Let’s talk about evaluation at the Co-Design Symposium in Melbourne
How can we tell if we’re making a difference? The thorny questions around understanding and communicating impact, results or outcomes (whatever you want to call the positive change from what you’re doing) plague most individuals and organisations working in the public purpose sector. Who doesn’t want to tell a good impact story? Yet so many of us struggle to find the time and space to clearly articulate the change we want to see, let alone work out how we might determine if that change is occurring, and whether we can take any credit for it. All too often, we grasp quickly at the tools we’re most familiar with (e.g. survey questionnaires) or the data that’s easiest to capture (like ‘bums on seats’), without really thinking about what it is we’re trying to measure or the variety of ways we might do that. As Nicholas Gruen recently argued, evaluation knowledge comes not from numbers, but questions.
Anyone who has tried to thoroughly answer the seemingly simple question of ‘what is our impact?’ knows all the complexity it belies. There are numerous theories, frameworks and tools out there — each with its own pros and cons — so it can be hard to know where to start. In recent work with an organisation that builds design capability in the public sector, we’ve found an approach for developing an impact evaluation framework that’s been a useful guide. The UK-based charity think tank NPC promotes a four pillar approach (pictured) to developing an impact measurement framework. One of the valuable things about this framework is that its first step (or pillar) is about working out what you want to achieve, and for whom, before you get bogged down in technical questions about how you might measure impact.
I’ll be sharing this approach with participants at the upcoming Co-Design Symposium at Monash University. As part of the partnership between Peer Academy (event organisers) and The Policy Lab at The University of Melbourne, I’ll be facilitating a skill sharing session that falls within the event’s theme of ‘How might we better communicate the value of what we do?’ Inspired by the book, ‘Just Enough Research’, my session is entitled ‘Just enough evaluation (to understand your impact)’. I’m hoping participants will share their own experiences, ideas and challenges with impact evaluation, as well as allow me to test out the broader applicability of NPC’s four pillar approach.
Following a sellout event earlier in the year, I’m looking forward to returning to the Co-Design Symposium in October. Whether you are an existing (co-)design practitioner, work in the realm of public policy or community services, or are just getting started on your design thinking journey, you are welcome to join us at the Symposium. Whether or not you can join us there, I’d be keen to hear about your experience of and wonderings about evaluating the impact of co-design projects and practice.
