES Origins Field (JOF), the deepest
imaging field observed with JWST. We make use of the ancillary Hubble optical images (5 filters
spanning 0.4−0.9µm) and novel JWST images with 14 filters spanning 0.8−5µm, including 7 mediumband filters, and reaching total exposure times of up to 46 hours per filter. We combine all our data
at > 2.3µm to construct an ultradeep image, reaching as deep as ≈ 31.4 AB mag in the stack and
30.3-31.0 AB mag (5σ, r = 0.1” circular aperture) in individual filters. We measure photometric
redshifts and use robust selection criteria to identify a sample of eight galaxy candidates at redshifts
z = 11.5 − 15. These objects show compact half-light radii of R1/2 ∼ 50 − 200pc, stellar masses of
M⋆ ∼ 107−108M⊙, and star-formation rates of SFR ∼ 0.1−1 M⊙ yr−1
. Our search finds no candidates
at 15 < z < 20, placing upper limits at these redshifts. We develop a forward modeling approach to
infer the properties of the evolving luminosity function without binning in redshift or luminosity that
marginalizes over the photometric redshift uncertainty of our candidate galaxies and incorporates the
impact of non-detections. We find a z = 12 luminosity function in good agreement with prior results,
and that the luminosity function normalization and UV luminosity density decline by a factor of ∼ 2.5
from z = 12 to z = 14. We discuss the possible implications of our results in the context of theoretical
models for evolution of the dark matter halo mass function.
Observation of Io’s Resurfacing via Plume Deposition Using Ground-based Adapt...Sérgio Sacani
Since volcanic activity was first discovered on Io from Voyager images in 1979, changes
on Io’s surface have been monitored from both spacecraft and ground-based telescopes.
Here, we present the highest spatial resolution images of Io ever obtained from a groundbased telescope. These images, acquired by the SHARK-VIS instrument on the Large
Binocular Telescope, show evidence of a major resurfacing event on Io’s trailing hemisphere. When compared to the most recent spacecraft images, the SHARK-VIS images
show that a plume deposit from a powerful eruption at Pillan Patera has covered part
of the long-lived Pele plume deposit. Although this type of resurfacing event may be common on Io, few have been detected due to the rarity of spacecraft visits and the previously low spatial resolution available from Earth-based telescopes. The SHARK-VIS instrument ushers in a new era of high resolution imaging of Io’s surface using adaptive
optics at visible wavelengths.
5. How thoroughly How frequently
How soon
In what framework:
• Health and Safety
• Regulatory compliance
• Institutional compliance
• Necessities vs.
Recommendations
Recipients Need to Know:
6. SINCERE SPECIFIC SOON SIGNIFICANT
Lippman, V., 2015. Management Feedback Is Vital - Why Is It So Often Given Badly?.
[online] forbes.com. Available at: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2015/09/02/
management-feedback-is-vital-why-is-it-so-often-given-badly> [Accessed 26 July 2020].
8. INSPECTEE
RESPONSIVEN
ESS
Citation (i.e. negative feedback)
registers with greater strength
dampens deviations from standards
vs.
Inspiration (i.e. positive feedback)
amplifies receptivity, comprehension,
and recall
motivates learning
expands willingness to try new things
increases engagement
increases inclination to ask for
assistance (i.e. in essence admit to not
knowing, to uncertainty, or to
deficiency)
9. 2:1
1:2 5:1
“The Role of Positivity and Connectivity in the Performance of Business Teams: A Nonlinear
Dynamics Model” American Behavioral Scientist, Volume: 47 issue: 6, page(s): 740-765, Issue
published: February 1, 2004 Marcial Losada and Emily Heaphy
10. WHY IS POSITIVE
FEEDBACK SO
IMPORTANT?
