laborious evaluations, rather, gathering intelligence as you work to ensure that your actions are as effective as possible. Measuring impact is becoming ever more important within the wider organisational frameworks we are in. So here we outline some simple structures for gathering the key information to inform your work. Developing a Theory of Change A Theory of Change is all about getting very clear and explicit about your goals, how you plan to achieve, how you will know when you have achieved them and any assumptions that exist in your approach. incredibly helpful as very often organisations will state a goal such as the It’s ‘doubling life chances of young which might sound impressive but means very little without a lot of people’ extra detail. For example what do we mean by life chances? What is a young person? Why should our model be better than gone before? Table 2 below gives an example of this for a special what’s needs services. Indicators Audience and and means of Systems Outputs Indicators desired verification Desired thinking (leadership and competencies for these Outcomes theory of activities) and verification and competencies Change monitoring behaviours and behaviours Educational Benchmarking If people better SEND Production of standards against existing understand the managers will jointly owned improved metrics (e.g. systemic better regional workshops grades) dynamics that understand strategy that with significant their systems has got high organisations thinking and buy-in from power. operate within therefore staff and they should behave in ways stakeholders. become more which show effective as greater they will sensitivity to understand elements of the better where to system: e.g. focus their people and effort. organisations. Table 2: Example Theory of Change Framework Exercises Coming back to your challenge now, complete a Theory of Change table for the key outcomes sought for your challenge. Indicators Audience and and means of Systems Outputs Indicators desired verification Desired Thinking (leadership and competencies for these Outcomes theory of activities) and verification and competencies Change monitoring behaviours and behaviours
laborious evaluations, rather, gathering intelligence as you work to ensure that your actions are as effective as possible. Measuring impact is becoming ever more important within the wider organisational frameworks we are in. So here we outline some simple structures for gathering the key information to inform your work. Developing a Theory of Change A Theory of Change is all about getting very clear and explicit about your goals, how you plan to achieve, how you will know when you have achieved them and any assumptions that exist in your approach. It’s incredibly helpful as very often organisations will state a goal such as ‘doubling the life chances of young people’ which might sound impressive but means very little without a lot of extra detail. For example what do we mean by life chances? What is a young person? Why should our model be better than what’s gone before? Table 2 below gives an example of this for a special needs services. Desired Outcomes Indicators and verification Systems thinking theory of Change Audience and desired competencies and behaviours Indicators and means of verification for these competencies and behaviours Outputs (leadership activities) and monitoring Educational standards improved Benchmarking against existing metrics (e.g. grades) If people better understand the systemic dynamics that their organisations operate within they should become more effective as they will understand better where to focus their effort. SEND managers will better understand systems thinking and therefore behave in ways which show greater sensitivity to elements of the system: e.g. people and organisations. Production of jointly owned regional strategy that has got high buy-in from staff and stakeholders. workshops with significant power. Table 2: Example Theory of Change Framework Exercises Coming back to your challenge now, complete a Theory of Change table for the key outcomes sought for your challenge. Desired Outcomes Indicators and verification Systems Thinking theory of Change Audience and desired competencies and behaviours Indicators and means of verification for these competencies and behaviours Outputs (leadership activities) and monitoring