There are a lot of choices to be made on this evidence gathering journey. Having a structure to help us navigate through this process can be helpful, however selecting a model to guide any evaluation from the vast options available can be challenging (for example, a range of models are described on the Better Evaluation website, see: https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/rainbow_framework/define/develop_programme_theory). The structure needs to be adaptable to the specific nature of peer support delivery and be able to be ‘tailored’ to perfectly fit the needs of each peer support program. Having flexibility and adaptability are essential. Each peer organisation delivers a unique program to a specific target group and needs their own tailored system capable of gauging their measures of success.
The Balanced Scorecard is a system that has been successfully applied within the peer support program sector. The system enables peer organisations to design their own success measurement system based on their specific selected purpose(s). The purpose is the reason that the peer support organisation offers their unique peer support program. This purpose provides us with the basis of where we want to be, and will be unique for each program. This becomes central and then guides all other decisions relating to how we get there. This central focus on purpose becomes the foundation for our decisions about what evidence we need, and how we will gather and use it.
In summary, in any organisation it is important to consider what we mean by ‘success’. Particularly in the NFP sector, this is far more complex than simply assessing financial profit or a return on investment. How do we know if your peer support program is performing successfully? It is only by knowing this that we will know where we want to be and therefore come up with ways to determine how far away we are.
The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a system founded on purpose that enables us to consider ‘success’ from a range of different stakeholder perspectives. The approach assists to deploy strategic direction, communicate expectations and measures our progress towards the chosen destination.
The BSC model is featured on several sites for those wanting further details see:
- https://www.balancedscorecard.org/BSC-Basics/About-the-Balanced-Scorecard
- https://balancedscorecards.com/balanced-scorecard/
Using an ongoing system means that gathering evidence doesn’t become an ‘added chore’ to delivering your peer support program. Rather, it becomes part of regular peer support program design and delivery, and it assists in guiding the decisions made at all levels which result in exactly how the program is run.
The four perspectives within traditional BSC design as applied in profit making businesses are: Financial, Customer, Internal Processes, and Learning and Growth. Within the peer support program space, the BSC needs to be adapted for use within the specific nature of peer organisations. BSCs in peer organisations are likely to be structured around the following perspectives:
- Funders: Grant Providers, Sponsors & Donors—including the NDIA; and,
- Members: People with disability (and perhaps their families) and your team (staff, volunteers).
- Build (what resources, expertise and systems are needed to meet our program delivery aims?); and,
- Learning (what do we need to invest in to ensure our longevity within the changing disability sector?).
We must consider the needs of our funders and what it is that they need from us in order to continue to support us—and our focus here will include the NDIA. We must also ensure we are meeting the needs of our members (or attendees/participants), that they are satisfied with the support we provide to them and this is likely to also correlate with the outcomes desired by our funders in terms of building their individual capacity.
Source: NDIS – Information, Linkages and Capacity Building
To achieve your purpose, and meet the needs of your members, it is likely that your peer organisation needs to consider the ongoing need to build and retain its team members (staff and/or volunteers), ensure it has adequate resources and efficient systems in place. We know that some aspects of success are driven by the ‘behind the scenes’ investments which are also important and worthy of being part of our ‘compass’. Finally, peer organisations, like any other, must prepare for the unknown. In the changing disability sector, this increasingly needs to be considered and addressed. We must consider what we need to be learning about what we do and how we do it to ensure we are best supporting our members and the needs of our funders into the future. We must ask ourselves if we are investing sufficiently in organisational learning via research, training and other growth to ensure we continue to be successful in the future (whatever that holds within this fast pace changing disability sector). To ensure longevity, peer organisations much consider these third and fourth perspectives.
As you can see, the BSC enables the peer organisation to consider how it is currently performing (Funders, Members), how it may improve its processes, motivate and educate team members, and enhance systems (Build) as well as its ability to learn and improve now and into the future (Learning). Some of these considerations relate to success according to your central, chosen purpose, while others help you to consider the need for a long-term focus for ongoing success. An example of one peer organisation’s BSC model is shown below:
The BSC model was developed by Drs. David Norton and Robert Kaplan some years ago (1993). The BSC is perfectly suited to our need for structure for the process of tailoring the evidence gathering process for each unique peer support program. While there are newer, more sophisticated success measurement systems available, the BSC structure is well suited to our needs. We are simply using the BSC as a framework for taking us along the journey of considering:
- First: where we want to be; and then,
- Second: ensuring we have a structure to guide evidence gathering so we can determine where we currently are.