Our current CCE Program Development Leadership Cohort (PDLC) has been thinking about strategies for assessing needs.  While many of us are familiar with launching a survey or looking at service statistics to understand interests in programs, not everyone has had the opportunity to run a focus group.  This topic was of high interest to our cohort.  Why use a focus group?  And what are some strategies for running one?

Focus groups can be a powerful tool to help you understand community needs, refine ideas, and improve outcomes. Whether you’re exploring youth development, agriculture, climate resiliency, or nutrition education, a well-run focus group can give you valuable insight to guide your next steps – and develop a relationship with those who show up to share.  I like to use focus groups as an extension needs assessment or evaluation method because it offers an opportunity to listen deeply to people, and it uses a social environment that can help conversation to be more generative.

Here’s a step-by-step guide intended to help take some of the mystery out of running a focus group:

1.  Define the Purpose. Start with a clear goal. What do you want to learn? Examples might include testing ideas for a new initiative, exploring community concerns, evaluating participant experiences. Keep your purpose focused and align your questions with that purpose.
2.  Identify and Recruit Participants.  Aim for 6–10 participants with diverse perspectives relevant to your topic.

Consider:

• • Program participants (past or potential)
  • Community partners
  • Stakeholders (e.g., teachers, farmers, volunteers)

Use email, phone calls, flyers, or existing networks to invite participants. Be clear about time commitment and why their voice matters.   Share your purpose. Have individuals register so that you can remind them and thank them.

3.  Develop Guiding Questions. Prepare 5–7 open-ended questions to guide the discussion. These should:

• • Prompt stories and experiences (“Tell us about…”)
  • Avoid yes/no answers
  • Start broad, then narrow in
  • Have back up questions in case there is silence.

Questions will relate to your Focus Group purpose – here are a couple of samples – “What types of support do you need to participate fully in our program?”
“How has this program impacted your daily life?”

4.  Logistics Plan. Choose a comfortable and accessible location—or host it online via Zoom.

Plan for:

• • • 30-60 minutes of discussion
    • Include a neutral facilitator (conversations should be lukewarm and not emotional…so at times, that means that we ask someone else to moderate/facilitate)
    • A notetaker or recorder (with permission of participants)

Offer refreshments or a small incentive, if possible, send reminders before the session, and thank you afterwards.

5.  Facilitate Conversation. Set a welcoming tone. Begin with introductions and ground rules:

• • Respect all voices
  • Listen actively
  • Confidentiality matters

Use your guiding questions but stay flexible. Let conversation flow naturally while ensuring all voices are heard.  Avoid dominating the discussion yourself (see note above about including a neutral facilitator).

6.  Analyze and Apply What You Learn.

After the session:

• • Review notes and recordings
  • Look for themes and key insights
  • Summarize takeaways in plain language

Use what you learn to refine your program design, identify gaps, and support grant proposals or reports.

7.  Share Back. This one is important and often forgotten (amongst all the other priorities—I get it). Participants appreciate knowing their time matters. Share a summary of findings and how their feedback will be used. This builds trust and encourages future engagement.

Focus groups aren’t just about collecting data but about listening deeply and building relationships. Done well, they strengthen programs and make them more responsive to real needs in our communities.

Here are a few resources for further information:

• Staff Bulletin – Assessing Needs for Program Development
• Staff Bulletin – Focus Groups
• Open Journal of Extension, Select “Search” and plug in Focus Groups – there is an array of articles on different topics.
  • Example: Participatory Evaluation and Needs Assessment Tools for Cooperative Extension in a Virtual Environment – Karen A. Vines, Virginia Tech

If you’d like tools or a sample focus group plan, contact me – Celeste Carmichael, cjc17@cornell.edu. 

Let’s keep learning, together ?

This spring the State 4-H Office and CCE Admin Organizational Development Unit partnered to pilot “The 4-H Thriving Vision Project”, a cohort initiative aiming to elevate the reach and impact of extension programs by leveraging the insights and perspectives of an Extension Program Advisory Committee (PAC) and building understanding about how the 4-H Thriving Model can help set the tone for 4-H work.

