Jeannette Slater
You got your NCD Survey results back and studied the analysis report. Now you want to move on. And that’s good. But don’t jump into action too quickly. Make sure you don’t overlook the most valuable resource you have – your people.
There are several reasons why focus groups are important to the process.
First, regardless of what the church health team feels they know from the survey, that information is only a good indicator of the area of problem. It will tell the church health team where they need to do some more digging to uncover the key issues for your particular church. So focus groups will help you refine your key issues in your own language.
Second, listening to the people in the congregation will foster new ideas, crystallize thinking, and build awareness of the minimum factor and associated key issues. There is much to be learned from listening, such as learning where passions lay, discovering hurdles to be aware of, and identifying people who want to be part of the solution.
Third, it is important in a change process to give people a place to talk about what’s on their mind. If you don’t provide a healthy space for that to happen, it may end up happening in unhealthy ways. Some teams are hesitant to conduct focus groups for fear of it becoming a blame session. With good questions and moderated discussion, the focus group can be a place for people to speak honestly and yet see and hear other perspectives that move them forward.
Finally, focus groups invite a wider group of people to buy into the whole NCD process. People are more likely to support something they are a part of. Even if you don’t act on their pet idea, if they know they’ve had input and that they’ve been heard, they are more likely to engage in the goals and plans that develop through the Action Planning Workshop.
So the church health team can use the results of the survey and the detailed analysis (NCD Insights or Profile Plus) to craft the most helpful questions that can then be used in the focus groups. But please, don’t skip the important step of conducting focus groups!
Resources
For more resources on how to conduct focus groups, CoachNet members can log on to www.coachnet.org and then click on the following links:
If you are not a member of CoachNet and would like access to an abundance of NCD resources, go to www.coachnet.org and click the “Join Now!” link.
Jeannette Slater is serving as Executive NCD Coach with Church Smart Resources, NCD's National Partners in the U.S.
