Bloggers Series: Trina Willard on For Good Measure

Greetings!  I’m Trina Willard, Principal of Knowledge Advisory Group, a small, woman-owned management consulting firm.  I’ll be sharing information about our company’s blog, For Good Measure.

Rad Resource – For Good Measure:   Knowledge Advisory Group publishes For Good Measure about 1-2 times per month to disseminate information about measurement and evaluation as it relates to the nonprofit, government and business sectors.  Our blog focuses largely on measurement strategy, design and implementation tips for process and outcome evaluations, and our favorite evaluation-relevant resources. The blog will often feature some of our favorite bloggers as well, to highlight the breadth of knowledge on the web – so if you have suggestions for can’t-miss contributors, please let drop me a line at Trina@KnowledgeAdvisoryGroup.com. Occasionally, For Good Measure also shares complimentary messages that are related to overall organizational health, in areas such as planning, fundraising, and emerging industry trends.

Hot Tips – favorite posts:   Some of my favorite posts to date are included below.

  • Life Is a Highway:  This post recounted how a seemingly irrelevant personal experience highlighted a critical component of the measurement and evaluation process for me, that is, the importance of embracing your momentum for finding answers to your key questions.
  • Set Your Destination for Eval Central:  When I discovered this resource, “Where Evaluation Blogs Intersect,” I was hooked.  There’s a little something there for everyone.
  • What Surprising Number Will Change Your Business?:  Here’s a great example of the types of wisdom we like to share from the great thinkers on the information superhighway, like the smart folks from Harvard Business Review.

Lessons Learned – why I blog:  In a nutshell, I’m a big believer in lifelong learning.   Blogging offers the best of both worlds on that score – gathering new information and sharing it with others.  I think it’s important to spread the word of how intentional measurement and evaluation can help organizations problem-solve and make decisions.  Beyond that, blogging:

  • allows me to actively engage in a community with similar interests, beyond my geographical region,
  • helps raise awareness of my company and the services it offers, and
  • provides free or low-cost resources to students and financially strapped organizations that need evaluation assistance.

Lessons Learned:  Blogging isn’t as hard as one might think…not unlike evaluation!  You have a voice and a perspective.  Let it be heard and you’ll learn something in the process.

This winter, we’re running a series highlighting evaluators who blog. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.

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