The Course of Action (COA) activity is designed to assess higher cognitive abilities. The participant evaluates 2-3 equally compelling options, with the added feature of evaluating 2-5 parameters for each option.
Examples include:
What does the participant believe the short/long-term impact of an option will be? Or, the magnitude of the impact?
Are they able to synthesize disparate information sources?
Can they offer a good recommendation on which course of action to take and why?
DESIGN USAGE
Evaluating trade-offs
Getting participants to reflect on the challenges of leadership. In leadership, there is rarely a clear path forward. Often, leaders are given little information and are challenged with the task of evaluating what they would do given what they know and don’t know. The COA is perfect for these situations.
Problem-solving + decision making
Two of the most important skills are problem-solving and decision-making. The first thing a participant does when presented with the COA is to read the situation and any corresponding resources. To solve the problem, the participant is presented with multiple courses of action (potential strategies for addressing the problem). To narrow down the list, each is evaluated, and then a final decision needs to be made - to decide which course of action to submit.
CONTENT + WORD COUNT
Determine number of options (min 2 - max 3)
Determine number of parameters (min 2- max 5)
Determine type of media to be used (nothing, image, or video) for the options
Activity title (maximum of ~7-10 words)
Activity description (maximum of ~25-30 words)
Option title (for each option) (maximum of ~7-10 words)
Option descriptions (for each option) (maximum of ~40-45 words)
Parameter label (across all options) (maximum ~15-20 words, ideally ~7-10 words)
See it in Action!
How to Edit COA Options
Highlight and click once on the option you want to edit.
Click on the edit pencil
This will open up an Edit Panel to the right where you can edit the option itself. (Name, Description, Asset Type)
Click Save
How to Edit Parameters/Sliders
Note: Each COA option has its own set of parameters!
Highlight and click twice on the option you want to edit. This will bring up the list of parameters within that COA option.
Click on the parameter you want to edit and click the edit pencil to open up the Edit Panel.
In the edit panel, you are able to adjust:
Parameter/Slider Name (ie. How important was Client Satisfaction?)
Slider Parameters
The default values are typically 0 - 100. These can be adjusted to meet your needs.
Labels
You can adjust the labels to best fit your experience (ie. Low/Medium/High, 1/50/100)
You can also add additional labels by clicking the + symbol to the right of the Label Title.
Click Save
TIP: Save time by syncing all of your sliders and labels.
After editing your sliders, click on the "Sync All Sliders" icon for each section.
Click Save to finalize updates. This will update all the sliders across each of the COA options.
How to Score Parameters/Sliders
Note: Parameters will always have a starting value of 50
Locate the COA sliders where you want to apply an impact.
Click on the + icon to the right of the slider to add a condition.
Select your conditions and click Save.
Locate the slider where you added the condition, then set the impact level for each metric of your choice.
To add additional conditions for the same slider, click on the + icon to add another condition. By doing this, you're ensuring you have scoring coverage across the entire scale.
Repeat steps above to add scoring to additional sliders.
Watch the video above to learn more about adding, editing, and scoring parameters!
