Inquiring Minds
At a recent evaluation workshop by the Tamarack Institute, Liz Weaver and Mark Cabaj challenged us to consider evaluation as
My colleague and I shared our work using Most Significant Change to evaluate a provincial healthcare initiative. Our challenge has been to evaluate across multiple organizations, regions and strategy types.
It’s allowing us to gather rich data directly from the field, from those impacted-by and influencing the changes. The power of story is also that in the process, we are building relationships and increasing our collective capacity to articulate the work, the outcomes, and their significance at a local and provincial level.
Curiosity about Connections and Patterns
At a recent evaluation workshop: Evaluating Community Impact put on by the Tamarack Institute featuring Liz Weaver and Mark Cabaj, I participated in a workshop by Vanessa Timmer. Vanessa demonstrated systems mapping using an ecosystem model, asking us to find the connections between different parts of the system. I’ve used similar tools before, but have struggled with how to make sense of the work beyond the process. Vanessa put my mind at ease, noting that systems mapping is about being curious about connections and patterns. Essentially, the process is a big part of the outcome with this tool. It allows a group to communicate about its assumptions, perceptions and expectations. Seen in that light, I really appreciated what it could do.
We also watched an incredibly illuminating video by Eric Berlow. He showed us how to take something complex and break it down into something simple.
He asks two basic questions:
The answer is pretty simple.