Mushroom picking and the need for monitoring and evaluation (a guest post by Nigel Scott)

How and what we monitor and evaluate at work is important.  We are often so caught up in “doing stuff” that we lose track of our focus on the bigger strategy picture.  But being able to demonstrate progress gives us a sense of achievement, helps us learn and improve, and also supports us raising funds to move forward and do more.

In this blog we reflect on where we are going and why, what the point is of tracking progress , discuss methods of monitoring and evaluating, and what this might mean for you.

Many years ago I was up in the North Western Highlands of Scotland on holiday and decided to head into the forest with a friend to collect mushrooms for supper.  We kitted up with a couple of bags, some lunch, waterproofs (of course!)  and wellies.  Not far inside the forest we found our first chanterelles.  Immediately your eye is drawn to the forest floor, you search for mushrooms, and as you pick the ones you find others appear out of the corner of your eye.  You slowly move towards each new find, moving left and right across the forest floor, pick a few and move on to the next collection.  

After a good half hour we stopped to compare our harvests.  And it was at that point we realised we had no idea where we were.  Deep in the forest it was impossible to tell where we had come from, nor could we get a fix on where North was.  We were lost.  All that time with our noses and eyes focused at ground level on the job at hand had led us astray.

Where are we actually going and why?

It was this story that came to mind recently whilst in conversation about how we get lost in day to day activities.  As organisations we tend to set our strategy, break this down into a series of actions, gather our resources and get to work on the actions.  Sounds similar to mushroom picking right?  But other than completing the action (getting a bag full of mushrooms), we tend not to:

• Reflect on the process we have been through

• Identify what worked and did not

• Acknowledge what might do it better next time and how

• Recognise the difference we have made (or not)

So you could say we don’t really know where we are (like stopping in the forest after picking mushrooms) and experience disorientation as a result.  Yes we know that we have completed a bit of the strategy (we have the mushrooms collected for supper), but we haven’t linked  the actions we have taken back to the strategy (how do we get home to cook supper), nor do we identify how what we have done has improved us as an organisation. 

At a personal level, introspection, self reflection and contemplation are all activities we tend not to give enough time for as we are busily pulled in many directions. Yet this concept of deliberately slowing down and reflecting on what has happened, how it went and what we have got from it, is not a new concept.  Some researchers make links to it as far back as the early Buddhist teachings.  More recently it has been used in university teaching (and study) for many years in the form of “reflective practice” - the ability to reflect on one's actions so as to engage in a process of continuous learning , improvement and development.  It is also found in coaching and mentoring, in the health professions and a growing number of professional bodies include reflective learning within their continuous Professional Development frameworks.

Monitoring and evaluation is, if you will, the use of reflective practices in an organisational sense and context.  And one of the reasons we tend to shy away from it is that it can be made overly complex.  Wikipedia’s definition is certainly enough to put most people off!  But, recognising that our imperfect world of management and business strategy is as much subjective as it is objective, art as much as science, it is possible to set suitable criteria to assist in evaluating projects, tasks, training, strategic plans and so on. 

Why track progress in the first place?

There are a number of reasons for us to monitor and evaluate, including:

• Checking money has been spent wisely - both effectively and sustainably

• Providing proof of achievement (and highlighting success) to the board and funders

• Clarifying changes expected as a result of a project 

• Confirming readiness to move to a next stage

• Identifying learnings for general sharing

• Exposing issues affecting organisation success

• Directing specific organisation focus and effort

Monitoring and evaluation is also an implicit part of becoming a “Learning Organisation” .  However, it is worth noting that there is no value in simply collecting data for the sake of it.  Be clear why you are tracking what you are tracking and establish the purpose and benefit for using the information gained.  Know at the outset how (and why) the evaluation data will be used by the organisation.

Methods of evaluation

The methods you use to evaluate are highly dependent on what you want to evaluate and to what purpose.  Any method that gives you the information you are looking for is suitable.  These may include:

• Financial measurements

• Measurements against objectives set at the outset

• Other measurements, ratios, statistics

• Interviews with staff, clients, suppliers

• Questionnaires

• Observations

• Action plans

Some organisations use a balanced scorecard approach to capture information which evaluates the overall performance of the organisation on a monthly basis, this brings together the key measures as determined by the organisation in four perspectives:

              Financial – Customer - Internal Processes -  Innovation and learning

But there are shortcoming to this approach as it tends to rely on statistics, removing the human input from staff, customers and suppliers.  This eliminates observation, subjective comment and views – all of which can provide much needed feedback to confirm effectiveness or otherwise. 

Choice of data 

If you choose to rely on statistics alone then the choice of which statistics and how they are collated can have a fundamental effect (bias) on the accuracy of your data.  For all of the data you choose consider ease of access, relevance, how the data is collected, who is collecting it, what questions are being asked, validity, what is best collected quantitatively or qualitatively, how you wish it to be presented, and frequency of collection. For monitoring and evaluation to be maintained, above all else ensure that you select an approach which is simple to put into practice, easy to understanood, and able to give clear information.

What this might mean for you

It’s fun to collect mushrooms, it might not matter if you lose a few hours in the forest and you’ll probably end up with a tasty snack. But is that enough? If you have an organisational strategy, don’t you want to know how well you’re achieving it (and possibly your funders too). Do you want to know what it is you do that makes the biggest, most effective, most value for money (not just cheapest) difference? Don’t you want to be able to say how great your work is, what it costs and why someone should support/fund it? 

If you do, and you’re feeling a little lost despite your appealing bag of mushrooms, then fear not, we can probably help. Reach out and see if we can help you Build Back Better (and avoid the Deadly Nightshade on the way).