The Elevate Journal
We Just Learned a Lesson – How Do We Not Forget?
While most of the thought around learning begins and ends in school, our ability and necessity to learn carries us through the rest of our lives. Because we are taught at such a young age to retain so much information, it can get tricky understanding what to keep and what to forget (I know I don’t remember a lot of the things I learned in school). As we grow and change, the necessity for a mental rolodex of dates, relationships, professional development information, songs, books, etc. increases while the proverbial room in our minds stays the same. How do we keep this information safe and readily accessible? How do we know what information is not necessary to keep on standby?
Reflective Practice at Elevate
At Elevate, we have a core value around learning. This often shows up in our external work with clients where we collaboratively learn with partners and actively look for ways to augment learning through the work we do and the deliverables we produce. Learning also plays a central role in the internal work we do as an Elevate team, and reflective practice is one tool we use to learn and grow together.
Spheres of Influence and the Attribution of Change
A lot of our initial conversations with clients start with some version of the following: “We really don’t know how to prove that we do x. We know that we see that change day to day, but we don’t have the data to prove that we caused that change.” The key word in this request, of course, is “caused.” Often, organizations feel pressured to demonstrate that their intervention was the sole cause of an observed change. Even when funders or stakeholders aren’t requesting that directly, it’s often assumed that “proving” that your intervention caused an observed change is still the “holy grail” of evaluation.
Unpacking What We Mean by “Learning Culture”
You have likely heard or read about the idea of a learning culture. If you heard about it from us, you may have seen the stars in our eyes as we talked about our earnest belief that shifting organizational cultures to center learning can transform the nonprofit landscape, leading to more engaged and fulfilled staff, stronger relationships across agencies, and ultimately, better outcomes for clients.
Listening, Learning, and Planning for Action
We unequivocally believe that Black lives matter, and we recognize the power that data and narrative have in the fight for justice. We recognize that as a team of mostly White women, we are privileged in that, most days, we are able to compartmentalize these conversations. We know we don’t have the answers, and we know we will not get it right, but we are committing to making space to reflect, learn, unlearn, and grow.
Evaluative Thinking in Times of Crisis
Last week, while listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Pantsuit Politics, something that one of the cohosts really stood out to me. She said, “What a ‘pandemic world’ does is accelerate change and clarify problems.”