The Many Skills of an Evaluator: Evaluation-Adjacent Work
March 2025
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Evaluation is at the heart of what we do at Three Hive. We pride ourselves on our ability to conduct thorough evaluations that provide our clients with actionable insights. However, there are times when we are called upon to do what we refer to as “evaluation- adjacent” work. This type of work, while not a full-scale evaluation, still helps organizations gather the evidence they need to make informed decisions about their services.
In evaluation, we often find ourselves wearing multiple hats. While traditionally evaluation focuses on assessing the effectiveness of programs and interventions, evaluation-adjacent work encompasses a broader spectrum of activities that may individually be components of an evaluation or may use the same skillset and expertise as evaluators. Sometimes it seems to be a matter of nomenclature: when a community-based organization wants a “needs assessment”, for example, they may not think of evaluators, but our skillset has an impressive breadth! Evaluation-adjacent work can take many forms.
Meeting Facilitation
Evaluators are skilled facilitators. Evaluators have likely facilitated evaluation planning meetings, facilitated focus groups and many other group meetings with the intent of brainstorming or gathering information. Creating a structured environment where ideas can flow freely is what we do. We likely have our favourite facilitation techniques to ensure that all voices are heard, fostering an inclusive atmosphere that encourages participation. Being called on to support meeting facilitation may not be evaluation exactly, but it is part of our skillset!
Evaluation Capacity Building
We are experts in evaluation. Not only can we help to design and conduct an evaluation, but we can also teach you about evaluation. We can design and deliver courses, workshops, and tutorials that teach the principles and methodologies of evaluation. This capacity building work empowers organizations to conduct their own evaluations by providing staff with the necessary skills and knowledge. Furthermore, evaluators can serve as mentors, offering ongoing support and guidance as organizations develop and refine their evaluation practices.
Community Engagement or Partner Engagement
Community engagement is another area where evaluators excel. Sometimes community engagement is part of an evaluation, but sometimes it can be its own project. Our expertise in designing and facilitating participatory methods enables us to effectively gather insights from diverse community members. By organizing focus groups, conducting surveys, or hosting townhalls or world cafes, evaluators can create platforms for meaningful dialogue and collaboration.
Jurisdictional Scans or Environmental Scans
Jurisdictional or environmental scans are often pieces of a full-scale evaluation, but they can be isolated activities as well. Our analytical expertise allows us to synthesize complex information from multiple sources, creating a comprehensive overview of the external environment. This, in turn, can inform strategic planning and decision-making processes, enabling organizations to adapt to changing circumstances and align their initiatives with external realities.
Needs Assessments
Needs assessments can be a precursor to an evaluation or, again, their own project that serve to inform planning or design. Evaluators can identify gaps between current conditions and desired outcomes within an organization or community. By employing a variety of data collection methods, evaluators gather comprehensive information about the needs and priorities of those closely aligned with the program.
Data Collection
Data collection is maybe the bread and butter of an evaluator’s world. Some clients may need support with a specific data collection task: maybe they want to send out a client satisfaction survey, or they want to hear from their board members about the vision of the company. Evaluators can certainly support discrete data collection activities, including focus groups, surveys, interviews and others!
Return on Investment
Return on investment (ROI) and social return on investment (SROI) are, arguably, evaluation approaches in themselves, but I think organizations looking for financial analysis don’t immediately think of evaluators. Evaluators can often be explicitly trained in these methodologies or can apply expertise to support an organization to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of investments, whether they are financial, human, or material resources. By conducting thorough cost-benefit analyses, evaluators can quantify the direct financial returns as well as the broader social and environmental impacts of initiatives.
Strategic Planning
Evaluators have a unique blend of analytical and facilitative skills that make us effective leaders of strategic planning. Our expertise in using data to inform decisions can help organizations to chart a course for the future based on evidence. Our expertise in data collection and analysis allows us to take an action-oriented lens to strategic planning, identifying key performance indicators that can measure the success of an organization and ensure that organizational goals are met. Our facilitation skills can help an organization to articulate its vision, set priorities and develop actionable plans.
