by Daniel Martinage, CAE
This past weekend I facilitated a strategic planning session for a national nonprofit foundation. As the plan began to take shape, the question of metrics was raised—specifically what measures will be put into place to track progress and outcomes. Building metrics into the strategic planning process is essential; otherwise all your hard work could end up being little more than good intentions. But what constitutes “good metrics” and how concerned should you be about things like statistical validity etc?
A recent article in NQ—NONPROFIT QUARTERLY recommends nonprofits learn how to use imperfect but relevant metrics. The authors suggest five simple steps to ensure your strategic planning metrics are focusing on what really matters.
1. Agree on relevant outcomes: Metrics should be used to reflect organizational outcomes or impact, not activities or efforts.
2. Agree on measurement approaches: There are many possibilities for measurement including personal interviews, mail questionnaires, sampling data in client records, Internet surveys, comparisons with other agencies, peer or outside consultant visits, and comparing the organization’s imperfect data with similar types of national data. Boards often prefer methods that are more quantitative because they are easier to manage; often the richest data outcomes can be developed from insights generated by more qualitative methods, based on small samples.
3. Agree on specific indicators: Develop behavioral outcomes desired. For example, one of a number of specific goals might be “Some students find, as a result of cooperative experiences, that they made poor occupational choices.” Or, mentions in the local newspaper can be used as an indicator of public presence. There will often be temptation to add in other indicators simply because they are available, or because they “would be interesting to look at.” Keep the focus on the indicators of agreed-upon outcomes!
4. Agree on judgment rules: Board and management need to agree at the outset upon the outcome metric numbers the organization would like to achieve for each specific indicator that contributes to the desired strategic objective. The rules can also specify values that are “too high” as well as “too low.”
5. Compare measurement outcome with judgment rules: Determine how many of the specific objectives have been achieved to assess whether or not the strategic objective has been achieved.
I often use key stakeholder telephone interviews to “benchmark” general satisfaction and recommendations for improving an organization’s programs and services. This feedback becomes an important part of the strategic planning process, especially around the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. I also use telephone interviews to “measure” progress or outcomes from specific strategic initiatives.
Using imperfect data to assess program or service outcomes does not mean that your data collection can be sloppy or used inappropriately, however. In creating and interpreting outcome measurements and metrics it’s important to utilize proper research guidelines and best practices.
Political icon and former New York City Mayor Ed Koch began most of his public speeches with the question “Hey, how am I doing?” He was a master at using every opportunity to get feedback—something we can all use more of.
Daniel Martinage, CAE, is a featured blogger. He is an executive coach and consultant specializing in nonprofits and associations. The former executive director of the International Coach Federation, Dan also serves on the Selection Committee for The Washington Post Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management and on the faculty at the Center for Nonprofit Advancement. His website is www.associationcoach.com.