The five month cohort project intended to build understanding of Extension PACs, considering how the committees can identify gaps in participation, suggest improvements, and explore new audience opportunities. The involvement of external stakeholders, such as potential program participants not currently engaged, was explored as a method that could be particularly valuable. These “fresh eyes” can reveal opportunities that may be overlooked by those closely affiliated with the program.

Ten counties participated.  An initial survey of participants indicated that staff were most interested in the following:

• Update the advisory board and set new goals for 4-H.
• Improve connections and interactions with advisory committee members.
• Learn from other counties about how they meet community needs.
• Add more advisory members and get their feedback and suggestions.
• Find ways to involve youth, volunteers, and other community members in addressing local issues.
• Respond effectively to community needs and build confidence in CCE – 4-H as a partner.
• Support the growth of the committee and staff.
• Find ways to connect with Cornell Campus.

To get at these issues, the cohort explored topics through monthly meetings where the agenda included content presentations and group activities.  Resources and content shared was also offered in an online course that featured introductory material to the 4-H Thriving Model and the Program Advisory Committee Handbook.

Topics covered in the meetings and course from January to May included:

• Exploring Youth Thriving – designed to create awareness and familiarity with the mission, vision and values of the 4-H youth development and our positive youth development framework (The 4-H Thriving Model)
• Snapshot of Today – an exploration of available data (collected through the local Plans of Work and data collection) to understand where your program is currently.
• Opportunity for All – Building on teams learned from their data and considering how Associations can contributing to closing the opportunity gap for youth.
• A Vision for Tomorrow – applying info learned as a process of creating a strategic vision for the county 4-H program. The process and supporting tools allow counties to create a vision statement that describes the ideal future for 4-H in your County (5-7 years from now) and identify priority focus areas for moving the process ahead.
• Charting your Course – implementation plan – this session was all about writing strategies to get from the goals to results.

The pilot was offered to help county staff to effectively harness the power of diverse perspectives, driving the extension programs towards greater reach and impact.

As with any pilot, we learned a few things in the implementation of this effort.  In the beginning, the thought was to open the cohort to volunteers serving on Advisory committees as well as staff.  What we learned is that with so much staff turnover, there are many iterations of PACs across the state, and different understandings and expectations of staff members.  So staff plus volunteers in the same space didn’t always feel congruent.  While some counties might be able to apply the process to staff and volunteers together in a PAC setting, not all were ready to do that.  Additionally, there were some that came to learn more about the 4-H Thriving Model, and others that were there to learn about enriching their PAC.

That said, participating staff indicated that they appreciated the time together to learn collectively and collaboratively.  They gained tools and skills that could be helpful, and noted that the experience was especially helpful for new 4-H staff who were still learning about the concept of “thriving” and how 4-H can help youth to build confidence and competence in a way that helps them thrive.

The next steps are to optimize the online content for use by staff independently and for professional development trainings.  It was suggested that parallel printable content could also strengthen the utility of the resources, particularly for audiences not likely to take the online course.  There is also an interest in generalizing the content with specific audience resources to be useful for staff beyond 4-H Youth Development staff.

Interested in learning more?  Have suggestions or questions?  Please do contact cce-orgdev@cornell.edu.

In a recent staff survey about “superpowers of educators” staff shared reasonable confidence for convening interesting meetings.  That is good news – as we end up hosting lots of meetings in Extension!   Thoughtful practices for running meetings include – be considerate of the those in attendance, treat others with kindness and respect, and think of the outcomes that you want to achieve when planning the agenda. Below are a few practices to observe and put into place regularly.  Some of these items have been covered in the Program Advisory Committee Handbook.

