Evaluation appeals to my intense curiosity to figure out how and why things work and don’t work. Many high performing organizations that I have come to know generally use a combination of formal and informal evaluation to build learning loops towards increasing strategic success. That is, they hire experts to increase internal knowledge and staff capabilities and to work with them on particularly complex inquiries, where it is critical to understand the elements on which a program will fail or succeed. And, they look to their staffs to … [Read more...]
Cleaning Out Our Closets
Recently I was cleaning my closet and came across several items that no longer fit well or had long since gone out of style – yes, I am either “that old” or styles change rapidly, take your pick. I wondered why I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of those clothes. I am an organized and reasoned person so what was holding me back? And then I began to wonder if programs are like clothes in our closets, which was a great distraction because it kept me from dealing with the problem at hand. But think about it: we buy things that reflect who … [Read more...]