The Point of Connection

Hello friends, colleagues, and community.

High school chemistry class was not my thing. We followed instructions for experiments that had every step and every result mapped out. There was no surprise or discovery; only “correct” procedures.

I skated by with a passing grade and spent lots of class time honing the ability to write my name backwards in cursive. I was interested in learning something new.

Do you ever find yourself saying “yes” to a task or project before knowing exactly how you will do it?

Does it feel like a combination of trusting yourself and closing your eyes as you leap?

It can be validating to know that there are lots of articles and workshops where this kind of approach is discussed seriously and given respectable names.

We talk about participatory practices, where we support community members in taking control of an evaluation process.
We use grounded theory research to approach data without a preconceived notion of what is important.
Or we start our day with a creative flow activity to open our minds, nurture our imagination, and make room for spontaneity.

For a period of several months, culminating this March, the Radiance team worked with an organization that serves as a learning and capacity building hub for grant makers to explore their evaluation practices. Our aim was to help our client build and implement a robust evaluation framework, while teaching staff new strategic learning practices.

When we started, we had no fixed idea about what our client would need. But bit by bit, after a survey, materials and evaluation tools review, interviews, and group discussion and discovery activities, the framework came into focus.

The result was a user-friendly plan of inquiry and learning, along with an interactive spreadsheet for aligning evaluation questions and processes with our client’s strategic plan and theory of change. People were excited to dive in.

Curiosity, Cats, and Us

You may remember an old saying about curiosity killing the cat, but I think it’s much more common that cats—and people—learn more and have more fulfilling experiences with open, curious minds than when we think we know what we “should” see.

Bringing this approach to our work helps our clients' staff, community members, and others get curious and engaged, too. Instead of evaluation feeling like an externally imposed process, they realize it’s something they co-create every time they ask a question that will help them live out their mission and values.

To start exploring one of the open-minded strategies I mentioned earlier—Grounded Theory research—check out this free resource on our website's Evaluation and Learning page, here.

Join the Conversation

I can still write backwards in cursive. But, more importantly, all of us at Radiance have had lots of interesting and useful discoveries from allowing ourselves to ask questions and set preconceptions aside.

What strange or satisfying experience have you had when you let your curiosity lead?

Reply to this email and tell us about it.

Get to Know Radiance

Find out more about what we do and how we can support your measurement, learning, and evaluation (MEL) needs.

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Wishing you some beauty at the start of summer,

Robin and the rest of the Radiance team.

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