Looking Back to Move Forward
Most anyone involved in policy development knows the basic policy development cycle:
Plan → Do → Evaluate → Adjust
Evaluation is an integral part of this cycle as it helps us understand whether we’ve achieved what we were aiming to and allows us to use the information gathered to make informed decisions going forward.
The Government of Canada Entrepreneur (GCE) initiative has been underway now for almost a year and we’re starting to prepare to hand the baton over to the second cohort of GCEs. As a part of this transition, we have been tapping into our own experiences to help us evaluate our progress both as a cohort and as individuals. We are doing this in a number of ways; including a peer-to-peer evaluation exercise, exit interviews with GCEs that have already left the program, and a half a day group workshop to develop advice for how the next cohort of GCEs can avoid or overcome some of the challenges we faced. We are also participated a set of facilitated reflections with Nesta to revisit the learning journey we’ve taken through their States of Change program.
Finding the time to undertake these activities hasn’t been easy; it meant coordinating a variety of schedules and everyone taking time away from work on other deliverables in our home departments and GCE projects. But it was worth it; through the evaluation process and exit interviews it became clear that due in part to the structure of the initiative (e.g. we are all contributing to different projects, we all have a different physical location, we are each socialized to the culture of our home department, and everyone has a different professional and educational background) there is a great deal of variation in the experience GCEs are having. Therefore, trying to rely on only one or a few people’s perspectives for the evaluation would have missed valuable insights and our advice wouldn’t have been as well-rounded and reliable as it will be.
We are now starting the process of packaging everything and are looking forward to sharing our story in the coming months (for a teaser check out our latest newsletter. Watch this space and our Twitter feed for more.
You Can Play the At-Home Version Today!
Honestly, I don’t think things like peer-evaluation, exit interviews, and upward feedback happen enough in the federal public service. How many exit interviews have you participated in when moving jobs? Over my career I’ve had five jobs in five different federal departments and I’ve never been asked to participate in an exit interview when leaving a position. In the almost nine years I’ve been in the public service this is only my second time being involved in a peer-review exercise and I’ve been formally asked for upward feedback once. If you assume my experience is relatively standard for a public service employee, and based on conversations with colleagues and friends I think it may be, and scale that by the thousands of job transitions that take place in the federal public service on an annual basis that amounts to a lot of lost opportunities for individuals and teams to grow and adjust based on real feedback. Now imagine how much better public service employees, managers, and executives could be if we tapped in to this source of information and leveraged it to develop our skills and refine our teams and governance structures.
The self-evaluation activities we undertook are actions any team can implement. Doing so is simple and can result in team members seeing things from other’s perspectives, increased self-awareness, and an opportunity to reflect on the team’s culture and other important enabling factors like tools and training. These things can get over looked when only measuring the outcomes of a program or project.
If you’re interested in doing something similar there are a few things to keep in mind. Most importantly, you need to really listen to what is said. Most people don’t like feeling vulnerable, especially in professional contexts, and our natural instinct is to avoid or deflect and defend against anything we perceive to be negative feedback. It takes a lot of humility and strength for someone to listen to and fully consider what is being said when they are feeling vulnerable.
It is also important to make the effort to create a safe space for the work to happen in. Be clear about what the information will be used for and who it will be shared with. Also be clear that any feedback should be shared in a constructive and respectful manner. Find a space that has a level of privacy that everyone is comfortable with. The most value is created when these conversations take place in a frank and open manner and everyone needs to be comfortable for that to happen.
To help get you started, below are the exit interview and peer evaluation questions we used. If you and your team have undertaken something similar share your experiences with us on Twitter, @GC_Entrepreneur, we’d love to hear about how other teams are evaluating themselves.
Exit Interview Questions
Each GCE who has left the program and agreed to an exit interview was given these questions in advance of a one-on-one interview conducted by a GCE who is still in the program.
1. What was the biggest factor that led you to accept your new job?
2. Did you feel you had the (a)tools, (b)resources, ©working conditions, and (d)training to be successful in your role? If not, which areas could be improved and how?
3. What did you like and dislike most about your job?
4. On a scale from 1 to 10, did you feel like a valued member of the GCE cohort? Do you have suggestions for how to improve this?
5. On a scale from 1 to 10, did you feel like you grew as a professional in this position? Do you have suggestions for how to improve this?
6. Would you recommend this program to others? If not, why not? If so, are there any caveats you would add?
7. What skills and attributes do you think a new GCE needs to be successful?
8. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Peer Review Questions
GCEs were put into randomly selected pairs, each person was asked to respond to these questions, and then their partner would provide input and advice.
1. What are you most proud of?
2. Do you think you are growing in this role? If so, how? If not, why not?
3. How have you dealt with setbacks/frustrations?
4. What has been your greatest value-add as a GCE?
5. What do you see your role could be in your department moving forward?
