CLA Maturity Tool Facilitator Resources

Facilitators can use the resources on this page support the CLA self-assessment and action planning process. They include:

• CLA Maturity Tool Instructions

A step-by-step guide to facilitating the tool that walks through the materials that come in the tool's box, planning considerations (decisions to make ahead of time, roles, determining the agenda, and room set-up), session introduction, subcomponent selection, self-assessment, and action planning. There are also additional considerations for large groups (more than 6 people) and for simplified action planning.

• CLA Maturity Tool Slides

This slide deck can be used for facilitating the maturity tool self-assessment and action planning exercise in a virtual setting. The slides can be converted to Google Slides, or another virtual platform, and used in a similar way to the physical cards. See this post for additional information and tips for use.

• Facilitator Shorthand Guide

This short tri-fold is meant to help facilitators quickly explain the CLA Framework to participants and includes a one-sentence description of each of the 16 subcomponents to help participants who are less familiar with CLA identify which subcomponents are most relevant to their work. It is a useful reference during the session introduction and subcomponent selection. The shorthand guide also gives facilitators a rule of thumb for remembering what the five stages in the maturity spectrum signify.

• Additional Discussion Questions

This booklet includes optional questions for participants to consider discussing. Themes for these additional questions include leadership, inclusion, and local ownership. If any of these themes are of particular interest to the group or naturally arise during conversation, the facilitator can introduce the relevant question(s) from this resource as part of the self-assessment.

• Maturity Tool Introduction Video

This 3.5 minute video is an engaging introduction to the Maturity Tool and how it can be used for CLA self-assessment and action planning. Facilitators can share this link with participants in advance of the session to give them a sense of what the process is like. It can also be used in the socialization stage to generate interest in using the tool.

• Mini Stage Cards Print Template

Similar to the hard copies in the Maturity Tool box, this is print version of the 5 individual stage cards needed to make each participant a stage card pack. After printing enough for each participant, cut them out and make sets containing one card for each stage.

• Facilitator Messaging & Talking Points

Examples of messaging that facilitators can use when socializing and building buy-in for CLA and the self-assessment and action planning process. We have also included calendar invitation language and talking points for the self-assessment and action planning sessions themselves. Please note that these are only suggested talking points; feel free to tailor them as needed. CLA messaging is best when personalized!

• CLA Self-Assessment and Action Planning Session Report Template & Example

An annotated Word template of the session reports that LEARN generates when it facilitates the CLA self-assessment and action planning process with teams. It contains 4 sections:

• • Subcomponent/Topic selection: This page serves both as an overview page that describes the process and a way to visually display which subcomponents were self-assessed using the CLA Framework.
  • Self-assessment discussion notes: There are 16 tables, one for each subcomponent. Fill out the ones you need and delete the rest. When capturing the notes, we try to anonymize and synthesize—it's not a transcript.
  • Brainstorming and prioritization results: When we use the Impact/Effort grid to share, cluster, and prioritize ideas brainstormed, we capture all those post-it note ideas in this table, along with their relative placement on the grid (low/medium/high) and how many votes each idea received in prioritization dot-voting. 
  • Action plan: This is the current version of a CLA Action Plan.

The PDF is an anonymized example report for only one subcomponent.

• Frequently Asked Questions

FAQs focused on facilitation approaches and processes for the CLA Self-Assessment and Action Planning.