What is evaluation coaching?
An evaluation coach works with you on your evaluation goals, helping you to understand where and how to improve. You can evaluate – and you can do it better with a coach. Evaluation coaching can help you with:
- Developing your logic model
- Understanding stakeholder resistance
- Strengthening your evaluation plan
- Choosing your methods
- Editing your interview guides and surveys
- Crafting your recruitment strategy
- Overhauling your charts
- Transforming your evaluation reports
- Planning your evaluation RFP
Who is it for?
An evaluation coaching session is ideal for those who need a little help in defining their evaluation plans, who aren’t sure if they’re choosing the right method, or who want an extra layer of review for their data collection tools.
If you’re not sure how to get started with your logic model, evaluation coaching is for you.
If you don’t want to hire an evaluator to conduct your evaluation but need a little inspiration, evaluation coaching is for you.
Emerging evaluators can benefit by having a second opinion on their plans.
What’s involved?
In an evaluation coaching session, you set the direction. You’ll tell your coach what you want help with, and your coach will support your growth by answering questions and posing a few of their own.
Your coach may send you additional resources or tips by email after your session is over.
You may have just one session, or you may schedule a series to work through your questions in greater depth.
Who is the coach?
Your coach is a Credentialed Evaluator – that means they have the skills, knowledge and practical experience to be recognized as a competent evaluator. Your coach lives and breathes evaluation (well, at least most of the time) and loves to talk about the discipline. With over 15 years of experience in the research and evaluation fields, you’ll be well supported by your evaluation coach. Check out Shelby's LinkedIn profile to learn more about her work.
Hi, I’m Shelby Corley.
Is there anything more delightful than a carefully crafted question? Or better yet, a tiny constellation of questions perfectly aligned to inform your most important decisions? Swoon.
With a blue collar background and social science training, I found my professional home in evaluation. I am CEO of Three Hive Consulting and Eval Academy, and I love what I do. As an evaluator, I can finally tell my dad exactly how I’m helping people when I’m asking questions and collecting data.
I love being able to explain what evaluation is, how we do it, and why it's awesome.
“The feedback on the evaluation documents we have prepared so far was great. It helped us strengthen the products we have. We were also experiencing some roadblocks in the development of some documents and Shelby gave us great advice to move it forward.”
- Coaching Client
How does this work?
- Start by entering your contact information and what you'd like to address using the intake form above.
- You’ll pay for and schedule your appointment, then receive a link to a video call platform.
- If you have documents to share, you can send them by email to your coach, or share your screen during your coaching session.
- Join your session ready with questions for your coach.
Evaluation coaching is not…
Coaching is not a replacement for basic training – there are more cost-effective ways to get the basics down first (like our Program Evaluation for Program Managers course).
Don’t think of a coaching session as a replacement for a research ethics board or an institutional review board, either – while your coach can certainly help to strengthen your project’s ethics, they can’t grant approval for anything (sorry!).
Evaluation coaching is not a replacement for in-depth training in analysis – if you need a statistics refresher, this is not the place.
Evaluation coaching is not a replacement for a consultant – your coach won’t do your evaluation for you, but they will help you do it better yourself.
What does it cost?
A lot less than hiring a consultant! Each session is a full hour, and you’ll only invest $250 Canadian.
Still not sure?
If you’re not sure if evaluation coaching is right for you, send us a quick email and we’ll help you decide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Isn't all this information online somewhere anyway?
Sure, you can comb the internet to find resources to support your evaluation. We post a lot of them on Eval Academy. But coaching gets you right to the point, quickly, and is targeted to your specific questions.
How do I schedule my appointment?
After your purchase, you can choose an available time using Calendly.
Can I purchase coaching more than once?
Absolutely! If you find yourself in need of coaching more than once, simply purchase the coaching again.
Are there discounts available?
Discount codes are sometimes included in the Eval Academy newsletter – sign up so you don’t miss out.