management
BBYO Advisor Needs Assessment
OGL 554 Learning & Development in Organizations Milestone One: Topic and Rational
JOSH MINZER
Arizona State University College of Integrative Sciences and Arts Master of Science in Organizational Leadership
BBYO ADVISOR NEEDS ASSESSMENT 1
Table of Contents
Introduction 2
Statement of mission and vision 2
Core Values 3
Structure 3
Needs Assessment 4
Rationale 4
Observation Assessment 6
Results of Needs Assessment 7
Alignment of Results 9
Needs Analyses 10
Organizational Analysis 10
Person Analysis 10
Task Analysis 12
Summary 13
References 13
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I. Introduction
BBYO, formerly known as the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization is a pluralistic Jewish teen
movement with chapters of teens across 56 countries around the world (BBYO, 2021a). This paper will
discuss the mission and structure of the organization to understand why the focus of the needs
assessment is structured around our advisors. As OGL 554 is a class which focusses on andragogical
learning, adult-centered learning, I have decided to work with a group of adults accessible to me in my
position. Additionally, this paper will use an observational needs assessment to identify critical aspects
of the role of an advisor to determine if the training fits the needs of the organization, the relevancy of
the training for each advisor, and what areas of the advisor role training is necessary.
II. Statement of mission and vision
BBYO’s mission, located on their website, is stated as follows, “BBYO is the leading pluralistic
Jewish teen movement aspiring to involve more Jewish teens in more meaningful Jewish experiences.
For more than 95 years, BBYO‘s leadership programs, the Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA, high school
fraternity) and the B’nai B’rith Girls (BBG, high school sorority) have been providing exceptional
leadership programs and identity enrichment experiences, shaping the confidence and character of
more than 350,000 alumni who are among the most prominent figures in business, politics, academia,
the arts, and Jewish communal life. Now, BBYO’s network of teens, alumni, parents, volunteers, and
philanthropists serves as the Jewish community’s most valuable platform for delivering to the post
Bar/Bat Mitzvah audience fun, meaningful, and affordable experiences that inspire a lasting connection
to the Jewish people” (BBYO, 2021a).
Directly below their mission, BBYO lists four core values that are key in the success of their
mission. The four values are stated as follows:
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Core Values
1) Inclusivity – BBYO offers safe and welcoming opportunities for learning and growth to all Jewish
teens, regardless of background, denominational affiliation, gender, race, sexual orientation,
abilities, or socioeconomic status.
2) Jewish Identity – BBYO encourages Jewish teens to find meaning in Judaism and to develop their
own Jewish identities. Committed to a pluralistic experience, BBYO attempts to accommodate
and provide a comfortable environment across the halachic (Jewish law) spectrum.
3) Active Leadership – BBYO’s leadership model, AZA and BBG, prides itself on fun and meaningful
teen-led programming, its responsibility to the global Jewish community, an unwavering
commitment to the State of Israel, and its dedication to tikkun olam—repairing the world.
4) Tradition – BBYO’s stakeholders define the organization and are the stewards of its brand. They
must act in a way that represents and celebrates BBYO’s rich history and tradition (BBYO,
2021a).
Structure
It is necessary to understand the structure of BBYO to see how the organization functions on a
daily basis. At the macroscopic level, the main “hub” for BBYO is located in Washington D.C., which
includes the international offices where the CEO and the international board work, as well as the
marketing, finance, and HR departments. The international board is a board of annually elected teens
who are responsible for all of the international programming and movement initiatives. At the
microscopic level, BBYO is separated by regions that focus on recruitment and programming for teens in
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each city or country within that region. Every region is assigned an Area Director that checks in with
each region on a weekly basis to discuss things such as membership goals, international movement
initiatives, or upcoming regional programming. Within each region there is a Senior Regional Director
(SRD) and an Associate Regional Director (ARD) whose roles are defined based on the needs of the
region. For context, most regions do not contain city directors since they are not spread out enough to
merit hiring one. However, since our region is in three states, we hire part-time city directors
responsible for their respective areas (i.e., Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Tucson). Every region has any
number of chapters that all have their own respective elected teen-boards – both regional and chapter –
with responsibilities that range from President down to Vice President of Communications. Lastly, to
ensure weekly programs occur in a safe and inclusive environment, the ARD is responsible for hiring and
training a group of advisors who volunteer their time supervising and mentoring their chapters.
BBYO holds an immense emphasis on the organization being fully teen-led (BBYO, 2021b). Of
course, there are aspects of the organization that systematically cannot be teen-led; however, the bulk
of the decisions being made on a day-to-day basis are made by the international board, which are
passed down to the regional boards, which are passed down to the chapter boards. Every board is
responsible for their own recruitment, marketing, budgeting, programming, education, and
communications. It might be easy now to see how there is a great deal of mentorship involved in the
full-time and volunteer positions.
