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As a grantmaker, questions are your instruments. They assist you to collect info, assess wants, measure outcomes, and construct relationships together with your grantees. However are you asking the best questions? And are you asking them in the best method?
On this weblog publish, we are going to share some insights and greatest practices from our current webinar, Change Up Your Questions: Exploring and Shaping What You Ask Grantees and How You Ask Them, the place Marshall Ginn of Capital Philanthropy mentioned the way to consider and enhance your software questions. We may also provide you with seven inquiries to ask your self about your questions, to verify they’re related, clear, respectful, and helpful.
Why Change Up Your Questions?
Altering up your questions is not only about making beauty tweaks or updates. It’s about ensuring that your questions align together with your organizational values and your objectives for the grantmaking program. It’s additionally about ensuring that your questions replicate the present state of your group and the sector, and that they respect the range and experience of your candidates.
Reviewing and amending your questions also can assist you to get higher and extra constant solutions, which may make your assessment course of simpler and more practical. By being clear about what you’re in search of and why, you’ll be able to keep away from confusion, ambiguity, and guesswork. You can even keep away from asking for info that you simply don’t want or use, which may save time and assets for each you and your grantees.
Easy methods to Change Up Your Questions
Altering up your questions can imply various things, relying in your context and wishes. Listed below are some examples of what you are able to do to alter up your questions:
- Add components or dimensions: make clear, encourage extra exact responses, or ask for extra particulars
- Make small modifications: tweak the language or edit inquiries to be less complicated, shorter, or extra particular
- Rewrite the entire thing: if a query feels outdated, irrelevant, or inconsistent, rewrite it to match your present priorities and expectations
- Take issues out: if a query shouldn’t be important or doesn’t assist you decide, take away it from the appliance
- Transfer issues round: if a query is healthier suited to a unique stage of the method, similar to a follow-up interview or a post-award communication, transfer it to that stage.
For some modifications, you might want to speak them to your group and clarify the rationale behind them. You can even solicit suggestions out of your grantees and your reviewers to see how any of the modifications are working and what else might be improved.
What To Ask as You Assessment Your Questions
That can assist you consider and enhance your software, listed here are seven inquiries to ask your self as you assessment every query. These questions are primarily based on the framework Marshall shared within the webinar, which you should utilize as a information to your personal assessment course of.
- Does this query replicate the mission of my group? Make it possible for your query is constant together with your values and your imaginative and prescient. This can be the primary main interplay that your applicant has together with your group, so that you need to make an excellent impression and convey what you stand for.
- How will I exploit this info? Be clear in regards to the objective and the worth of every query. If you happen to don’t have an excellent reply for a way you’ll use the data, you might not have to ask the query.
- Is that this query related? Make it possible for your query displays the present wants and realities of your group and the sector. In case your query is outdated, inaccurate, or might be perceived as insensitive, you might want to alter it or take away it.
- Can this query be interpreted otherwise? Keep away from utilizing regionalisms, jargon, or advanced wording that may hinder understanding. Think about how totally different individuals with totally different backgrounds and experiences could interpret your query and attempt to make it as clear and inclusive as attainable.
- What am I in search of with this query? Be particular about what sort of reply you expect and what standards you’ll use to guage it. If you need numbers, ask for numbers. If you need examples, ask for examples. Present an outline or greatest practices as a second half to the query, if wanted.
- Can this query be simplified? Search for methods to simplify your language and your construction to make your query simpler to learn and reply. Use customary writing greatest practices, similar to quick sentences and lively voice. Break down advanced or multi-part questions into smaller and less complicated ones. And once more, be aware of jargon or extremely technical phrases.
- Would this query be higher requested in a follow-up interview or post-award communication? Think about the timing and the context of your query. Some questions could also be extra applicable or efficient at a later stage of the method, when you will have extra rapport and belief together with your grantees. Some questions may additionally be extra appropriate for a dialog than a written response.
Making a Significant and Measured Utility
Questions are highly effective instruments for grantmakers, however they must be used correctly and nicely. By asking your self these seven questions on your questions, you’ll be able to guarantee that your software is aligned together with your values, objectives, and influence. You can even make your software course of extra environment friendly, respectful, and significant for each you and your grantees.
Are you in search of methods to replace your software course of? Try our information on the way to handle your software pipeline, the place you’ll find extra suggestions and greatest practices on the way to design and optimize your software course of.
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