5
"That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way." (Doris Lessing)
Throughout the Learning Pathway experience and beyond, I have been consciously reflecting on what has changed for me personally, as an evaluator, and as a Community Psychologist - all with an eye to sharing any learnings that might be relevant for efforts to transform the evaluation ecosystem in Nova Scotia specifically, and to help transform evaluation practice as a whole.
Learnings to Apply in my Practice
The big learnings that I will apply to my evaluation and Community Psychology practice are:
I have a deepened understanding of the importance of taking a systems approach to evaluation (and to my Community Psychology work). Going forward, I will consciously and intentionally begin an evaluation by thinking and asking questions about the ecosystem in which the work is taking place. By this I mean identifying everyone who is connected to and touches or is touched by the work that is being evaluated (e.g., community members and organizations, program staff and decision makers, government and funders who require evaluations, the people doing the work of evaluating). I will suggest that we explore the perspectives each party brings, how they interact, and the setting where this all happens. I will try to help shape the evaluation process so that someone from each part of the ecosystem is engaged in the evaluation, and encourage the group to put energy into building strategies to strengthen relationships across the ecosystem throughout the process.
I will also ask the group to consider who is leading each part of the ecosystem, what their role is within their spheres of influence, and whether we have the right people at the table who can influence and support long-term change within their spheres. I will critically reflect on my role and engage with a peer thought partner or peer group to ensure that the responsibilities I am taking on are appropriate for me given my positionality.
As part of my collaborative approach, I will invite everyone in an evaluation ecosystem to think about what they need to learn in order to promote change (and transformation of evaluation where relevant) within their spheres of influence, and then design a process to support that learning.
I will also advocate for community-led evaluation processes that reflect community world views and values, and work with others in the ecosystem to build respect, appreciation, and support for this kind of community-led evaluation work within their spheres of influence.
As an integral part of my reflexive process, I will consciously examine my work for tenets of White supremacy. This is a big thing to say and I need to learn a lot more about recognizing how White supremacy shapes my practice. I know now that I need to pay attention for perfectionism, a sense of urgency, feelings of defensiveness, valuing quantity over quality, worshipping the written word, paternalism, either/or thinking, power hoarding, fear of open conflict, individualism, framing progress as bigger/more, thinking objectivity is possible, and feeling a right to comfort.
I know I want to find ways to address these tenets and eliminate them from my practice. And I also know that they are embedded within a system that is much bigger than one person can change alone. I would like to connect with other White evaluators and practitioners to build opportunities to learn together about how we can address White supremacy in our own practices as well as more broadly, and find ways to hold each other accountable for doing things differently.
One strategy I am practising with this blog series is sharing what I am learning as I am learning it. I hope this will invite constructive dialogue, help cross-pollinate ideas, and build momentum for collective reflection and change efforts.
I have jokingly (not so jokingly) told the members of the Learning Pathway Wisdom Circle that I want a Wisdom Circle for my life. I would have followed their guidance and direction even if I didn’t fully grasp what it meant. Their insight, knowledge, guidance, and ongoing connections to the communities they share with participants was central and invaluable to this journey. Going forward I will always try to incorporate a structure like this into the work I am doing, being ever mindful of what work is appropriate to as of whom given my positionality in the work. Where possible, I will encourage others to find appropriate ways of seeking guidance from wise leaders.
I personally value the opportunity to explore and understand theories that are guiding or informing - or possibly useful for - the work I am doing. As part of weaving a more deeply integrated learning layer through my process, and as a way of ensuring transparency and clarity about collective work, I am going to structure regular opportunities to bring people together to discuss and critique the theories informing the work we are involved in together.
Connected to this idea of building a collective understanding and critique of theories guiding the work is collective meaning making of the work as it is unfolding. This process can be part of exploring theories and part of regular sensemaking activities in evaluation; it is also pausing for conversations when they are needed. This means checking in to ask when conversations are needed, and it means listening when people - particularly from communities that are oppressed - say it is time for a conversation.
