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An Assessor’s View

The most often asked questions at the moment seems to be about what a Registered matrix Assessor is looking for at a Review or Assessment.  Not surprisingly considering so many organisations are approaching their first Review against the matrix Standard and many new organisations are thinking about Assessment for the first time.  I will try to give an overview of the sort of things an Assessor will look for and how evidence is gathered.

The Assessor is looking for evidence of the outcomes of the matrix Standard articulated in the elements and criteria.  Because the matrix Standard is about outcomes there are no prescribed systems, processes or documents – it is about what happens in practice not what is written in a policy or procedure. 

Evidence is primarily verbal gathered through talking to people either formally in a one to one interview or informally in the workplace.  The Assessor will be looking for a consistent message from staff in the organisation and for those messages about how the service is delivered to be reflected in feedback from clients and external agencies. 

The Assessor follows a theme from the matrix Standard from the top to the bottom of the organisation in order to find those consistent messages.  For example, the Assessor will ask staff delivering information, advice and guidance about how they do so:  to describe the typical client journey from how they find out about the service, the initial contact, how needs are determined and agreement is reached about the services provided to the client, the delivery of that service through to the feedback gathered from the client about their experience. 

To check whether the service’s description of the delivery of information, advice and guidance is how it is experienced by the client, the Assessor will talk to a sample of clients – this is to establish whether what is intended is what is actually experienced by the client.  The Assessor might ask how an individual found out about your organisation, what happened when they first made contact, what were they told about what was available and how it would be delivered and how were they invited to give feedback on their experience.

The third group from which the Assessor will gather verbal evidence is external agencies – partners, funding bodies, referral agencies for example.  The questions asked will be shaped by the nature of the relationship.  If the Assessor is talking to a referral agency then they will ask about how your organisation keeps the referral agency informed about service provision and how clients access services, how and when your organisation invites feedback on the relationship and how that feedback has been used to identify and implement improvements.

The secondary source of evidence is that gathered through observation.  The Assessor will expect to hear a consistent description from anyone with a delivery role and will confirm or corroborate verbal evidence by observing what happens in practice – Assessors are renowned for loitering in reception areas to observe how clients are received and how the initial contact and needs analysis is carried out. 

Element 3 which is about the information resources available to clients cannot be assessed without observation evidence. The Assessor will need to see what you have and will ask about how you decide what to hold and the formats it is held in, how you ensure information is accurate and conforms to equal opportunity and who is responsible for managing the information resource.  Where information is held electronically the Assessor may ask to be shown how to access it or to observe clients being helped to access information.

The third source of evidence is documentary evidence which can only be used to corroborate verbal and observation evidence – it can not be used on its own to evidence any part of the matrix Standard.  The Assessor is looking to see that whatever is written down in the form of a policy, procedure or plan is what happens in practice – this is what is meant by an outcomes based Standard and Assessment process.  

For example, criteria 7a and 7b require you to tell clients about how to feedback complaints, compliments and suggestions and how feedback will be handled.  It is not enough to have a complaints policy and procedure – the Assessor may read it but will also want to ask staff how they would deal with a complaint – do they know what the procedure is, how would they describe it to a client and when would that information be provided.  The Assessor would also want to find out whether clients know what to do if they want to make a complaint – how do they know, who told them or where did they find out, what were they told about how the complaint would be handled – did the process match what they told would happen.

The gathering of evidence using verbal, observation and documentary methods enables the Assessor to “triangulate” the evidence; gathering evidence from a cross-section of staff, from clients and external agencies enables the Assessor to follow themes from the matrix Standard through the organisation.  The combination of the two enables the Assessor to gather sufficient, relevant and current evidence upon which to make a judgement about whether the matrix Standard is met.  It is about balancing the evidence – the Assessor will consider the consistency of what is heard, seen and read as well as how much evidence is available to support each of the criteria of the matrix Standard. 

I am often asked the difference between an Assessment and an inspection or audit.  Whilst an Assessment is as described above – a balance of evidence against the matrix Standard – an inspection or audit focuses on evidencing the process or systems rather than outcomes.  Usually this means there is far more emphasis on documentary evidence rather than that gathered verbally.

Assessment or Review against the matrix Standard is your opportunity to tell your story and the process is designed to help you do that to best effect. Good luck with your review or Assessment.

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