The tools we use include:

Evaluative inquiry

Stages of organizational development

Evaluative Inquiry

Evaluative inquiry is a process that we integrate into all of our work. The four phases of the process and the core questions addressed in each are:

• Framing the work. Clarify the context, environment and impetus for the work: What are the parameters for this work? What do we need to consider?
• Focusing the work. Identify the questions to be asked and the information needed to answer them: What do we need to know and why?
• Conducting the inquiry. Decide how and where the information will be obtained: How will we collect the information and where will we find it?
• Applying the learning. Answer the questions: What does this mean? What should we do?

Ideally, the process would progress in an orderly step-by-step fashion. However, the real world and the ideal world rarely overlap. While our process typically unfolds in this sequence, and always includes these phases in some form, the client’s situation shapes the process—not the other way around.

In sum, the client’s stage of organizational development, combined with their objectives, determines the phases emphasized and the tools used.

This process, with its flexible structure and array of practical tools—such as theory of change and logic models—is ideal for supporting “real-world” organizations in achieving their objectives.

EI process (PDF)