III. Needs Assessment
Rationale
I am the Associate Regional Director of Mountain Region BBYO, which oversees weekly and
regional programming, and recruitment of the teens from Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. In addition to this,
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I am responsible for the recruitment and development of our advisors and city directors throughout the
region. Consequently, I chose to focus the needs assessment on my personal role of training the advisors
within the region.
This report has been created to determine what kind of training is essential towards the
development of the advisors to contribute to the growth and success of BBYO. As the advisor is
fundamentally important to the success of the chapters, the advisor’s role in the chapter represents the
highest ideals and goals of BBYO as an organization. Consequently, I have made and filled out an
observational needs assessment form that will help identify which roles within their position could be
improved upon. The roles as identified by the advisor handbook emphasize promoting leadership by
inspiring and motivating teens to take an active role in leadership, attending weekly chapter functions,
developing meaningful relationships with BBYO members and other advisors, helping maintain chapter
traditions, empowering the teens, assisting with the implementation of chapter programs, and
strengthening the organization’s and the teens’ Jewish identity. Each role previously listed is clearly a
reflection of BBYO’s core values of inclusivity, Jewish identity, active leadership, and tradition. Thus,
creating an observational needs assessment form that observes their performance as it relates to these
roles may be critical in maintaining the success and growth of the organization.
Table 1.1 shows the observation assessment form that I created based on the roles listed in
BBYO’s Advisor Manual. The strength of this form is that it is directly relevant to the sample population
that I’m working with. However, a potential pitfall is that it is only me identifying the areas of
improvement and could possibly benefit from getting the direct feedback of the advisors.
The roles are split into four categories; leadership promotion, attendance, administrative, and
advisor experience. Within each category lists 3-5 questions to be answered at the discretion of the
observer:
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Table 1.1 BBYO Advisor Observational Assessment Form
Name: Region:
Leadership Promotion:
• How have the advisors inspired and motivated the chapter members to take an active role in leading the chapter?
• What is the advisors’ relationship with their chapter board?
• What is the advisors’ relationship with their chapter?
• How do your advisors interact with teens outside the chapter?
• What is the advisors’ relationship with their co-advisors?
Attendance:
• How often do your advisors attend chapter events and meetings?
• How often do your advisors attend regional programs?
• When your advisors are at the programs, how present and engaged are they?
Administrative:
• How have your advisors mentored on subjects of chapter programs, meetings, board trainings, etc.?
• How has your advisors managed the chapter finances?
• How has your advisors helped with program planning and following the guidelines of programming laid out by BBYO?
Advisor Experience:
• How was your advisors’ experience this year?
• What is something you would like to see happen again for next year?
• What is something new you would like to see for next year?
• How can I be more supportive?
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IV. Results of Needs Assessment
Table 1.2 shows the completed form that I filled out over a two-week period. I have used initials
to conceal the identity of the advisors and have highlighted key responses that I believe could be areas
for improvement:
Table 1.2 Completed BBYO Observational Assessment Form
Name: Josh Minzer Region: Mountain Region
Leadership Promotion:
• How have the advisors inspired and motivated the chapter members to take an active role in leading the chapter?
In the male chapters, the advisors do a great job at encouraging the boys to run for board and provide them with appropriate sample materials that can be helpful for making their platform and speeches. However, I find that the female chapters will reach out to me to do those things rather than their advisors.
• What is the advisors’ relationship with their chapter board? SM’s relationship with his chapter board is one that is very professional. His co-KM has a relationship that is with the board that is informal. I think they have a great dynamic that allows for the board to go to them for different reasons. The advisors TT and BK have a great personal relationship with their board since they told their teens that they are always available at all times of the day. RG just switched chapters, but I always find that her teens are always heavily influenced by the suggestions that she gives. The rest of the advisors do not offer help until they are asked, and are a bit absent in helping the board. I find that the boards of their chapters are less engaged, or ask me for help rather than their advisors.
• What is the advisors’ relationship with their chapter? Every advisor has a unique relationship with their board. As previously mentioned, some are informal and some are professional. For example, SM has a company where he hires some of the teens in his chapter as interns. He also helps this with their resumes and their LinkedIn profiles. TT and BK will oftentimes go out to dinner on the weekends with the chapter as an unofficial event. The girls’ chapter recently bought RG a gift and wrote a card for her as a congratulations in having her baby. This was coordinated by RG’s co’s, DR and ST. I personally have these kinds of relationships with the chapters in which the advisors don’t have these connections with the teens. LN has been attempting to increase the attendance of his chapter’s weekly programming with my support, but we have been unsuccessful. LN was trying to plan unofficial programs for the teens over the summer, but they didn’t seem to be receptive.
