2023 in Review: Headlight’s Values in Action
Authors: Alison Harrell, Amy Leo, Maxine Secskas, Monica Matts, Rebecca Askin, and Rebecca Herrington When working in complex systems, there’s only so much we can control, and challenges and disruptions are often the norm. In light of this, Headlight staff performance is not evaluated against our project outputs or outcomes, over which we only have
The Small Business Chrysalis: Reflections on Becoming a Prime
Author: Rebecca Herrington In late 2018, with a dream of embedded learning partnerships and systems change, I started my own consulting business to deliver data-driven decision-making through systematic design support, in-depth monitoring, evaluation, and learning, and facilitated organizational change processes. Headlight Consulting Services (Headlight) grew quickly–from just myself and a part-time partner in 2019, to
Choose Your Own Adventure: Options for Adapting the Collaborating, Learning & Adapting (CLA) Maturity Self-assessment Process
By: Amy Leo and Rebecca Askin When it’s time to decide what to give my (Amy’s) kids for dinner, there are two ways to go about it. One approach is to ask them what they want to eat. Their response to this question will likely be something they enjoyed eating in recent memory. (As toddlers,
Evaluation for Learning and Adaptive Management: Connecting the Dots between Developmental Evaluation and CLA
By Monica Matts and Belen Mekonnen Since Headlight’s inception in 2019, we have honed our expertise in a few practice areas, including Developmental Evaluation (DE) and Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA). These two approaches are certainly related and reinforcing, but they are also distinct. What’s the connection between DE and CLA? How are they similar
Organizational Capacity Assessment Process: Part 2
By Yitbarek Woldetensay, Chelsie Kuhn, and Alison Harrell Introduction In Part 1 of this blog series, we described an Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA), why we conduct an OCA, and how to prepare for the OCA process. In this Part 2 blog post, we will describe how to conduct organizational capacity gap identification (including OCA workshop
Adaptive Action Planning Workshop: the What, Why, and How?
By Esrael Woldeeyesus, SDRM-SI DE Deputy Team Lead, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC. Many institutions conduct or commission studies or facilitate discussions to generate evidence to identify successes and areas for improvement. However, taking recommendations into action can be a challenge for two reasons: (1) some perceive evaluations or studies as just compliance activities and have
What is a Developmental Evaluation? (101 Level)
By Julie Mandolini-Trummel, CLAME Specialist, and Alison Harrell, CLAME Specialist, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog post is the first in a 3-part series on Developmental Evaluations. In Parts II and III of this blog series, we will explore how to identify if a DE is a good fit for your project/activity and how DE
Continuing Your Organizational Learning Journey with CLA
By Georgia Handforth, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLCand Rebecca Askin, Senior CLAME Specialist, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog is the third and final of a three-part mini-series on organizational learning and the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Framework. This is the third and final post of our three-part mini-series on Collaborating, Learning, and
Two Tools for Assessing and Leveling Up CLA in Your Everyday Work
By Georgia Handforth, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog is the second of a three-part mini-series on organizational learning and the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Framework. Welcome back to our mini-series sharing Headlight’s experiences with Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA)! In the first post in this series, we talked about why CLA is
Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Practice and Insights at Headlight
By Georgia Handforth, CLAME Associate, Headlight Consulting Services, LLC This blog is the first of a three-part mini-series on organizational learning and the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Framework. Here at Headlight—and for many of our partners and peers—we spend our days digging into development work that is evidence-based, systems-aware, and locally-led. While most people
