Evaluation Sourcebook (.pdf) - School of Natural Resources and ...

THREATSEcological | Management | Social | Understanding or Attitudes | Organizational..Organizational problemsINEFFECTIVE OR INEFFECIENT ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENTOne of the biggest threats to progress may come not from an external source – invasivespecies or urban sprawl – but from a weakness in how your organization or collaborative ismanaged. This includes problems such as• ineffective time management,• lack of focus,• ineffective coordination of multiple simultaneous efforts or• the lack of sustained leadership.Your group can track changes in these issues to assess whether strategies to improveorganizational management (p.202) are effective and to address problems before theysignificantly undermine your efforts to improve ecosystems and communities.Many of the indicators below could be collected by assessing the opinion or perceptions ofpeople within the organization or collaborative through regular confidential surveys.Sample evaluation questions and indicatorsX How well are we maintaining project focus?To what extent do our activities or investments match our mission?Do we have an effective process for making strategic choices? Members (board, coordinators, staff and/or volunteers, etc.) share a visionand/or mission statement that motivates the partiesMembers share clear, consistent and measurable objectivesPercent of activities that clearly fall under mission statementPercent of target internal and external audiences who agree that they canclearly understand project mission statements, intent or plan, etc.Existence of a strategic plan or a set of criteria for engaging in new effortsExistence of a logic model or situation map depicting how organization’sefforts link to context and project objectivesExistence of an agreed-upon set of measures of project successX To what extent is the organization or collaborative effort run efficiently?How well are we coordinating activities and avoiding duplication of efforts? Existence of clearly defined roles and responsibilities related to a strategicplan (such as job descriptions, committee task outlines, staffresponsibilities, etc.)Frequency of meetings, retreats or calls among participants or staffPercent of activities completed within planned timeframePercent of activities completed by assigned partyNumber of volunteer and/or staff hours spent on an activity relative to itsagreed-upon importanceMembers’/volunteers’ opinion of whether their efforts are not redundant ortheir time is used effectivelyEcosystem Management Initiative 148