Working together to create and design evaluation (and Community Psychology) processes can help shift and transform power within an ecosystem, and contribute to transforming evaluation. Going forward I am going to try to more consciously structure evaluation design processes together with the people involved in the ecosystem in which the work is taking place. Doing this can be difficult for evaluators working as consultants because government and funders usually require at least an outline of the evaluation methodology at the proposal stage. Again this is something one person can’t change alone. I will raise the idea of co-creating evaluation and learning processes from the beginning of the work as much as I am able. Doing this could help plant seeds that can be nurtured and grown by other evaluators raising the same ideas. A peer group supporting each other’s reflexive practices could also push for co-creative design processes and shared control of evaluation processes.
While maintaining a system lens, I will bring my attention to the local context in which any evaluation is taking place. I will ask the group working collectively to identify potential harms to community members during the evaluation process, develop strategies to mitigate them where possible, and co-create spaces for community members who experience harm to debrief and receive appropriate support. I will also invite the group to develop strategies for addressing the harmful behaviours and educating (calling in) the perpetrators where possible.
In my ongoing work I will continue to pay attention to creating loving and caring spaces that facilitate relationship building and strengthen community. I will draw on methods I am familiar with, seek guidance and direction from community leaders, and invite everyone involved to contribute to building a caring environment together.
Most importantly, going forward I can now name working in community as sacred. Throughout any evaluation process I will critically reflect - and invite the group to critically reflect - on whether and how our processes and interactions honour the sacred, and how we can adjust the ways we are working to do better at this.
I have been involved in previous work to help Settlers learn about the true history of Canada, to recognize the Colonial Matrix of Power (though I didn’t have that name for it then), and step up to take responsibility for dismantling inherently racist institutions and changing colonial systems. Now I realize that this work needs to be done within the field of evaluation. I know that from this point forward I will look for ways to call attention to the colonial nature of evaluation with colleagues and within specific evaluation work.
I think it could be a useful exercise to work with other White evaluators to create a list of the assumptions and signals of racism, capitalism, misogyny, hetrosexism and patriarchy that show up in our evaluation thinking, language, and actions. Perhaps we could develop some critical reflection questions that would help us recognize these manifestations of colonial thinking. We could work together to develop alternative and loving ways of thinking about, talking about, and practising evaluation, and we could discuss these ideas with communities for their perspectives.
I think it will be important for me to examine my spheres of influence and explore possible formats and opportunities for building on what others have done to bring White evaluators together for discussions about the inherently White supremist nature of evaluation and how to decolonize it.
Going forward my reflexive practice will include watching for colonial thinking showing up in my work, and building opportunities for collective learning with my colleagues about how to address this thinking.
I will look for opportunities to support communities leading processes to build their own practices and approaches to evaluation based on their worldviews, and I will work to build support for these processes in other parts of the evaluation ecosystem. I will take direction from community leaders about whether and how they would like me to be engaged in these processes.
The Learning Pathway relied heavily on people’s unpaid time, which may not be sustainable in the long term. Because this was an emergent process, we realized what resources we needed as we needed them. I didn’t want to ask too much of people who were already giving generously of themselves to support the Learning Pathway. And this sentiment shows that I was holding a lot of responsibility for the process.
I am going to be more intentional about co-creating learning processes, and will talk openly about designing and structuring evaluation and learning processes so that people in leadership roles feel a shared sense of ownership and responsibility for the process. That way we can work together to agree on roles,identify the resources we need, and decide together how and whether to address those needs.
Finally, the Learning Pathway experience has reinforced for me that decolonization and the work surrounding it is very complex and challenging. All parts of the system need to be present in order to make transformational changes. I am committed to doing this work for the long-term with compassion, kindness, humility, respect, generosity of spirit, gratitude and love.