Social Impact Measurement
Social impact measurement is the process of assessing the effects of an organization's activities on society and the environment. In a way, this is evaluation branded under a different name. Evaluators can help organizations measure social impact by systematically assessing the outcomes and changes resulting from their activities on society and the environment.
Measurement Systems
Measuring is obviously a core service of evaluations, but sometimes an organization may not need the full evaluation, but rather a way to support systematic and standardized measurement. Evaluators can build a measurement system by identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with the organization's strategic goals. Evaluators can then design data collection tools and processes, databases, and tracking mechanisms tailored to the specific context and needs of the organization. We can establish protocols for data quality assurance and management, ensuring the reliability and validity of the collected information.
Data Management or Data Quality Support
In my experience, administrative data that are shared with us by an organization are often messy, with lots of missing data, poor or no validation, and no data dictionary. Evaluators can leverage this experience to support organizations in ensuring the data they collect are reliable, relevant and high quality.
Quality Improvement
A lot of my evaluation career has been centred on evaluating improvement projects, and I think the two integrate well. Quality Improvement (QI) projects test new ideas and pilot or field test small changes. Evaluators are well equipped to lead or manage QI projects because we know how to ask questions that assess the impact of change, and we know how to measure isolated variables.
Risk Identification and Mitigation
A core competency of evaluation is ethical practice. Evaluators can apply this ethical lens to operations as well. We can help organizations identify potential risks and develop strategies to address them. By integrating evidence-based approaches and rigorous methodologies, evaluators can pinpoint critical risk factors, whether they pertain to operational inefficiencies, potential compliance issues, or external threats.
Data Visualization
Not all charts are created equal. Part of effective communication is ensuring the audience can grasp the key messages quickly and easily. Evaluators are great at this. Organizations may already have a lot of data but need support to present the key insights in a meaningful way. Evaluators can likely help to build dashboards or other types of automated reporting to help organizations make sense of their data. Effective data visualization not only aids in conveying insights but also supports informed decision-making.
Report Writing
Report writing is one of our everyday skills. We can support organizations in their reporting needs, even if we didn’t conduct an evaluation. Whether it's annual reporting, reporting for Annual General Meetings, or providing updates to funders or boards, evaluators can ensure that data and information are meticulously analyzed and presented in a clear and concise manner. We bring coherence to complex information, effectively summarizing achievements, challenges, and impacts.
Change Management
Evaluators can support or lead change management initiatives within organizations. By using evidence-based approaches, evaluators can guide organizations through transitions, ensuring that changes are strategic and impactful. Change management frameworks, much like evaluation frameworks, can be applied by evaluators to ensure that changes are supported by those affected.
Performance Review Support
Evaluators can work with human resource teams to identify and design measures and tools for effective leadership reviews or staff performance reviews. By leveraging our expertise in data collection and analysis, we can design review processes that capture multifaceted feedback from various stakeholders, including peers, subordinates, and supervisors.
Knowledge Translation
A good portion of our role as evaluators is translating data into insights. Knowledge translation doesn’t always mean a written report. Evaluators are skilled at identifying the best way to communicate to an audience and in tailoring those messages. So whether it’s comprehensive reports, visual aids, presentations or dashboards, evaluators can bridge the gap between evidence and practice through carefully crafted knowledge translation approaches.
Evaluation-adjacent activities are major pieces of the evaluation ecosystem.
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - Shakespeare
What one may call a “needs assessment” or perhaps “strategic planning support” may very well be looking for the skilled services of an evaluator. We already know the frustration of searching for evaluation content and services, so perhaps, as an evaluation community, we can start laying claim to these evaluation-adjacent services too! What do you think?
New Resource:
Eval Academy also an infographic about the diverse skills of evaluators. Beyond Evaluation: The Diverse Skills Evaluators Can Bring to Your Program or Project