In the third and fourth questions, respondents were asked to identify anticipated Program Reform or general workplace changes, and the anticipated effects of each one.

In the second section, respondents were asked to identify, describe and rank any best practices or resources that their organizations had used to help address Program Reform or general workplace changes.

In the third and final section, they were asked to rank how valuable they thought four workshop topics would be for them. These topics were borrowed from one of the facilitator's workshop outlines. Also in this section, they were asked to identify other topics that they thought would be valuable in the Positive Strategies for Managing Change workshop. And finally, they were asked to indicate which day of the week would be best for allowing them to participate in a workshop.

At the conclusion of the survey, participants were asked if they would be interested in participating in a follow-up telephone interview. If they responded positively, they were asked for their name, position and telephone number.

The surveys were sent out electronically using individual member e-mail addresses. They were also sent out in paper versions, with the option of either faxing or mailing the completed survey back to us. To help with the response rate, we included a $1.00 gift certificate for Tim Hortons with each mailed survey.

Provincial Best Practices ¹

While the TCLN member survey was being prepared and distributed, we contacted all literacy network and sector representatives in Ontario asking them to identify best practices and resources in the field. This process of contact was managed through two general e-mail requests and several follow-up e-mails and phone calls.

Once the results of the TCLN member surveys were analyzed, we developed a telephone interview question set that was designed to specifically uncover information on best practices and resources that addressed the main concerns identified through the survey returns. Our goal was to interview at least one representative from each of the three sectors (community, school board and college). We were also hoping for a fairly diverse geographic representation.

Using the results of the network and sector requests for assistance, we conducted four telephone interviews with LBS agency representatives. The interviews were designed to uncover the following information:

• Recent changes within the organization and the effects of these changes on the organization and staff.

¹ For the purposes of this project, we defined a best practice or resource as a systematic approach to managing change that could be replicated elsewhere. (Examples of resources might include the use of web sites, videos, workshop materials or books. Examples of best practices might include staff retreats, time management or stress management strategies tailored for an organization.)