One tool we use in our strategic planning and evaluation work with clients is called a data visualization dashboard. Dynamic and interactive, a data visualization dashboard, or “viz,” displays an organization’s key performance indicators at a single glance. More than that, a viz allows a user to quickly ask their own questions of the data, making interacting with your data painless (and even fun!). […]
In my work with organizations, I focus on providing services to help them excel at their mission right away. But I often find myself wondering what risks and rewards may await our clients down the road, and how they can position themselves to meet them. History offers many lessons about the need for organizations to periodically re-invent themselves. Once in a while I fantasize about being a consultant to famous leaders of the past who faced golden opportunities for their organizations– like the railroad barons of the late 19th and early 20th century. They were undisputed masters of their world, and very confident in the way they perceived their mission: “We lay rail, and America takes the train.” I would love to have been able to whisper in their ears, “OK, you’ve had a good run, but have you heard of that young Henry Ford guy? Have you heard what he’s building in his garage? Just spitballing here, but maybe you want to rethink that “we lay rail” mission of yours a bit. Because if you don’t tweak your definition of yourself you’re in for a nasty surprise. Maybe instead of defining yourself strictly in terms of rail, try thinking a little bigger. Something like ‘Whenever America makes a move, it’s on us.’ Because without a broadened mission and a shift from rail to transportation, before you know it you’ll turn into… Amtrak.” The failure of the railroad was not a lack of resources—they had more money than they knew what to do with. It was purely a failure of vision. So, how does this vision thing apply to an organization like yours? Well, let’s take one sector we work with that has opportunity pounding on its door. I refer to community coalitions, particularly those dedicated to drug and alcohol prevention. […]
Today, hundreds of Federally-funded drug and alcohol-focused community coalitions operate across the United States, joined by many others that rely primarily upon state or private funding. The watchword these coalitions share is prevention, and the overriding challenge they live for is to offer effective support for our nation’s youth in living a healthy and drug-free lifestyle. At conferences, in online events, and in our work with such coalitions, there is a key question on everyone’s mind: “What preventive strategies work most effectively in our distinctive community, and how do we know whether we are succeeding?” As an evaluator, I think those are great questions. Really, they comprise the bottom line for any strategic effort. I also believe that these coalitions are in an excellent position to answer these questions—not in the abstract, but in terms of their own community, their own neighborhoods, and the youth they know and seek to serve. It is possible to discover what works—and what doesn’t work—to achieve a particular prevention goal in a particular community. I believe this for two reasons. […]
