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/ Canadian Government Executive
// June 2016
Program Evaluation
A Private Sector Perspective
Putting PIUs First:
A. Sidiq
Ali
Figure 1: Patton’s Methodology for Managing Evaluations for Greater Utility
A
s a consultant, I work primar-
ily with private sector organi-
zations including the “big-five”
banks, professional governing
bodies and regulators for accountants,
lawyers and trustees in bankruptcy. These
businesses have deeply rooted perfor-
mance measurement cultures, but are
often unfamiliar with program evalua-
tion. Managing evaluations within these
organizations often entails accentuating
evaluation capacity building while simul-
taneously enhancing the utility of the eval-
uation process and its findings.
In situations like these, I turn to Michael
Quinn Patton’s Utilization-focused Evalu-
ation. Patton emphasizes placing primary
intended users (PIUs) at the centre of the
evaluation. His approach describes mul-
tiple steps to managing evaluations while
promoting the utility of the evaluation.
Parts of his framework focuses on the
need to build relationships that promote
not only evaluation management, but also
evaluation capacity.
Patton also describes how role defini-
tion is important not just for the external
consultant but for the organization’s per-
sonnel. An external evaluator can be es-
pecially helpful in identifying PIUs of the
evaluation. Key to the approach is scoping
out the primary purposes and intended
uses of the evaluation. The external evalu-
ator’s relationship with the PIUs is key to
evaluation success. It entails meeting the
company’s evaluation objectives. It must
also ensure that evaluation findings can be
used in program-related decisions. The ex-
ternal evaluator can also lead by example
in engaging stakeholders in meaningful
decisions linked to the evaluation func-
tion.
Patton contends that fostering evalua-
tion is a personal mission. My experiences
confirm this. Cultivating relationships
with people in the organization that want
to learn about the evaluation process and
its ties to program improvement is a key
to enhanced evaluation use. These people
do not just represent the authority in the
organization. They are strategically locat-
ed. They are close to the programs. They
are enthusiastic, committed, competent
and curious about evaluation.
The adoption of a “user-friendly” evalu-
ation tactic that emphasizes collaboration,
participation and empowerment increases
the odds that evaluations will be utilized,
and deemed a valuable process in the
company or corporation.
Figure 1 summarizes Patton’s approach
to managing evaluations for enhanced
utility. In my experience, the multi-step
method serves best as a road map for the
external consultant and private sector or-
ganization. The clear logic is that all in-
terested parties must be convinced about
what the evaluation process will deliver.
They must know what their roles are. This
goes a long way to creating comfort with
evaluation, especially in an organizational
culture where the reflex is not in that di-
rection of evaluation. The framework is
general enough to be flexible and it can
be adapted. It can assist any organization
build evaluation organizational capacity
to adjust to the evaluation process.
Successful implementation
The first step in my implementation of
evaluation activities and simultaneous
capacity building is to first establish stake-
holder needs. It must identify primary in-
tended users. The external evaluator must
clearly assist the organization in defining
roles and responsibilities of all stakehold-
ers. These include the PIUs such as (a)
the organization’s leadership through a
project advisory board/committee; (b) the
evaluation proponent or facilitator within
the organization–which I refer to as the
“evaluation champion” –and (c) the pro-
gram operation staff. Having clear roles
and responsibilities allows the external
evaluator to forge relationships of differ-
ent natures with the various interested
parties.
It also helps to scope the time-commit-
ments of various parties. While the evalu-