The big learnings that I will apply to my evaluation and Community Psychology practice are:
- Taking a systems approach
- Examining tenets of White supremacy as part of my reflexive process
- Drawing on wisdom and guidance from community leaders
- Weaving a deeper learning layer through the work
- Co-creating and co-designing supportive evaluation and learning processes
- Honouring the sacred inherent in community
- Decolonizing evaluation
- Sharing leadership responsibility
- Going forward with love
Taking a systems approach
I have a deepened understanding of the importance of taking a systems approach to evaluation (and to my Community Psychology work). Going forward, I will consciously and intentionally begin an evaluation by thinking and asking questions about the ecosystem in which the work is taking place. By this I mean identifying everyone who is connected to and touches or is touched by the work that is being evaluated (e.g., community members and organizations, program staff and decision makers, government and funders who require evaluations, the people doing the work of evaluating). I will suggest that we explore the perspectives each party brings, how they interact, and the setting where this all happens. I will try to help shape the evaluation process so that someone from each part of the ecosystem is engaged in the evaluation, and encourage the group to put energy into building strategies to strengthen relationships across the ecosystem throughout the process.
I will also ask the group to consider who is leading each part of the ecosystem, what their role is within their spheres of influence, and whether we have the right people at the table who can influence and support long-term change within their spheres. I will critically reflect on my role and engage with a peer thought partner or peer group to ensure that the responsibilities I am taking on are appropriate for me given my positionality.
As part of my collaborative approach, I will invite everyone in an evaluation ecosystem to think about what they need to learn in order to promote change (and transformation of evaluation where relevant) within their spheres of influence, and then design a process to support that learning.
I will also advocate for community-led evaluation processes that reflect community world views and values, and work with others in the ecosystem to build respect, appreciation, and support for this kind of community-led evaluation work within their spheres of influence.
Examining tenets of White supremacy as part of my reflexive process
As an integral part of my reflexive process, I will consciously examine my work for tenets of White supremacy. This is a big thing to say and I need to learn a lot more about recognizing how White supremacy shapes my practice. I know now that I need to pay attention for perfectionism, a sense of urgency, feelings of defensiveness, valuing quantity over quality, worshipping the written word, paternalism, either/or thinking, power hoarding, fear of open conflict, individualism, framing progress as bigger/more, thinking objectivity is possible, and feeling a right to comfort.
I know I want to find ways to address these tenets and eliminate them from my practice. And I also know that they are embedded within a system that is much bigger than one person can change alone. I would like to connect with other White evaluators and practitioners to build opportunities to learn together about how we can address White supremacy in our own practices as well as more broadly, and find ways to hold each other accountable for doing things differently.
One strategy I am practising with this blog series is sharing what I am learning as I am learning it. I hope this will invite constructive dialogue, help cross-pollinate ideas, and build momentum for collective reflection and change efforts.
Drawing on wisdom and guidance from community leaders
I have jokingly (not so jokingly) told the members of the Learning Pathway Wisdom Circle that I want a Wisdom Circle for my life. I would have followed their guidance and direction even if I didn’t fully grasp what it meant. Their insight, knowledge, guidance, and ongoing connections to the communities they share with participants was central and invaluable to this journey. Going forward I will always try to incorporate a structure like this into the work I am doing, being ever mindful of what work is appropriate to as of whom given my positionality in the work. Where possible, I will encourage others to find appropriate ways of seeking guidance from wise leaders.
Weaving a deeper learning layer through the work
I personally value the opportunity to explore and understand theories that are guiding or informing - or possibly useful for - the work I am doing. As part of weaving a more deeply integrated learning layer through my process, and as a way of ensuring transparency and clarity about collective work, I am going to structure regular opportunities to bring people together to discuss and critique the theories informing the work we are involved in together.
Connected to this idea of building a collective understanding and critique of theories guiding the work is collective meaning making of the work as it is unfolding. This process can be part of exploring theories and part of regular sensemaking activities in evaluation; it is also pausing for conversations when they are needed. This means checking in to ask when conversations are needed, and it means listening when people - particularly from communities that are oppressed - say it is time for a conversation.
Co-creating and co-designing supportive evaluation and learning processes
Working together to create and design evaluation (and Community Psychology) processes can help shift and transform power within an ecosystem, and contribute to transforming evaluation. Going forward I am going to try to more consciously structure evaluation design processes together with the people involved in the ecosystem in which the work is taking place. Doing this can be difficult for evaluators working as consultants because government and funders usually require at least an outline of the evaluation methodology at the proposal stage. Again this is something one person can’t change alone. I will raise the idea of co-creating evaluation and learning processes from the beginning of the work as much as I am able. Doing this could help plant seeds that can be nurtured and grown by other evaluators raising the same ideas. A peer group supporting each other’s reflexive practices could also push for co-creative design processes and shared control of evaluation processes.
