A few weeks after the 2019 Annual Arizona Evaluation Network Conference, I felt inclined to reflect on my experience. This year’s theme, Refocusing on the Fundamentals, served as a call to get back to the roots of evaluation practice. This year’s conference really reminded me that we should never become too complacent with our skills in even the most routine of tasks. The reality is…things change – especially with environmental (i.e. situational or contextual) factors and stakeholder dynamics. We as evaluators need to flex to this for the sake of both our own development and that of the programs, collaboratives, or communities we are working with.
So as expected, I came away from the conference challenged and recharged (I love getting together with my people!); I was ready to take on a whole new set of goals! I realized that the conference theme leveraged two important aspects of how I strive to approach projects. The first is to maintain a heightened level of self-awareness, and the second (and really how I continually push for the first) is the application of ongoing reflective practice — asking myself questions like…
What are my strengths? What are my areas of opportunity? What do I enjoy doing? Where can I continue to develop? Where can I leverage others to add more value and impact to my clients’ projects?
Through my interactions with AZENet colleagues, I realized I was answering some of these questions naturally through peer discussions and a reminder of the foundational principles in our work. This experience reinforced the idea that we need to be coming together as diverse groups to enhance our practices and what we deliver. It’s how we move our field forward. Personally, I think the experience helped reaffirm how important it is to promote self-awareness and reflective practice in my work, and it also helped increase my awareness of the fact that I want/need more opportunities for collaboration my peers. Growth is difficult, so why not go through the process with other people that might be asking themselves the same reflective questions as you are.
I’m considering this my challenge to get in that space more…and want to encourage others to do the same!
Look for my future post, which will include my vision as the 2019 AZENet President-Elect.