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Nov 04 2020

I’m back to blogging

Over on my personal blog, I’ve decided to try blogging every day in the spirit of November as National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) – that was a thing years ago when blogs were more popular. The idea is to blog every single day during the month of November. That got me thinking that it had been a while since I blogged here… and it turns out that has been more than a year!

I remembered that I had been doing a series on evaluator competencies where I wrote one blog posting a week on each of the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) evaluator competencies and that I had decided to take a “short break” when stuff was getting busy with the courses I was teaching. So “short” may have not been the right word there. In my defence, the world was turned rather upside down for most of that time, what with a global pandemic and reckoning on racism.

My other issue with actually getting things up on here is my battle with perfectionism. During these pandemic-y times I’ve been doing a fair bit of professional development ¹As presentations and workshops have had to move online in response to the pandemic, it’s resulted in a lot of events that otherwise might have been just held locally being available anywhere in the world. And with a reckoning on racism bringing more attention to the work of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of colour) activists, scholars, and organizations, webinars on anti-racism and reconciliation have been amplified. and from the various webinars and online workshops I’ve attended, I’ve started many, many blog postings as a way to capture notes from these events. But then I think “Oh, I need to summarize this better/come up with a good conclusion/figure out what actions I should take from what I’ve learned/find a good Creative Commons licenced photo to go with this/provide links to the webinar recording/etc./etc.” and then it sits in my drafts folder for ever and ever.

So here’s my new plan. I’m going to re-start on my evaluator competency series – I’ll post once a week on that. And I’m going work through my drafts folder and actually get my notes from each of these events in a reasonable, but not perfect, shape, and post those too. Or I’ll decide that I didn’t get enough value from a given webinar or workshop and hit the “delete” button. I won’t blog every day – but I’m going to aim for two blog postings per week in addition to my evaluator competency one, for the month of November.

Progress, not perfection — Sticky note I have above my desk in my home office. Though in these the pandemic-y times, some days it’s more survival than progress that I hope to achieve.

Footnotes [ + ]

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As presentations and workshops have had to move online in response to the pandemic, it’s resulted in a lot of events that otherwise might have been just held locally being available anywhere in the world. And with a reckoning on racism bringing more attention to the work of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of colour) activists, scholars, and organizations, webinars on anti-racism and reconciliation have been amplified.

Nov 04 2020

Ask Nicole: The Best Time to Look for a Consultant

Have a question you’d like featured? Let me know. The best time to look for a consultant is before you need a consultant. An observation I’ve made in the past few years is that nonprofits and organizations look for a consultant when they come across an opportunity to fund a project, and that’s not the […]

The post Ask Nicole: The Best Time to Look for a Consultant appeared first on Nicole Clark Consulting.

Nov 03 2020

Evaluation Roundup – October 2020

Welcome to our October roundup of new and noteworthy evaluation news and resources – here is the latest.

Have something you’d like to see here? Tweet us @EvalAcademy or connect on LinkedIn!

New and Noteworthy — Resources

Evaluation issues and recommendations for change

The tables have turned and now evaluators need to examine how we can do better. The Funder & Evaluator Affinity Network (FEAN) developed a Call to Action series: five briefs, decision tools, open letters, discussion guides, and more that address urgent issues and recommendations for change. The five briefs propose tangible steps to make changes in the field: 1) Strategy and Practice; 2) Evaluators of Color; 3) Knowledge Sharing; 4) Global Transformation, and; 5) Collaboration and Partnership. We have a lot of work to do. The first step is reading these.

Engaging community in evaluation through empowerment evaluation

The Tamarack Institute and Fetterman & Associates co-facilitated an online session that explored how we ensure evaluation is inclusive, equitable and community-driven. The first part of the session focuses on criteria central to relationship building in participant-driven community-based evaluation. The second half focuses on empowerment evaluation as an evaluation approach to foster community engagement, improvement and self-determination.

Principles Focused Evaluation: A quick overview

CoLab Dudley has pulled together a quick case study guide for anyone interested in Principles Focused Evaluation (PFE). If you don’t have the time to read Michael Quinn Patton’s 435 page book on PFE then check out this resource. The guide contains links to insights from CoLab Dudley team members telling you why and how PFE works for them in their role. It also outlines the steps they took to implement PFE and tips if you are thinking of using it.

How to incorporate gender in your evaluation

Khulisa Management Services breaks down how they incorporate gender into their work through six best practices. Incorporating gender means incorporating analyses of institutions and structures that limit the realization of gender equity. One best practice that Khulisa implements is developing gender-related evaluation questions like, “have stigma and discrimination against people who do not follow traditional gender norms and behaviours been reduced?” Check out the blog and the accompanying slide deck here.

