Provisional final consolidation observations are presented back to the participants who have provided the information on which they are based at a draft findings meeting, which usually takes place the day before the last day of an assessment.
Draft findings presentations are provided for all those who have been interviewed during the assessment. The purpose is to provide the interviewees an opportunity to validate that the assessment team has heard them correctly. The participants are encouraged to comment on the findings and to correct any misinterpretation of the data the team may have made. They are also encouraged to identify any remaining information that should be reviewed. Participants can significantly help the team to clarify and sharpen its statements. Comments almost always help. Not everyone is always happy or satisfied with all the words a draft findings report uses, but nearly everyone feels better to have been given a chance to comment on the report before it becomes final.
In short, draft findings meetings are a way for the team to say to the organization: "This is the way things look to us, based on what you have told and shown us. Have we got it right?"
Drafts findings meetings also make it easier for the findings to gain a level of acceptance from the organization participants. After the participants tell the team, "This looks right to us," they effectively become owners of the team’s report.
Draft findings presentations do not include ratings. They are meant to provoke feedback, and the feedback provided by the organization in the draft findings review will impact the rating. Hence rating at this point is premature and counterproductive (the discussion should not be contaminated by defensiveness about ratings).
Based on feedback from the draft findings presentation and any subsequent data collection, the assessment team rates the organization’s processes, updates draft findings, and produces a final findings presentation.
At a draft findings meeting, the Lead Assessor usually begins with an update of the team’s activities and explains the objectives of the meeting. He or she explains that the team will report the observations that have been made about each individual KPA/PA. The Lead Assessor explains that these findings are a consolidation of a number of interviews and document reviews and that they do not represent what any one person has said. He or she also ensures that everyone understands the issues involved and agrees that the findings are accurate. Significantly, the Lead Assessor at each point inquires whether anyone has any more information to provide.
Draft findings meetings should take place in a relaxed atmosphere, and participants should feel free to comment on the findings at any point.
Individual members of the assessment team usually then present the draft findings for each KPA/PA, one at a time. Assessment team members who are not presenting should be seated among the participants and should record comments, disagreements, and body language. The assessment team should not argue with participants. (Sometimes it is difficult for the team not to sound as if they are defending "their statements" rather than the participants’ views. This attitude, though natural, should be resisted.)
If a participant disagrees with a finding, a team member should record his comment and if necessary arrange another interview.
Consolidating information gathered at draft findings presentations means rephrasing and summarizing what participants have told the team or what the team has seen in documents. When presenting comments about draft findings, the team needs to take care to record what has been said accurately. This sometimes is difficult because the team is frequently tired at this point in an assessment, and little time is left to craft further statements. However, this data should be handled with at least as much rigor as previous data. (If participants can recognize the words they have used during draft findings meetings in the final findings report, it reinforces the fact that the report is a statement of their collective voice.)
The assessment team does not agree to any changes during the draft findings sessions but will take suggested changes under careful consideration and come to consensus later about whether to include the changes.