Thorough evaluation requires
trust and rapport
Recipients need:
Empowerment to make changes
to know what excellence looks like
to know what to continue doing
Evaluators need to consider the
meaning and value of
conclusions to recipients
12. BONUS:
INSPEC
TORS
BENEFI
T,
TOO
Emotions are contagious
Benefits to donor of giving positive feedback:
more imaginative problem solving
increased cognitive perceptual openness
lower blood pressure
enhanced immunity
overall better health
Richard E. Boyatzis et al. Coaching With Compassion: Inspiring Health,
Well-
Being, and Development in Organizations. The Journal of Applied
Behavioral Science, 2012, 49(2) 153–178
Editor's Notes
Welcome to “Formatting Feedback for Success.” I’m Melinda Box, and I am the Chemistry Department Safety Officer at North Carolina State University. In that position, over the past four years, I have observed significant changes in safety compliance following the inclusion of positive feedback on environmental health and safety inspections. Inspired by that, I have assembled in this presentation principles of evaluation tool design and organizational management and related research in neuroscience and behavioral psychology that helps explain what we observed.
First I’ll begin with some feedback tools I have listed some here that are common for environmental health and safety inspection and categorized them based on whether they are included in the official record or not. Of course, that official record is necessary because it facilitates accountability, establishes expectations, and facilitates follow-up. Nonetheless, informal feedback, while not officially required, is just as essential in achieving successful outcomes.
Here are the reasons I have seen for that are:
First, much can be shared in person which can give meaning to the documented results. This includes greater specificity in observations than can be captured in the standard form; it includes illustrating a point by sharing others’ prior experiences, and it includes amplifying on regulations and rules to give them meaning in context.
Second, giving praise and providing positive impressions in the inspection setting gives those statements more meaning because inspectees can share in the observation. Nonetheless, emailing positive feedback, another informal method, can also have a significant impact, we found particularly when departmental administrators are included in that correspondence, as I’m sure you can imagine.
And, third, addressing and negotiating possible remedies can more readily be done in person, and thereby facilitate follow-up.
All of these benefits of informal feedback are only possible, of course, if there is, present at the inspection, a member of the group being inspected. So while unannounced or spot inspections may provide a more accurate snapshot of the evaluated setting during the time it’s in use, they may also have less impact in terms of change and improvement depending on the follow up.
An inspection will also have little impact if the feedback is not documented, generally in a structured form. By the same token, that form’s impact will vary depending upon its content and structure. As a result, it is important to consider best practices when designing this evaluation tool. Beginning with outlining the purpose.
Identifying the “purpose” means determining what about the target will be assessed. In the case of an inspection visit, that would be the target’s status, meaning its static state. While some observations captured on the form may be related to operations, those aspects will only give a partial view of on-going practice rather than a thorough assessment. So the primary target, therefore, is the status.
Next establish the goals, meaning the particular changes and improvements the evaluator would like to facilitate. For an environmental health and safety inspection, those might include improving the safety of conditions, increasing compliance with institutional requirements, and strengthening preparedness for external inspections, such as state or federal. It might also be to increase consciousness and understanding of those who work in the setting about applicable rules and regulations to facilitate inspection follow-up.
Since an inspection document may be viewed by multiple parties, it is important to consider who those consumers will be and what they will be looking for. For example, likely recipients of the report would be those who work in the inspected setting, the supervisor of those workers, facility management, and then higher management. Things they may be looking for could include:
how did we do? meaning was our performance satisfactory?
how does the content compare to last year’s? meaning are there items that were not previously noticed?
what are the trends for the facility as a whole? are there legal concerns? any risks to organizational reputation? or risks of regulatory fines?
and perhaps, most importantly, what is needed to fix the deficiencies? do we need to change practice? increase worker awareness? find some funding? or get approvals for facility modifications?
Taking these things into consideration will help in formatting the communication about the specific target items of the inspection, such as the quality of chemical inventory management, the consistency of PPE use, and the degree of compliance in waste management, just to give a few examples.
Lastly, to achieve the goals of the evaluation, it is important to take into consideration the resources available to the consumers of the evaluation. For example, if the form indicates safety shower testing is needed and the recipients don’t have access to the people responsible for doing that, then no change can take place.
Thinking for a moment outside of the usual inspection format, evaluation tools, in general, can consist of not only checklists, but narrative comment, and not only observations, but interviews, and not only the contributions of the evaluator, but also the evaluee. To determine which of these variations might be useful (or some combination thereof), it’s important to ask, “what do we expect this evaluation tool to do?”
