Building a solid team is necessary preparation and should not be an afterthought.
I see a lot of organizational leaders try to go it alone when it comes to assessing effectiveness or implementing their programs. This happens for various reasons, but I think it largely boils down to simply not realizing the magnitude of expertise and work involved to successfully implement a project and then correctly measure impact and effectiveness of a project or program.
Each of these are learning processes in some way, and they require the skills and knowledge for such an endeavor. Read on for how to build your team for success, even when you don’t have the funds to hire new staff.
Organizational leaders can play a visionary, unifying role
Certainly, they’re leading the organization, so they have valuable input to share. They may even lead on the overall vision of the assessment, evaluation, or implementation process. But they are one person, and one person can’t do all. Leaders tend to play a sort of jack of all trades role whereas implementation, evaluation and impact measurement requires detailed and nuanced knowledge from those that have mastered the subjects. Leaders can assist by coming with a clear vision that has hopefully been informed by the rest of the team, and the ability to support decisive action. They should also be a supportive, unifying force.
The coordinators/planners/operations-minded people act as great bridges
These folks may be program or project officers, an operations specialist, or a manager. Regardless of official title, you need someone who can work in the mid-level space to link the vision with the details and coordinate how the two will work together. This role requires technical understanding of the duties and functions that will be performed to implement the program and collect, analyze, and communicate findings, plus strong skills in coordinating groups and finding cohesion and consensus.
The doers will perform your fundamental tasks. Do not underestimate them!
Highly skilled in things like research, the subject around which you are working, survey enumeration, conducting interviews, performing data analysis, and creating data visualizations, these people can make or break your project, because if you don’t have strong technical skills in place then you’ll likely end up with something less than great. Getting the right people for the role here is essential! *Big tip: when short on cash, see about partnering with universities where professors and students have the expertise and (maybe) some time to assist with your project, or partner up with other organizations who have shared interests. Join forces!
Your complimentary and incorporated participants and stakeholders
Government: Many programs will need government support at some point, whether from a regulatory, funding, or policy perspective. Connect with a representative early, get and share their opinions and keep them in the loop of your project since this can mean identifying hurdles (or simply…personalities) early, and maintaining buy-in and awareness throughout the process of implementing or evaluating.
Funders: Since funders have other projects, i.e. knowledge-bases, to pull from, they can provide a wealth of information from the beginning to end stages of any project. Ask questions and see where other projects have run into roadblocks or found key means to success. They play more of a role than simply providing money, and can also be tapped to help coordinate or fund technical assistance like subject-matter or technical experts. And one way to maintain funding? Maintaining engagement with said funders through sharing successes, sharing challenges where more funds could benefit project success, and clearly showing your next steps through strong, data-based communications that show strong social (and, importantly now, economic or financial returns.
Community representatives and beneficiaries: It is widely believed by practitioners and supported by scientific evidence that giving members and representatives of beneficiary communities space to be involved and truly heard in the planning, implementation and evaluation phases of projects leads to better identification of barriers, uptake of solutions, and means of making your impact sustainable over the long run. So make that space. Adapt meeting times as much as possible so your community can meaningfully participate (which may well be outside a 9-5 workday). Establish accessible means of information-sharing and giving feedback. Make having conversations with subject matter experts accessible.
The general public who may not be direct beneficiaries: It’s important to win the hearts and minds of this group, on average, for most things to succeed. Public support can sink or float a project. This takes finessing, some political savvy in some cases, and good communication that shows program ROI—especially if any part of your work is taxpayer funded.
It’s a widespread truth that not every organization is ready-made to do their own implementation or impact monitoring or evaluations. In fact, I’d argue most aren’t.
This is why taking stock early of who you need versus who you already have at the table for these types of activities is so important.
Who’s currently at your table, and who’s missing? Share where you need to amp up your engagement and involvement!