While maintaining a system lens, I will bring my attention to the local context in which any evaluation is taking place. I will ask the group working collectively to identify potential harms to community members during the evaluation process, develop strategies to mitigate them where possible, and co-create spaces for community members who experience harm to debrief and receive appropriate support. I will also invite the group to develop strategies for addressing the harmful behaviours and educating (calling in) the perpetrators where possible.
Honouring the sacred inherent in community
In my ongoing work I will continue to pay attention to creating loving and caring spaces that facilitate relationship building and strengthen community. I will draw on methods I am familiar with, seek guidance and direction from community leaders, and invite everyone involved to contribute to building a caring environment together.
Most importantly, going forward I can now name working in community as sacred. Throughout any evaluation process I will critically reflect - and invite the group to critically reflect - on whether and how our processes and interactions honour the sacred, and how we can adjust the ways we are working to do better at this.
Decolonizing evaluation
I have been involved in previous work to help Settlers learn about the true history of Canada, to recognize the Colonial Matrix of Power (though I didn’t have that name for it then), and step up to take responsibility for dismantling inherently racist institutions and changing colonial systems. Now I realize that this work needs to be done within the field of evaluation. I know that from this point forward I will look for ways to call attention to the colonial nature of evaluation with colleagues and within specific evaluation work.
I think it could be a useful exercise to work with other White evaluators to create a list of the assumptions and signals of racism, capitalism, misogyny, hetrosexism and patriarchy that show up in our evaluation thinking, language, and actions. Perhaps we could develop some critical reflection questions that would help us recognize these manifestations of colonial thinking. We could work together to develop alternative and loving ways of thinking about, talking about, and practising evaluation, and we could discuss these ideas with communities for their perspectives.
I think it will be important for me to examine my spheres of influence and explore possible formats and opportunities for building on what others have done to bring White evaluators together for discussions about the inherently White supremist nature of evaluation and how to decolonize it.
Going forward my reflexive practice will include watching for colonial thinking showing up in my work, and building opportunities for collective learning with my colleagues about how to address this thinking.
I will look for opportunities to support communities leading processes to build their own practices and approaches to evaluation based on their worldviews, and I will work to build support for these processes in other parts of the evaluation ecosystem. I will take direction from community leaders about whether and how they would like me to be engaged in these processes.
Sharing leadership responsibility
The Learning Pathway relied heavily on people’s unpaid time, which may not be sustainable in the long term. Because this was an emergent process, we realized what resources we needed as we needed them. I didn’t want to ask too much of people who were already giving generously of themselves to support the Learning Pathway. And this sentiment shows that I was holding a lot of responsibility for the process.
I am going to be more intentional about co-creating learning processes, and will talk openly about designing and structuring evaluation and learning processes so that people in leadership roles feel a shared sense of ownership and responsibility for the process. That way we can work together to agree on roles,identify the resources we need, and decide together how and whether to address those needs.
Going forward with love
--
You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. (Jane Goodall)
Here is a description of the Learning Pathway. It’s set up as a stand-alone piece so readers can refer to it easily throughout the blog series.
The main purpose of this blog series is to share learnings (and perspectives) from the Learning Pathway experience that could be valuable to others interested in transforming evaluation so that it can better serve racialized communities, and influencing the evaluation ecosystem to support racial justice.
In the blogs series we will be exploring:
Seeing these tenets of white supremacy written down is a good start for me to build better awareness: "perfectionism, a sense of urgency, feelings of defensiveness, valuing quantity over quality, worshipping the written word, paternalism, either/or thinking, power hoarding, fear of open conflict, individualism, framing progress as bigger/more, thinking objectivity is possible, and feeling a right to comfort." It would be great to define these and then capture where I see them show up in my day to day.
ReplyDeleteAnother behavior change tool might be to build a chart for each of these tenets and add a column for "this" and another column "not this." What does it look like? How should I show up?
Like you say, it takes ongoing reflection and learning. Thank you!