And that’s related to the comparisons shown here.
So, for example, “Do we want it to emphasize development or accountability?” For development, we would design the evaluation tool to be formative. A good example of this is homework. With low points, it’s intended to be part of an iterative process to aid improvement. For accountability, we would design a summative assessment, meaning one which is conclusive and so does not involve inspector follow-up. Using the same academic analogy, this would be like an exam.
Another question - “Do we want it to emphasize proficiency or proffering awards?” For proficiency, one would strictly compare each recipient to a standard, meaning they would use a criterion-referenced tool. By contrast to decide who receives awards, one would compare inspectees to one another, meaning they would use a norm-referenced tool. And, these are not mutually exclusive, so a hybrid might be used. Also, these approaches might both be incorporated into informal feedback, as well.
Finally, we might ask “Do we want more emphasis on expertise or empowerment?” For expertise, an independent evaluation is used, which involves a specialized, trained inspector. Whereas, to achieve empowerment, a participatory evaluation is implemented. This means having recipient contribution, including getting their input on evaluation tool design and having them perform self- or peer- type inspections. Using this approach can be less efficient, but it can also achieve more vested interest and buy-in by the recipients, so these pro’s and con’s can be weighed in deciding how much of each, if any to include.
Because a goal of an inspection is likely improving environmental health and safety by remedying deficiencies, it’s important to recognize the value of conveying priority to recipients. When inspectees follow up on results, they must judge how thoroughly, how frequently, and how soon to implement solutions for each item cited - but that’s not something recipients are necessarily as equipped to do as the inspector. They are not trained to do inspections and therefore have less expertise on the framework used for evaluation, meaning on the particulars and subtleties of applicable regulations, institutional requirements, and consequences of non-compliance. So this is where informal feedback can come in – it can be pivotal.
To illustrate, an inspector may record that the amount of stored chemicals is excessive, but those who receive this feedback won’t necessarily know what that means. They won’t have the frame to determine which components of their inventory tipped to “excess” and why. Bridging this gap might be achieved conversationally during the visit.
As another example, an inspector may record that chemical containers are not properly capped, but recipients may not know what that means if they believe the bottle is “in use” and therefore allowed to be open.
And, finally, to illustrate that the priority of urgency may not be obvious - if an inspector identifies that gas cylinders were not properly secured, recipients may not place a high priority on addressing this risky situation they believe the tanks are secure because they are chained.
Finally, to maximize the impact of feedback, it’s important to consider some particular priorities in delivering it, beginning with the underlying intention. Whether that is more focused on finding errors or on promoting well-being, has a significant impact on the responsiveness of recipients. When recipients sense sincere concern and interest, they can more readily respond with their own sincere efforts to change and improve. Specificity in this feedback is essential, too, since without enough detail the recipient may not locate and or understand how to address the problems. And timing of the feedback is key. Promptness of delivery not only capitalizes on fresh memory, but it also models what is desired from recipients in terms of their responsiveness. So prompt feedback paves the way for prompt response. And, finally, insuring there is significance in the content not only conveys respect for the recipients’ time and effort, but also builds trust because it does not get bogged down in trivialities.
The standard approach for inspections (of any sort) is checklists since they facilitate systematic evaluation. Checklists also establish central expectations for both the stakeholders and the independent evaluator.
However, if the items on the list are general and if the scope of the target is large, use of the checklist may yield results that are not reproducible. The generality of the categories may leave too much room for interpretation for that reproducibility. So this lack of reliability can impact the trust of the recipients and their motivation to comply since success will feel like a moving target. Compounding this is that variation in thoroughness means without record of deficiencies there is no evidence that an inspection has been done. If something is recorded as “in compliance” it may be that the inspector did not look thoroughly enough. So, in effect, a checklist becomes a record, with certainty, of only negative feedback.
In addition, although a desired outcome may be to train recipients to self-regulate between inspections, checklists do not necessarily achieve this, and, finally, they don’t necessarily convey how to fix the deficiencies. So to address these shortcomings, some supplemental approach may be used, formally or informally.