Tips for transforming meetings from mundane to engaging include intentional planning and perhaps a few predictable strategies:

• Curate a Thoughtful Agenda.  An agenda is more than a list of topics; it’s a roadmap for the meeting. Prioritize the most important items and allocate time slots for each. Include a mix of presentations, discussions, and interactive activities to maintain interest. Sharing the agenda ahead of time allows attendees to prepare and contribute meaningfully – and offer suggestions for additional agenda items.
• Meeting time/place.  Meet at a time and place appropriate for your committee – it’s worth the time to Doodle, poll, ask (yes, I realize that can be painful).
• Foster an Inclusive Environment. Encourage participation from all attendees by creating an inclusive environment. Start with icebreakers or small talk to ease participants into the meeting. Use techniques like round-robin or small group discussions to ensure everyone’s voice is heard. An inclusive meeting not only garners diverse perspectives but also keeps participants engaged and connected to one another and the meeting convener.
• Understand member motivation.  People have reasons for being on committees. Identify these reasons and try to make their time personally rewarding. Also, letting them know that you appreciate them goes a long way. A simple email saying thanks makes a difference.
•  Meetings do not have to be boring.  Plan something fun for your committee once a year – sharing a meal, a field visit to a program, or visiting other local programs could build relationships and program or evaluation strategies.  Invest your time and your member’s time in experiences that will members to work as a team with you.
• Navigating meetings.  Not everything will go smooth.  Expect there to be hoops and hurdles. Learn about team dynamics and how to navigate differences, utilize strengths and work to neutralize perceived power differences with strategies for collecting ideas and making decisions.  Below are a few more tips for helping to navigate meetings:

• • • Provide Social Interaction. Informal social interaction, usually in the form of refreshments, allows the committee members time to continue conversations from the meeting, meet with sub-committee members, or build informal networks.

• • • Moving action items forward.  Change your meetings to “doings” – Always treat meetings as an opportunity to create a plan, strategy, report, outline, idea etc.  Have a specific purpose and desired outcomes distributed with the agenda.

• • • Assign Tasks to People. Specific action steps should always be assigned to specific individuals.  If there are large tasks, make an individual a sub-committee chair to facilitate a smaller group.

• • • Assign Deadlines. Give individuals a definite time for completion of the task.  A common deadline is by the next meeting.

• • • End with Action Items. Conclude the meeting by summarizing key points and outlining actionable next steps. Assign responsibilities and set deadlines to ensure follow-through. This reinforces the meeting’s purpose and keeps momentum going.

• • • End on Time. Participants tend to get disenchanted when meetings are too long or go over their time limit.  Be extremely time conscious and end on time.

• • • Be Prompt with Follow-Up. Send all committee members a recap of the action steps and assignments within a few days following the meeting. This serves as a reminder and also as an update to absent members.

• • • Evaluate the Meeting. Distribute a short survey that asks what the participants thought about the meeting and how future meetings can be more useful.

• • • End on a Positive Note. Affirmations are very popular and provide a source of motivation to the group.  Use inspirational quotes, motivational poems, or uplifting short stories.

• • • Announce the Next Meeting, Time and Location 

• Have additional tips for running meetings that matter?  Please send to Celeste Carmichael, cjc17@cornell.edu.

Based on content from Extension Advisory Handbook:  https://cornell.box.com/s/id39taiuthbby6qy4jz37b9ly9shk6hz 

I’m often asked “why” questions related to Advisory Committees, focus groups, needs assessments etc.  To some it may feel like an extra step that there isn’t capacity or time for, but the truth is that stakeholder engagement is at the heart of what we do in Extension – ensuring that programs are based on community needs, and that we aren’t just doing what always has been done for simplicity or desire for continuity.  Annually, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) asks Cornell to submit a research and extension plan as it relates to federal funding.  The plan is broad allowing for us to navigate the nitty gritty, but the majority of the content asks about stakeholder engagement – how do we intend to get input from the public or underrepresented groups?  How will we intentionally identify audiences that represent diverse demographics and experiences?  And then, how will we consider their input?

Some have heard me say that assessing needs, and reaching out to community groups, leaders, and representatives does two things – it helps us gather input, but it also sends a strong signal to others that we really do value their thoughts and potential collaborations.  It is a way to better understand needs, but it is also a way to genuinely invite others into our programs, honor their lived experience, and grow our audience appeal to our communities.

