How Your Agency Can Use the Organizational Priorities and Practices Inventory (OPPI)

The Organizational Priorities and Practices Inventory (OPPI) was designed to help organizations that support and work on behalf of people with disabilities to assess their organizations, based on evidence-based indicators of best practice. The tool is useful to individual organizations and agencies to assess their internal structure, operations, and practices. The OPPI is also useful to use in systems to understand practices across and between several agencies or distinct branches of multi-state agencies. To learn more about how your agency can get started with the OPPI, visit natleadership.org/oppi3.html.

FOR ORGANIZATIONS

When agencies use the Organizational Priorities and Practices Inventory (OPPI), they are better able to understand, from the perspectives across employees, what their agency believes and does, as it relates to the six categories of effective organizational practices. Agencies have had success using the results of this assessment to:

  • Identify current organizational strengths and needed areas of improvement.
  • Assess alignment between organizational priorities and current practices.
  • Assess connections between different areas of organizational structures, practices, and operations (for example, many organizations see relationships between participatory management practices and organizational practices to promote choice and control for people with disabilities).
  • Inform strategic planning processes and priorities.
  • Measure progress toward specific organizational goals.
  • Learn about similarities and differences in perspectives and experiences across their workforce.
  • Learn how their organization’s priorities and practices align with or differ from other organizations that have taken the assessment.

FOR SYSTEMS

The Organizational Priorities and Practices Inventory (OPPI) is also available to inform system’s priorities and practices and can be used by State Disabilities Agencies, Developmental Disabilities Councils, regional, state, and national Provider Associations, multi-state organizations, and more. The OPPI can inform systems about the strengths and needed areas of improvement between agencies and across an entire community, region, or state. Collecting and comparing data from multiple agencies, or multiple branches of an agency, can help systems use the results of the OPPI to:

  • Understand strengths and areas of need within the system.
  • Understand system’s factors that impact organizational practices, such as region, size of an organization, types of services offered, and more.
  • Determine technical assistance, support, or funding priorities and efforts that would improve organizational strengths across a system.
  • Compare practices between and across organizations to learn from organizations that are strong in one or more areas of the OPPI.
  • Assess the alignment between organizational priorities and practices and current and future systems regulations and policies.

COST OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL PRIORITIES AND PRACTICES INVENTORY (OPPI)

For a limited time, we are offering the Organizational Priorities and Practices Inventory (OPPI) at no or minimal fee, based on the size and needs of the organization or system. We are also able to offer customized technical assistance that will help organizations to be responsive to their findings. Each option is described below.

FOR ORGANIZATIONS Currently, we are offering the OPPI and a basic organizational report to individual agencies free of charge if they are willing to participate in our national study to validate the tool. We are also able to customize the assessment and report for a minimal fee to the organization.

FOR SYSTEMS We are offering the OPPI and customized reports to systems, multiple agencies, or multi-state agencies at a minimal fee if they are willing to participate in our national study to validate the tool. The fee can be assessed based on the size and needs of the system or agency and will be used to cover the time of the research team.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE We are also offering customized technical assistance, including a presentation and comprehensive recommendations based on your results, strategic planning, training and development, or expert consultation for organizations that will benefit from additional support to act on their results. The fee will be assessed based on your organization’s needs and will be used to cover the time to develop customized materials and offer support.

If you are interested in learning more about the Organizational Priorities and Practices Inventory (OPPI) or would like to use this assessment in your agency or network, please contact Caitlin Bailey (cbailey@natleadership.org). We are happy to share more information and discuss how this tool can be useful to you and your organization. To learn more about how your agency can get started with the OPPI, visit natleadership.org/oppi3.html.