Measuring What Matters

As you begin making the shift from a consumable to a renewable way of living and working together, one question inevitably comes up: How do we know if we're being successful?! Before you can answer that question, though, you need to decide what you're going to measure. And that means you have to be clear about your bottom line.

For the people on our team - and in our work together - the bottom line is this: Do what matters. 

To be sure, we all have to pay the rent. But we believe that if we're doing what matters, that will happen. And besides, there are a lot of ways to pay the rent. If what we're doing doesn't matter and isn't making a positive difference in people's lives or in the world we share, well, we'd just as soon figure out another way to get that rent check paid.

So, once you have your bottom line clear, how do you know if you're being successful? 

"We like the idea of using developmental evaluations. A developmental evaluation does not use traditional, narrowly focused, bottom-line oriented goals—and judge the success or failure of your work on the basis of how well you meet those goals. In fact, it assumes that when you begin your work you don’t even know what your goals should be. Working in a renewable way, you won’t know your desired outcomes until you actually engage your context and develop a shared vision. Developmental evaluation measures what you’re learning and how you’re growing and encourages you to put that new knowledge to use as you move forward. It takes the long view, because real innovation doesn’t happen overnight. It asks probing questions, tracks results, provides feedback and helps you adapt. So what metrics should you be using? What kinds of questions should you be asking? 

Here are some examples of what you might measure using a developmental approach to evaluation: 

•  Who is involved in our common work?
• Who has joined us and become more engaged in our work together?
• Who is missing? And why?
• What are we learning about the work we’re doing together...? 
• What are we learning about ourselves?
• How have we been changed?
• What new assets, passions and resources have we tapped into?
• What new “WOWS” have we seen? What successes, changes and miracles have we seen happen...as a result of our common work?
• What needs have we become aware of that we had not seen before?
• Are we being true to our purpose/directions?
• What’s different because of the work we’ve been doing? How have lives been changed?
• What’s emerging? How are we preparing for that?
• How are we sharing what we’ve learned?"     

- Excerpt from The Future Starts Now

We're trying to practice what we're preaching on tour this fall. The evaluations we've been asking people to fill out for us, to let us know how we're doing, include questions like these:

• What are the three most important things you learned and/or experienced today?
• What would you like to learn more about? 
• What have you heard God saying to you today?
• How can the ARE team makes this a more effective workshop for other groups?
• Would you recommend this workshop and the ARE team to a colleague or friend?

The bottom line is, we want to know if what we're doing matters. 

What is your bottom line? What should you be measuring? What kinds of questions should you be asking?

 

Click here for a link to the ARE book store and The Future Starts Now.

Click here for a link to registration info for the remaining Treasure in Clay Jars workshops – coming up in Winnipeg, Charlotte, Orlando, and Philadelphia.