EvaluATE’s tips for better communication

One-pagers are a necessity when it comes to quickly conveying findings. However, creating a one-pager is often more difficult than a 25-page report! EvaluATE has put together a number of resources to help you create knockout one-page reports. The resources include fillable planning sheets, examples to inspire you, template grids to use in your one-pager and even a couple videos.

EvaluATE also recently posted a blog that outlines strategies for communicating in virtual settings. It outlines some really easy, practical tips for how we can improve our communication in virtual settings. A tip I never thought about – “if you have books in the background turn the spines of the books away. The titles of the books can be distracting and can communicate unintended messages.”

Planning and conducting virtual workshops

Jan Noga (@jannoga) recently contributed to AEA’s A Tip-a-day by publishing a three-part series of articles focused on helping us plan and conduct virtual workshops. In the posts she talks about how online workshops are not the same as in person and gives some helpful tips, tricks and tools that can be used to make sure they are just as effective. The third articles lists “rad resources” like books, training materials, and software to reference when planning your next workshop.

New and Noteworthy — Courses, Events and Webinars

November 2020

Using data analysis and visualization to drive social impact

Sponsor: Clear Horizon Academy
Date: November 9, 2020
Venue: Online course

MEL Project

Sponsor: Clear Horizon Academy
Date: November 30, 2020
Venue: Online course

Evaluation and the Challenge of Our Time – AEA Panel Follow-up Conversation

Sponsor: Blue Marble Evaluation
Date: November 13, 2020
Venue: Online

Gender Transformative Program Design and Evaluation

Sponsor: Encompass – Tessie Catsambas
Date: November 3 – 12
Venue: Online Course

December 2020

Evaluation Planning – Setting the Stage for Successful Evaluations

Sponsor: EnCompass – Ayesha Boyce
Date: December 7 – 10
Venue: Online Course

Data Storytelling

Sponsor: EnCompass – Andy Krackov
Date: December 15 -17
Venue: Online Course

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Nov 03 2020

Liderar eficazmente organizaciones interdisciplinarias y transdisciplinarias

Fuente: https://miro.medium.com

Continuando con nuestra línea/temática sobre Liderazgo, en el post “Liderar eficazmente organizaciones de investigación interdisciplinarias y transdisciplinarias” (3 de noviembre de 2020) se preguntan ¿Qué cualidades y habilidades necesitan los líderes de las organizaciones de investigación interdisciplinarias y transdisciplinarias?

Los líderes de las organizaciones de investigación interdisciplinarias y transdisciplinarias necesitan las cualidades que hacen que cualquier líder sea exitoso: creatividad, humildad, mentalidad abierta, visión a largo plazo y trabajo en equipo. Además, identifican ocho atributos de liderazgo que son específicos de las interacciones interdisciplinarias y transdisciplinarias y que ayudan a l@s líderes/as a ser transformador@s con impactos en el mundo real. L@s líderes/s necesitan cultivar:

visión más allá del status quo
liderazgo colaborativo
asociaciones
cultura compartida
comunicaciones con múltiples audiencias
seguimiento y evaluación adecuados
perseverancia
recursos para el éxito.

Bueno pues algo de luz en el por qué nos faltan líderes/as: dominar esos atributos, liderar, no es fácil, aunque lo parezca…

Nov 02 2020

Five years!

Five years ago this week, I took the leap.

I was a Community School Coordinator (CSC) in Baltimore and a doctoral student, and it was time for a change.

You see, my data tracking spreadsheets were starting to catch on among other CSCs. I kept thinking, “How amazing would it be if helping schools use data to track and improve their engagement efforts could be my JOB?”

The problem was, that job didn’t seem to exist. So I made it myself.

After much research, networking, and careful planning, I officially started Structured Solutions in November 2015 and went full-time after the new year.

What a journey it has been! Owning a business surely has its ups and downs, but there have been far more ups for me.

Over the past five years, I have:

Worked with approximately 20 organizations in 10 different states (see the map below);
Presented at six national conferences or virtual events and four state conferences or events;
Built a national network of fellow evaluators and family engagement experts;
Gotten to be creative and follow my passions; and
Been honored to support and empower the people doing the REAL work helping children and families thrive.

While I am a “solopreneur,” if you will, I certainly could not have done this alone. What I feel this week is gratitude for the people who took chances on me, supported me, and challenged me, as well as for the many opportunities that I have been given.

I am excited for what the next five years bring.

P.S. PLEASE VOTE TOMORROW!