• How do your advisors interact with teens not in the chapter? BL is the only advisor that I have observed talking with the teens outside of her chapter. The rest primarily focus on the teens within their chapter.
• What is the advisors’ relationship with their co-advisors?
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In the year that I have been a working for the organization, I have never had an advisor raise concerns about another advisor. During programming, they all seem to get along very well, but I don’t ever hear of them communicating outside of that.
Attendance:
• How often do your advisors attend chapter events and meetings? ST and RG attend their chapter meetings every single week with very little absences. If they are absent, they are great at communicating to the administration and their chapter that they will not be attending. Most of the other advisors show up on a bi-weekly basis and typically do not notify us that they aren’t coming until we text them. I think this may be because they have coverage and therefore don’t find the need to text us.
• How often do your advisors attend regional programs? We have very little advisor attendance to our regional programs. Last year we had three of the 25 advisors come to the regional elections to support the teens in their chapter running for regional board (a big event for some of them). This year, only one advisor showed up to our regional kickoff event.
• When your advisors are at the programs, how present and engaged are they? During programming in the last two weeks, I have observed very little advisor engagement during the programs. Before the programs I saw KM and CF hanging out and talking with their teens, JT and BK were participating in their teens’ programs, but the rest of the time, I observed the advisors sitting in the back of the room watching from a distance or on their cell phones. This may be because the teens also do not do a good job at inviting the advisors in engaging in the program.
Administrative:
• How have your advisors mentored on subjects of chapter programs, meetings, board trainings, etc.?
I believe the advisors’ strengths falls in keeping the traditions such as the meeting procedures and historical contexts of the chapter preserved. I believe their mentorship in planning and leading chapter programs falls a bit short.
• How has your advisors managed the chapter finances? The advisors are often unaware of how much money is in the chapter bank account and the teens usually reach out to me for that information. The advisors also do not mentor the teens in managing the money appropriately to ensure they have funds to do the things they want to do.
• How has your advisors helped with program planning and following the guidelines of programming laid out by BBYO?
I addressed this previously, but again, advisors are typically absent during the program planning and leading process.
Advisor Experience:
• How was your advisors’ experience this year? I believe a lot of the advisors in the past year have been a bit exhausted from the virtual programming during COVID. Most of them I observed had their cameras off and were on mute during their chapters’ programs. However, now that we are back in person, I am seeing them a lot more excited to be involved. I hope to use this energy in being a bit more proactive.
• What is something you would like to see happen again for next year? I would like to see a lot more mutual engagement from the side of the teens in the advisors. This can be seen through the teens doing something nice for their advisors during Advisor Appreciation
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Month, and the advisors going above and beyond for their teens like going out to dinners with them during unofficial programming time.
• What is something new you would like to see for next year? I would like to see the advisors taking a more active role in the programming process. Additionally, I hope to see the teens feeling more comfortable reaching out to their advisors for help than to me.
• How can I be more supportive? I can be more supportive by holding more trainings for the advisors as well as doing programming with them to engage them with other advisors in our region outside of official programming times.
V. Alignment of Results
In the survey, there were aspects in every category that were highlighted. In Leadership
Promotion, I discuss how there are few advisors in the female chapters that assist their teens in the
leadership development process. This could be in writing a speech or building their platforms. I also talk
about how the chapter boards will often reach out to me for assistance rather than their own advisors.
Additionally, I find that the chapters that have a great relationship with me are the same as the chapters
that are less engaged with their advisors. One exception is the instance with LN trying to engage his
chapter.
In the Attendance category, I found that advisors are showing up on a biweekly basis, and have
virtually no turnout to the regional events. In addition, I found that we can improve on advisor
engagement during programming time.
In the Administrative category, I found the main concern to be the advisors not mentoring the
teens during the programming process. There may be a connection between their engagement during
the programs and their involvement in the programming process.
Finally, in the Advisor Experience category, I found that a possible solution to increasing advisor
engagement is mutual engagement. This means equal effort from both the advisors, teens, and myself
to ensure everyone is engaged in the process.
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VI. Needs Analyses
Organizational Analysis
This section is meant to identify whether a training would support the company’s mission, who
would support the training, and what resources are available (Noe, 2018). An informal training that
touches on the topics that were highlighted in the observational needs assessment may be necessary to
increase engagement and mentorship among the advisors. This is critical to the mission of the
organization since the assessment was created around the roles of an advisor highlighted in the BBYO
Advisor Manual that are a direct reflection of BBYO’s four core values in their mission statement.
Malcom Knowles’s model for adult learning theory (adragogy) states how adults have a need to
know why they are learning something, and serve as a benefit to them personally or professionally
(Finley, 2010). Therefore, in the first part of the training, the advisors will be provided a list of their roles
from the Advisor Manual and we will discuss how it relates to the four core values of the organization.
