Branding for the Independent Consultant: Basic to Advanced
AbstractWith a growing contingency of evaluators consulting in the gig economy, questions have shifted from “Should I?” to “How do I?” This chapter provides tips and strategies for branding your business as an independent consultant. Branding has become increasingly important for independent consultants, as a way to tell the world who you are and the unique value you offer. For new consultants, br anding is a means for potential clients to find and remember you, and for you to showcase your skills and competencies. For established consultants or businesses, branding can be a catalyst to land bigger (as in, higher p...
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Stephanie Evergreen,
Nina Sabarre Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Consulting After 50: Redirection and Reinvention for Career Evaluators
Conclusions are provided about the importance of an individual's life stage in this career change process. (Source: New Directions for Evaluation)
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Gail Vallance Barrington Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Independent Evaluation Consulting: An Evolving Field
AbstractThis chapter explores how independent evaluation consulting has evolved since Independent Evaluation Consulting: New Directions for Evaluation was published in 2006. It offers new and seasoned evaluation consultants a retrospective view of environmental changes in the evaluation field that have influenced independent consultants ’ business operations. The chapter reviews key changes in the years from 2007 to 2017: the impact of technology, increased focus on data visualization, influx of independent evaluation consultants, and credentialing of evaluators. Included is a summary of interviews with independent evalu...
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Norma Mart ínez‐Rubin Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Authentic Self in Evaluation Consulting: Reflections after 10 Years
AbstractThis chapter offers a process and a series of exercises for achieving the authenticity of a brand via authentic leadership based on an independent evaluation consultant's 10 ‐year evolution. This process weaves together four aspects: authentic self, authentic goals, authentic relationships, and authentic lifestyle. Each aspect is guided by an inquiry question: Who am I? What do I care most about? What work is mine to do in the world? What partnerships are consistent w ith who I am? What schedule provides the best work/life balance for me? Together, these inquiry questions generate a learning journey for the consu...
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Rita Sinorita Fierro Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Bridging Divides and Creating Opportunities in International Evaluation Consulting
AbstractDemand for evaluators in the international development evaluation field is high and opportunities for rewarding work abound. Yet, as part of their activities, evaluation consultants working internationally must constantly grapple with divides of geography, language, culture, gender, privilege, and power. This chapter presents the international consultant profile and context on evaluation in international development. The authors discuss common competencies used and required by international evaluation consultants. A discussion covers the different boundaries, or divides, that consultants must navigate, and how over...
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Nils Junge,
Svetlana Negroustoueva Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Who We Are: Findings from the American Evaluation Association's Independent Consulting Topical Interest Group 2015 Decennial Survey
AbstractThe Independent Consulting Topical Interest Group (IC TIG) of the American Evaluation Association (AEA) supports its members, who conduct evaluations as sole proprietors, in partnerships, or in consulting firms. To understand member needs, the IC TIG has conducted three surveys, the first in 1991 and the second in 2004. This chapter summarizes and compares the findings from the third IC TIG survey, administered in 2015, to the previous survey results. The findings yield information about types of businesses and business operations; areas of work; business development strategies; and interests, concerns, and needs o...
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Tania Jarosewich,
Matthew L. Feldmann,
Norma Mart ínez‐Rubin,
Nicole Clark Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Succeeding as an Independent Evaluation Consultant: Requisite Skills and Attributes
AbstractIndependent evaluation consulting offers autonomy, lifelong learning, and gratifying work. It is lucrative, and the market is growing. So why are not all evaluators independent consultants? Evaluation requires one set of skills; independent consulting another. Evaluators conduct evaluations; independent evaluation consultants also operate a business, solicit work, and market their brand. To be successful, they must tolerate the greater risk, manage the increased stress, and balance the heightened work –life demands of being independent. This chapter presents some of the key skills and attributes required to be a ...
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Amy A. Germuth Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Build and Improve Business Processes for Evaluation Consulting
AbstractThis chapter considers some business processes that evaluation consultants may integrate into their practices to increase success. An opportunistic sample of consultants was interviewed to understand the business processes they employed and what data if any, they gathered to assess and to inform adjustments in them. This chapter discusses processes that surfaced in the interviews, including the technology the consultants use to monitor projects, the templates they develop for automation, and the procedures they use to organize teams and projects. The chapter also demonstrates how consultants can use business proces...
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Michelle B. Burd Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Partnering for Social Change: Collaborating With Clients and Communities
AbstractThis chapter provides insight into the challenges faced by independent evaluators working in community settings. Communities are complex, requiring the independent evaluator, who chooses to work in them, to possess a unique set of personal qualities and professional competencies. Social problems are complex and community members and organizations must be engaged for interventions and evaluations to be effective. The authors delve into the evaluators ’ professional competencies applicable to working with communities and the perspectives required to help communities evaluate their social change strategies. The auth...
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Susan M. Wolfe,
Ann Webb Price Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Applying Business Management Approaches to Independent Evaluation Consulting
AbstractIndependent evaluation consultants frequently discuss “how‐to” strategies to determine ways to start or improve their practices. Mostly this involves sharing advice on a range of topics such as how and when to set up a corporate structure, what accounting software to use, how to develop new business, and where to work. Such advice also should inc lude information about business theory that more broadly orients consultants to business planning. This movement, from the “how” to the “why,” is imperative for long‐term business success. This chapter introduces three widely accepted business books that co...
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Matthew L. Feldmann Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Building a Culturally Responsive Independent Consulting Practice
AbstractCultural responsiveness is an introspective, lifelong commitment to understanding unique cultural strengths, challenges, and their impact on community engagement. Moving beyond cultural competence (in which there is an expectation to possess a certain level of knowledge and skills in another culture), cultural responsiveness challenges professionals to recognize their own personal and professional biases and potential power dynamics, while working collaboratively to develop a dialogue ‐based approach that responds to community needs. While this process is often detailed in how evaluators engage with clients and c...
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Nicole Clark Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Growing and Nurturing Your Evaluation Business When Your Independent Consultancy Becomes an Employer
AbstractLessons learned from 19 years building an evaluation consulting business can inform other business owners. The Improve Group has grown from a one ‐woman consultancy to an employer of more than thirty people. Staying grounded in a mission and a clear set of values is a guiding principle that has guided and informed growth. Sharing power with staff—to operate democratically while also leveraging their great ideas—has also strengthened The Improve Group's evaluation practice and operations as an organization. Balancing short‐ and long‐term opportunities has helped the organization stay nimble and situate its...
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Leah Goldstein Moses Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Taking Down Your Shingle? Or Not …
AbstractWhat happens with independent evaluation consultants who are age 65 or older? For those interviewed for this chapter, the answer was not just to close their businesses. The chapter discusses why selling a small consulting firm is difficult and, maybe, rare. Solutions derived from the interviews, and summaries of published works on career planning, included gradually phasing out work, refocusing work life activities, and being more selective in what work consultants did. The responses to an exploratory study of seasoned evaluation consultants are placed in a context of recent trends among “retirement age” people...
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Stephen C. Maack Tags: Research Article Source Type: research
Issue Information
New Directions for Evaluation, Volume 2019, Issue 164, Page 1-7, Winter 2019. (Source: New Directions for Evaluation)
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Tags: Issue Information Source Type: research
Editors ’ Notes
New Directions for Evaluation, Volume 2019, Issue 164, Page 9-12, Winter 2019. (Source: New Directions for Evaluation)
Source: New Directions for Evaluation - December 11, 2019 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Norma Mart ínez‐Rubin,
Amy A. Germuth,
Matthew L. Feldmann Tags: Editors' Notes Source Type: research
