How do we measure and value what you do?

There is no question that not for profit organisations contribute a lot to Australian society. But when it comes to quantifying exactly what they do, Vivienne Read believes the usual measures don't always apply.

I have been involved with community and not for profit organisations for most years of my adult life – and that is quite a few years!  I have been in voluntary, and consulting roles, been a Director and an interested member.

One of the significant areas of frustration lies in performance measurement. We all know that output measures and KPI’s  are limited in their ability to tell the whole story,  and in some circumstances the cost of collecting data  far outweighs the value it provides. (As a slight sidenote, I  often wonder when the Indicator part of Key Performance Indicator became a measure?)

The limitation and the potential unfortunate consequences of a rigid focus on targets  is increasingly recognised, including in reports from the Productivity Commission, and the Victorian Ombudsman, but to date no alternative  beyond expensive qualitative research is on offer.

This is something that has been niggling at me for many years – not only in the not for profit sector. Given the shift of funding for aged care services to the Commonwealth, and the possibility of contestability of funding, the matter has become urgent.  How will a service, such as Meals on Wheels really demonstrate, in a way that will translate into being granted competitive funding, that they are ‘more than just a meal’?

In the past three months, working closely with, and being funded by Queensland and NSW Meals on Wheels, we have undertaken a project to test whether we can develop a different evaluation framework, concerned with impact of their service, and whether a new and innovative approach of narrative research can be cost effective in providing the insights and evidence needed.

Based on the principles of complexity science I believe the potential of this approach is huge – not only does it use the experiences of those receiving and delivering the service, it provides quantitative analysis on the qualitative data collected.  The invisible voices of those receiving the services, their carers, friends, family and volunteers will be captured, and form a valuable knowledge base for services and policy makers alike.  And, in my wildest moments of fantasy, we will be able to demonstrate an approach to evaluation and performance measurement that integrates issues such as building social capital, improvement and innovation kin service delivery, responsiveness to customer needs, contribution to the government policy (such as maintaining people in their own homes), that is evidence based AND easily tracks changes over time.

Preliminary results will be available in May, when I will know whether there is some reality to the fantasy. The hope of the project team is that we will be able to extend to other parts of the community care sector.

I have dreams about finding the language that builds the bridge between the economists of the Productivity Commission, and the volunteers delivering meals and other services, as well as all other community care and similar services that need to be able to answer the question – “ But how do we measure what you do?”.

Vivienne Read is a founder of Emerging Options. Viv has over 30 years experience as a consultant and manager in organisational strategy, change management, industrial relations, leadership development, and action learning. She has co facilitated 4 Cognitive Edge accreditation programs, in Australia and South East Asia. She is currently involved in projects using the Cognitive Edge tools and processes in Australia and Singapore. Viv is a frequent presenter at conferences, seminars and professional groups including knowledge management societies, facilitator networks, and training and development groups.