As an incentive to engage them in the training, I hope for the setting to be more informal, like over a
dinner that is provided by BBYO. Perhaps part of the training can be a discussion of the more senior
advisors reflecting on how their experience has impacted their personal lives.
Some important tools that we have available is an appropriate budget to take out the advisors
and the contextual experiences of the other senior advisors and myself to hold discussions on what has
worked for them. A challenge that I anticipate is finding a time that works for all the advisors to meet.
Person Analysis
This section is meant to help identify employees who need the training (Noe, 2018). According
to the observational needs assessment, it seems as though every advisor could improve in one area of
the assessment. This could range from attendance to encouraging the teens to take a leadership role
within their chapter. Another aspect of Malcom’ Knowles’s model for adult learning theory is that adult
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learning differs from pedagogy because adults can use their lived experiences to base their learning off
from (Oakley, 2014). Consequently, I believe the perfect environment for the training to occur is one in
which advisors reflect on their own successes in their chapters and share with their peers.
Input
The training will be a one and a half hour informal training with the goal of increasing leadership
promotion, attendance, mentorship involvement, and the advisor experience. The beginning of the
training will be a reflection of the advisor roles listed in BBYO’s Advisor Manual. I will start the training
by providing them with a list of BBYO’s four core values and ask them how closely they believe their role
supports the four core values. After, we will discuss what they read that surprised them, what they think
they do well, and what is challenging for them. This is to more clearly define their purpose within their
organization and maybe clarify what their specific roles are.
Output
In addition to reading the roles of an advisor taken from the manual, I will preface the training
with what I hope for them to take away. Additionally, before the training, I will have personal
conversations with the advisors that I believe do a great job at one thing and ask them if they would be
comfortable sharing what works well for them and what tools they use that help them. I hope to create
a more consistent network of communication between the advisors so that they continue to utilize each
other as resources. The takeaways that I mentioned must be things that are measurable so that they can
be revisited in a following training to show progress. If no progress is shown, however, the assessment
can be remade using different forms of feedback.
Consequences
Since our advisors are volunteers, there is typically no monetary incentives for good
performance. However, we do often do things for them to show our appreciation. I believe we can
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implement consequence into the training by having advisors share the connections they’ve made with
the teens in addition to sharing stories of things the teens have done for them. A great example is the
teens writing a card and getting gifts for an advisor who recently had a baby. Another example is the
teens throwing a surprise wedding party for the Senior Regional Director who had gotten married in
Israel. Prioritizing the lifelong connections they make with the teens will be more rewarding than any
monetary incentive we could offer them (Noe, 2018). That is to assume that they are volunteering their
time for the right reasons!
Feedback
The last part of the training will be a discussion for how the advisors prefer to receive feedback.
I will gauge whether they prefer this topic to be a private discussion with their cos, or a roundtable
discussion as a group. Each advisor will write this down on a half-sheet of paper and submit it to me. We
will revisit the takeaways in the conclusion of the training and agree on a time in the future to reflect on
our progress. The next session will be private and each session will accommodate for how each
individual said they prefer to receive feedback.
Task Analysis
The unique aspect of working with volunteer advisors is that they come from multidisciplinary
backgrounds and bring a distinct skillset and perspective to their role. In mentioning the reflection of
their position as read in the advisor manual and the aspects that they do well and challenge them, we
will also discuss how their careers outside of the organization relate to what they do within their role as
an advisor. Since one priority of the training is to increase mentor involvement, this discussion could
involve discussing their strengths as compared to their cos and how they could work well off each other.
I mentioned a great example in the observational assessment of two advisors having more of a
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professional mentorship versus a more informal mentorship. Perhaps they can come to these
conclusions on their own. If not, I hope to scaffold the discussion to get to those answers.
Summary
In conclusion, a training that prioritizes increased leadership promotion, attendance,
mentorship involvement, and advisor experiences would be best for BBYO. These areas for
improvement were identified from the observational needs assessment that was produced from the
roles that were created with an emphasis on reflecting the organization’s mission statement and core
values. An informal training focused on andragogical learning and discussion is important because all the
advisors who volunteer come from unique disciplines that give them lived experiences that will help
produce solutions for their challenges. This, combined with clearly defined and measurable standards
within their role will give them the necessary tools for success that will be revisited in a future session to
receive feedback in their progress.
References
BBYO. (2021a). Mission & History. BBYO. https://bbyo.org/about-us/mission-history
BBYO. (2021b). Stucture: How our movement works. https://azabbg.bbyo.org/about/structure
Finley, J. (2010). Andragogy (Adult Learning).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLoPiHUZbEw&t=222s
Noe, R. A. (2018). Employee Training and Development. McGraw-Hill Education.
Oakley, B. (2014). Learning How to Learn. TedX Talks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O96fE1E-
rf8&t=7s