Over the last couple of years, Extension Administration has renewed our commitment to developing resources for staff working with Advisory Committees.  You may have seen the Advisory Committee Handbook or attended a training session about the key elements.  If you are unfamiliar with the documentation on the needs for and actions of Program Advisory Committees take a look at the one-page summary about Advisory Committees. CCE Executive Directors and Regional Team Leaders will be most familiar with the standard requirements around Program Advisory Committees, but in essence, Associations are asked to embrace advisory committee work 4 times a year for all major programmatic efforts (as noted in your PDR program listing).

I’ve had some pushback on the idea of  recruiting external stakeholders (those not traditionally involved in Extension work) into Advisory Committees.  To that I typically will respond that Program Advisory Committees are intended to take an objective look at data and evaluations and “advise” – providing insights but not “doing the work” – (the doing is more aligned with the work of a program development committee; typically made up of enrolled participants and volunteers to help staff to do the work of putting on events and activities).  The difference is monumental – being a part of an advisory committee isn’t a large commitment of time, and considering input as opposed to doing it all…is a different animal.

There is a great example of an external group that provided advisory-level guidance to CCE Cayuga for their 4-H Youth Development program – complete with a report shared back to leadership.  The advisement wasn’t an edict, “though shalt” but rather a – “here is what we see based on data, talking with enrolled volunteers and youth, and public documents”. The external stakeholders that were engaged came into the task not knowing much about 4-H Youth Development, but left as huge fans that wanted to see the program implemented more widely.   The report was intended as an advisement to help grow the 4-H Youth Development program – not as a judgment, but as opportunity and advice.  There are many ways to approach Advisory Committees – and this example helps showcase how to meet the requirement without having one more full-fledged extension committee.

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Summarized Actions found in the Cornell Research and Extension Plan of Work  Related to Stakeholder Engagement: Actions to Seek stakeholder input that encouraged their participation: Use of media to announce public meetings and listening sessions Targeted invitation to traditional stakeholder groups Targeted invitation to non-traditional stakeholder groups Targeted invitation to selected individuals from the general public Survey of traditional stakeholder groups Survey of traditional stakeholder individuals Survey of the general public Survey specifically with non-traditional groups Survey specifically with non-traditional individuals Survey of selected individuals from the general public Methods to identify individuals and groups: Use Advisory Committees Use Internal Focus Groups Use External Focus Groups Open Listening Sessions Needs Assessments Use Surveys Methods for collecting stakeholder input: Meeting with traditional Stakeholder groups Survey of traditional Stakeholder groups Meeting with the general public (open meeting advertised to all) Meeting specifically with non-traditional groups Survey specifically with non-traditional groups Meeting with invited selected individuals from the general public Survey of selected individuals from the general public A statement of how the input will be considered: In the Budget Process To Identify Emerging Issues Redirect Extension Programs Redirect Research Programs In the Staff Hiring Process In the Action Plans To Set Priorities

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Find out More:

• Cornell Research and Extension Plan of Work submitted to NIFA for 2025 https://cornell.box.com/s/1t58n5dnn51r4yx7r5by7tp1qn03j61y
• Advisory Committee one-page summary https://cornell.app.box.com/file/1441751162115?s=cawf9gt3j61bx1nqraqic36gyqfsc0sc
• Advisory Committee Handbook https://cornell.box.com/s/id39taiuthbby6qy4jz37b9ly9shk6hz

Questions?  Feel free to reach out:

• The CCE DEIB Leadership Team: cce-belonging@cornell.edu
• Your county’s State Extension Specialist: https://staff.cce.cornell.edu/units/ses
• Kelly Campbell, CCE Volunteer Engagement Specialist: kmc86@cornell.edu
• Celeste Carmichael, CCE Program Development Specialist: cjc17@cornell.edu

Ugh. Another Meeting…

As a former teacher my entrance to cooperative extension came with lots of learning and very often beginning before I was ready. Great for learning but very uncomfortable and full of failures. As a teacher, I was a part of many meetings, but leading was less frequent. Of course, leading students and working with teams, but those didn’t feel like meetings to me. But why? Maybe because the word meeting has grown a less than stellar reputation. Or because working with elementary students always includes an element of creativity and fun to keep them engaged. Meetings were often a chance to connect with our teams after the students left for the day.  A chance to vent, share joys, and plan for the week ahead.

