What is evaluation?

Below are some of the concepts that your mind might evoke in response:

• impact measurement.
• performance reviews and KPIs.
• gauging the efficiency of processes.

What is common across these? What is the essence of evaluation?

As the term suggests, it is about finding the value in what is being // has been done.

E-Valuation

Evaluation is a practice. Just like enacting is, capacity-building is, documentation is, and all other iterative, evolutionary actions are that make up any collective endeavor.

For any collective that is trying to work on something together, or any system that has emerged in response to fulfilling a need, evaluation is that practice which enables it to learn. For, in finding that which is of value, it is able to better able to shape its own growth towards the directions that are most suitable for its unique evolutionary trajectory.

The verb for evaluation is valuing.

Evaluation, therefore, can be considered the practice of valuing. Unlike conventional approaches where value is very rigidly bestowed upon objects such as money or goals achieved and activities that relate to these outcomes, we see evaluation as the repetitive practice of valuing that which serves the collective most in the given context.

And the ‘e’? Regardless of the etymology, perhaps it stands, as it does in science - for energy.

E-valuation is the practice of iteratively valuing flows of energy.

This is ultimately what any stakeholder is doing when they evaluate any effort that has been undertaken. They are considering the energy that has been put in, comparing the outcomes generated against what was desired, and conducting an analysis of the value generated.

We are building evaluation tooling and methodology that shows the truth of what genuinely contributes to the progress or success of any project, especially those in the uncharted spaces of regenerative systems change.

Why Evaluation

At prisma, our mission is to enabling collectives to undertake intentional action-learning journeys, imbue them with regenerative potential, and make visible the value generated therein for the evolution of multiple levels of stakeholders and orders of systems.

The purpose of evaluation then, is to assist this endeavor in three ways:

1. To enable the collectives undertaking these journeys to be clear about what they are inherently valuing through their actions, learning and processing.
2. To provide tools that make visible the value being generated, and inform analyses and insights that enhance future group endeavors as well as the broader ecosystem of systems change experiments.
3. To enhance the ability of the collective to grow as a system by weaving in insights from their own behavior into organizational and personal development

Perspective

We are grounded in an ethos of co-creation. We see our work as that of facilitators who work with Place and Practice (and the humans stewarding them) to concoct the ideal recipes for long term, systemic catalysis.

As such, we hold the following perspectives towards evaluation:

1. Co-creative: What shall be evaluated (variables), how it will be measured (metrics), what level of growth is expected (standards) are all decided in consensus with the community - with processes tailored to match local decision-making practices and actively pulled towards greater self-organization.

2. Multi-perspectival: Co-creative processes grounded from context require a multi-capital lens to valuing flows of energy to truly honor the diversity of knowings and associated actions. Our approach is premised on seeing, valuing and developing all forms of capital - not just financial and economic.

3. Developmental: We see evaluation as an ongoing act, not just something that begins once the programming is complete. Our tooling is designed to start valuing flows the moment they begin, even before the journey starts, and we intend to provide stakeholders with live signals and insights into value generation.

4. Regenerative: The direction of our evaluation methodology is towards seeing potential, gauging fit rather than effectiveness, and enabling further experimentation. We are looking for how (& why) different components of the system are growing, not just temporary actions designed to meet short-term needs. We are placing the capacity, potential and will of the people, the place and life itself at the center.

Approach

Value is created through action. To take action, energy must be expended. This energy is transmuted into different forms of value based on the nature, intention and outcome(s) of the action.

This energy might be channeled through actions undertaken humans, the execution of automated protocols, the cyclical flow of processes within natural and artificial systems, and so on. Identifying all processes that are yielding value, the capitals they are sourcing from and into, and the systems they are part of lays the foundation of evaluation.

When a system in steady state is acted upon by an energy expending entity, the resultant modified system is more valuable - in that, it has accrued greater complexity - which is what we are interested in.

How do we know this has been achieved? How do we who contributed value, how and what all it influenced? How do we know whether the system (and parts thereof) is complexifying towards greater wholeness? How do we know what is activating and what is restraining movement?

Existing evaluation systems focus either on outcomes, or on numerical data generated as part of the programming. In recent years, this has shifted as funders have become more open to qualitative impact metrics such as testimonials, stories and other creative outcomes. For the most part however, these warm data types are used only in complement to the cold, hard data.

When evaluating a project with regenerative intentions these measures are especially insufficient, which is what has created the space for innovation. As an increasing number of regenerative practitioners facilitate projects, the glaring need for a way to value energy being expended by them and their co-creators has emerged.

Regenerative projects are difficult to evaluate primarily because the definition of regeneration itself varies from context to context, and community to community. To add to that the fact that regenerative improvements are largely only visible when considered at systemic scales, and require the ability to read signals of longer term value-addition that are not apparent easily.

Our approach is centered around focused on capitals, events, and processes as the objects of evaluation; people, patterns and systems as the sites of evaluation; and agreements, reflections and measurements as the modes of evaluation.

Different forms of capital are activated by people to deliver outcomes. These activities happen at events that are facilitated as part of patterns which are then reflected upon. Processes containing multiple activities are agreed upon and constitute the systems at play.

This is one way to look at how the components interact, but different combinations are all possible. The essence of this approach is as follows:

• Evaluation is conducted to understand the flow of capitals through processes facilitated as part of events.

• Evaluation is conducted by speaking to and understanding people, patterns and systems.

• Evaluation is conducted by analyzing agreements, collecting reflections and measuring outcomes.

As evident from the last line - conventional, straightforward measurements do feature in our approach, but are part of a holistic methodology, rather than centeral.

The Yield

By designing a multi-perspectival evaluation methodology that is co-created with members of each collective, is implemented developmentally via innovative technologies and structured using life-centered, regenerative principles - we are equipping communities to emerge with the following:

1. Alternate forms of data on value contributions
2. Multi-dimensional evolutionary timeline
3. Overview of multi-capital economy in play
4. Wholistic insights on systems, people and processes
5. Contextual toolkits for future evaluation practices