Any organization with an interest in innovation and impact knows the importance of ongoing, honest, critical reflection. Most of us would agree that learning and reflection are much easier if you are tracking your experiences, your outcomes, and your lessons learned in a systematic way as you go. Even so, many non-profit organizations find outcome measurement frustrating. 

I think there are several reasons for this frustration.  Outcome measurement is often seen more as a way to satisfy funder accountability requirements than as fuel for innovation. It is associated with long, confusing forms and awkward, stress-inducing meetings with people in suits. It is not associated, in most people’s minds, with telling stories. The basic training on outcome measurement that is available is, for the most part, pretty traditional.  There isn’t a lot of exploration of new ideas connected to things like participatory approaches, developmental evaluation or collective impact.   

At the end of the day, evaluators like me have no one to blame for this state of affairs but ourselves. We’ve spent years talking about outcome measurement in a very dry, technical way that focuses too much on the mechanics of measurement and not enough on how to translate information into insight and action. We’ve made it about as much fun as completing your taxes.

In recent years, our team at Taylor Newberry Consulting has tried to develop ways of talking about outcome measurement that restore the connection between measurement, insight, and action and emphasize the important links between numbers and stories.  We have tried to use simple examples from small organizations to demystify the process a little bit.  We have started to do more informal small group coaching and problem-solving sessions and fewer large, generic program evaluation workshops.  We try to weave in progressive ideas about the role of evaluation in a low-key, common sense, de-jargonized way.  

Recently, I was invited by United Way of Peel Region and the Region of Peel to create three short videos.  The idea behind these videos was to make basic information about outcome measurement available in small easy to understand chunks that people could access whenever they had a question.  We hoped to build interest in measurement by showing people how it can lead to smarter, more focused, and more impactful action. Please follow the link, take a look, and let me know what you think!