Meetings are at the core of our work in extension. I remember some of my first meetings after I was asked to join the leadership team. I often left singing the lyrics to a country song in my head. “a little less talk and a lot more action.” All we did was talk and often didn’t come back to it until months later when we said, “Didn’t we say we were going to…” And then when I was leading a weekly meeting with a group that was burnt out and disconnected, I knew I wanted to create something different. I, of course, did a little research on how to run a meeting. And found a meeting template. Some folks loved it, some found it too intense, and it didn’t always fit our needs. Here I was thinking there must be a right way to run a meeting and I went straight to logistics because by nature I love creating order, structure, and routine- perhaps the teacher in me. But that doesn’t always create meaningful and engaging experiences. So, there must be a way to balance the two.

An example of starting before I was ready… I took a risk to bring a large yet completely disconnected team together. My hope was to help these teams, working in silos, to build connection and see how they were connected to the same mission and vision while valuing and respecting each teams uniqe contribution. To much for one meeting? Maybe. And my learning, for some, I provided way to much informaition leading up which bolged folks down in the building connection. Connection before content is better strategy. I had some work to do after that to ease some tensions.

We’re “cooperative” extension. When tensions arise and common purpose and values get fuzzy, this phrase often comes up for me. And when it makes sense, I find ways to drop it as a gracious reminder for myself and others. Cooperative- involving mutual assistance in working toward a common goal. If only it always felt that way! As an organization with a long, rich history and a framework that supports us in evolving and adapting our programs to meet the needs of communities- finding shared purpose and inclusive approaches are key to our success but getting there can be a challenge. Especially when values and purpose are breezed over to “respect people’s time.” But if we’re not clear on why we’re meeting and everyone is coming with a different purpose and the facilitator is keeping the meeting short, are we really respecting people’s time?

I promise you, I’m not an expert but I have learned a few things. Sometimes there doesn’t need to be a task. Adults still want to have fun. Connection comes before content. And always purpose before logistics. I’ll forever be learning and creating my masterpiece when it comes to meetings. And as author Priya Parker might describe it, the gathering is more like an art.

And the teacher in my also loves a good book club! If you are interested in exploring new ways to create engaging and meaningful experiences that have folks looking forward to gathering, you’re invited to gather with us! Grab a copy of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker as we, connect with colleagues, read, and reflect on new strategies, while supporting each other in planning or recreating more meaningful and inclusive spaces together.

Before you join, we ask that you come ready to fully engage in the process- including the reading, and the virtual gatherings and determine a specific focus area (meeting, group, team, committee etc.) for working through the reflective process. An opportunity to learn and reflect with others and apply directly to your work as we go. Our virtual gatherings will be held bi-weekly from 1pm to 2pm, beginning March 14.

(3/14, 3/28, 4/11, 4/25, 5/9, 5/23).

Consider registering by March 1^st to give yourself time to grab a copy of the book, read the first two chapters and get the details on how to prepare for our first gathering on March 14. But if your able to make that happen before we gather, were happy to accept your application after March 1st.  Registration: https://cornell.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0ivH1cCXIxN9gZE 

Let’s create some art together! And please reach out with any questions (kmc86@cornell.edu).

All the best,

Kelly Campbell

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ESP Lambda Chapter is co-sponsoring/encouraging others to join this conversation as we hear that “getting people to show up and be engaged in advisory committees, boards, and leadership is a need.  Kelly Campbell will be our keynote speaker for our annual meeting in December – sharing lessons learned through the book reading series.  Join us if you can, share with others!  All are invited.