Ongoing evaluation ensures teams are effective, members feel supported, and impact is measurable. However, the work of teams like the EST can be varied in scope, deeply interpersonal and/or conversational in approach, and not always conducive to a typical evaluation process. In fact, prolonged or overly formal processes can inadvertently interfere with operations rather than observe “business as usual”. Effective teams strike a balance between ongoing learning and evaluation, and natural growth and intuitive change.
The EST recommends:
Reviews of team processes, goals, and projects. Team check-ins should be a key part of project wrap-up processes. This can be done during regular meeting times, as an addition to debrief processes. Team members can offer their thoughts on existing practices, and offer feedback on potential directional changes for the future.
Participant feedback via surveys. Survey links can be distributed to partners, or attached to slide decks during workshops. The EST collects data including indicators like change in preexisting beliefs about homelessness, or likelihood that participants will revisit lived experience engagement in the future.
Regular check-ins between team members and supervisors. Staff should always have frequent opportunities to share their feedback on operations, but beyond that, staff should not have to exclusively volunteer feedback. Being an equitable employer means understanding power dynamics that may interfere with offering feedback, and taking steps to rebalance power. This can include offering both private and group opportunities to offer feedback, offering opportunities for feedback in writing and in conversation, and explicitly soliciting feedback.
Assessment of partnerships and outcomes. Take note of partnership trends. Are organizations returning for repeat consultations? Is the team’s feedback actualized? Is lived experience integration increasing in your community? The EST has reported feeling particularly proud of cases where organizations that hire the EST for one-off engagements later invest the resources into creating lived experience teams of their own. The emergence of new lived experience teams in your community can be a key sign that your work has inspired positive change.
Periodic environmental scan. Our environmental scans were, in part, designed to establish a baseline that could be used to evaluate our own work. While this toolkit provides a great baseline for new teams, we strongly recommend you look at the work already being done in your community, and reassess for new trends or emerging best practices periodically.
Evaluate your leadership. Strong teams have strong leaders, and strong leadership requires ongoing refinement. Each year, as part of our annual performance reviews, all staff are given the opportunity to evaluate the work of their direct supervisor through a survey. The results of this survey are sealed to the supervisor being evaluated, which gives staff the opportunity to speak freely. We evaluate leadership on the metrics we’ve identified as important to a well functioning team, including:
- The promotion of teamwork and positive relationship building
- Ability to provide a clear sense of purpose and direction, roles and responsibilities
- Honesty, openness, and responsiveness
- Ability to motivate, encourage, role model, and promote inclusivity
- History of humility, work ethic, and modeling of organizational values
These metrics are evaluated in all supervisory staff, at every level, and ensure our leadership prioritizes skillsets associated with healthy, open, and positive work environments.
Outside of annual reviews, it is also important that the EST know who their manager reports to, and that they maintain a way to contact this supervisor if concerns regarding their manager arise. To facilitate this, we ensure the EST’s manager is joined by their supervisor in both neutral or positive moments (to promote relationship building), and during complicated or loaded team conversations that may benefit from the inclusion of multiple levels of leadership.