Since a record facilitates follow-up, modifying an inspection form may be preferable, in particular to include a descriptive portion. Even though descriptions may also be arbitrary in the same way that general items on a checklist can be, they nonetheless may compensate for some of the limitations of a checklist. They are more flexible and adaptive, and thus can capture specificity enough to both aid recipients in fixing what’s wrong and reinforce what recipients are doing right.
Even if an evaluation tool has been designed well by including all of these considerations, and it has been delivered in a useful way along with helpful that conveyed priorities for follow up, inspectees may still not be responsive and fix things. And while there may be no way to guarantee a response, there are things that may influence the likelihood that may tip the balance. Psychological studies have shown that negative feedback consistently registers with more strength than positive feedback so this approach may seem preferable. However, those studies have also shown that while the emotional impact is memorable the details of it are not. And they have also shown that negative feedback reduces variations in behavioral responses, which may not be so preferable if what is needed is creative problem solving. In the case of laboratory setting inspections, examples of creativity might be changing schedules, reassigning training, finding alternatives for chemical storage, and the list could go on.
By contrast, studies in behavioral psychology and in neuroscience have shown that positive feedback expands the spectrum of responses. Since the perceived risk of penalization is lower, people try new things. They become more open to learning and become more engaged with others and with the effort. And, in my personal experience, recipients demonstrate more security to ask for assistance, with less fear of being penalized for not knowing or of being deficient.
To illustrate the importance of including positive feedback, one noteworthy 2001 review article titled “Bad is Stronger than Good” found that in almost every way bad experiences left a stronger impression than good ones - with ONE EXCEPTION – the content of feedback. It turned out that people wouldn’t remember negative feedback unless it was accompanied by sufficient positive feedback. So how much positive feedback is needed?
A 2004 study of the performance of business teams found that there were 5.6 positive comments for every one negative comment in the interactions of high performing teams. For comparison, medium performing teams recorded 1.9 positive comments for every one negative, and low performing teams recorded 0.375 positive for every one negative. The numbers on the graphic have been rounded to the nearest conservative integer.
So why is positive feedback so important?
Evaluation tool design and organizational management principles explain this in several ways.
First positive feedback establishes trust and rapport between the giver and the receiver. This not only builds teams as in the previously mentioned study but, in the case of any evaluation, it facilitates revelation. To elaborate, if recipients’ strengths have been acknowledged, they feel an added sense of security and this security can contribute to revealing more about their work conditions and practices. This added security also amplifies their confidence to build on their existing strengths. In other words, it empowers them to perform at a higher level.
Second it conveys to recipients acknowledgement of how they are achieving excellence and by association, what they are doing correctly that they need to keep on doing. In fact, this is how the Dallas Cowboys coach, Tom Landry, turned his team around. He put together highlight reels for each player so that they could see what they were doing right and focus their efforts on strengthening that. He recognized that it was not obvious to them what they were doing well and the same is true for inspection recipients.
Third, it acknowledges what is often most valuable and meaningful to the recipient, i.e. whether or not they succeeded and how they attained that achievement. Was their strategy clever, useful, or efficient? Have they demonstrated a thorough understanding of risk, hygiene, or recordkeeping? Did they overcome an obstacle or exemplify thoughtfulness? All of these behaviors lead to high performance, and, unfortunately, none are captured in a checklist.
So if the goal of an evaluation is to bring about change and improvement, then best practices of evaluation tool design directs use of a combination of checklist and descriptive formats. Together these give the sturdiness of pre-ordained expectations and the flexibility of open-endedness. And, with appropriate evaluator training, the descriptive feedback has the potential to encourage more creativity and responsiveness in recipients than the checklist could alone.
What’s more, there is a bonus - the giver of positive feedback benefits, too, both cognitively and physiologically. So there is this added incentive to advocate for designing evaluation tools that capture both a record of deficiencies, i.e. negative feedback, and a record of acknowledgement for what is being done right, i.e. positive feedback.