Use and Influence of Evaluation
Kelly Zimmerman, n/a
Senior Consultant
Guidehouse, United States
Lindsay Scanlon (she/her/hers)
Associate Director
Guidehouse
Mclean, Virginia, United States
Location: Grand Ballroom 3
Abstract Information: Too often, the ink dries on complex analyses and thoughtful recommendations, and little may come next other than a standard report review and oral presentations to donors or commissioners. With so many competing priorities for stakeholders’ time, attention, and budgets, failing to effectively bring life and meaning to evaluative findings and recommendations may not get you the buy-in and support you and your team may seek. So, what is the remedy to crafting narratives that get the buy-in for action and obtain greater returns from investments in conducting the evaluations in the first place? Small tweaks and targeted strategies may go a long way. This demonstration will provide an in-depth exploration of concrete steps evaluators, donors, and other stakeholders can take to bolster the immediate and long-term value of evaluations. With storytelling fundamentals and best practices woven throughout, topics will range from the tactical to strategic. Tactical examples may include how to design skimmable and effective evaluation reports and summaries that convey meaning and highlight key actions to consider. Strategic examples include working with stakeholders to co-create or refine the most critical recommendations to build buy-in before the report is delivered, design implementation roadmaps for recommendations, prompt dialogue on strategies for embedding organizational learning post-evaluation, and identify opportunities for communicating early “success stories” that move people in a way facts and figures alone may not. Audience members will be invited to share personal challenges and successes and raise questions to presenters.
Relevance Statement: The field of evaluation has evolved and matured in recent decades to increasingly prioritize Utilization-Focused Evaluation, which is rooted in the premise that evaluations should be judged by their utility and actual use by intended audiences. While significant emphasis is often placed on this during our training as evaluators, in practice, contractual deadlines and other factors create an outsized emphasis on the “final report” as the end of the road persists. Despite advances in data visualization and changes in report formatting and style, even these sleeker reports are not accompanied by supplemental stories, journey maps of beneficiaries to track and demonstrate outcomes post-evaluation, and soliciting feedback from stakeholders on which recommendations they are most likely to implement and why—so that the evaluator also learns from the evaluation. This demonstration will combine insights from the AEA Evaluator Competency Domain of Planning and Management and the field of organizational change management to refine evaluator understandings and expectations for when to begin thinking about evaluation utilization (surprise – it is as the beginning!) and how to use storytelling best practices to foster adoption of evaluation recommendations or dissemination of findings. This discussion and Q&A will provide value to practitioners engaged in both internal and external evaluations alike, as they are both invested in refining their capabilities for crafting narratives and leveraging storytelling to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) from evaluations. The goal is to share best practices and practical experience to foster dialogue that will help enable these key audiences (e.g., evaluation commissioners and users) to transcend the tendencies of evaluations to end as a learning or compliance exercise, and instead evolve into a beginning for change.