The Evaluation Couch

Chris Lysy, from Fresh Spectrum, sits in the couch to share how he built a special career by leaning into his interests and diversifying his skills. Chris shares how he became the artist behind thousands of evaluation cartoons and shares valuable tips related to exploring our interests, finding opportunities, starting a consulting business, and creating content.

Visit Chris' website for free resources, cartoons, and more.

Watch Chris' and Maria's Q&A mentioned in the episode and see the cartoons here.

In this episode, Maria highlights the value that younger generations bring to workplaces and the importance of understanding generational differences to build better working conditions for all. This episode provides an overview of the historical and contextual factors that influence the motivations and expectations of different generations. It also provides suggestions of how we can transform workplaces to make them more inclusive of younger generations.

Resources and references:

Generation Why: How Boomers Can Lead and Learn from Millennials and Gen Z by Karl Moore

Delloite's Gen Z and Millenial Survey

LinkedIn Research

Gen Z In The Workplace: How Should Companies Adapt? by John Hopking University

How Gen Z will Change Company Culture by Ethan McCarty

Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins

Making generational differences work: What empirical research reveals about leading millennials

Diego Luces joins Maria to discuss evaluators' use of artificial intelligence (AI). Diego brings a lens to this discussion from his work as a software engineer working on AI tools. This episode discusses barriers and self-limiting beliefs that evaluators shared with Maria about AI. It includes suggestions for how evaluators can address some of their concerns and reframe their limiting beliefs if they choose to prioritize embracing this technology.

Resources:

Microsoft's Responsible AI: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/responsible-ai

Resources to improve your Copilot prompts: https://copilot.cloud.microsoft/prompts

In this episode, Maria reflects on the role that a bad job experience can have in shaping our careers. She shares her own learnings from a bad job and how reframing her experience has helped her learn how to navigate future challenges. The episode also includes tips to help you reframe challenging job experiences to turn them into learning opportunities.

In this episode, Maria discusses her experience with scarcity mindset around the earning potential of a career in evaluation. She introduces the concept of scarcity mindset and how it can impact your decisions, stress, and well-being. This episode discusses the importance of talking about money and having compensation information to make career decisions. Maria shares a few steps you can take if you are experiencing scarcity mindset around your earning potential.

In this episode, Maria interviews the incoming Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) President, Michelle Anderson-Draper. Michelle reflects on her journey in evaluation, the role of planned happenstance in her career and her hopes for her presidency term. Throughout the conversation, Michelle shares her own careeer goals, highlights the value of lifelong learning and provides valuable tips to help evaluators grow in their careers.

Visit the Canadian Evaluation Society to learn more about the CES Fellows, Designation program, and Provincial Chapters: Canadian Evaluation Society (evaluationcanada.ca)

For more information on the Student and Emerging Evaluator representative to the Board position, visit: Latest News (evaluationcanada.ca)

In this episode, Maria honours her friend and colleague Carol Wilson, celebrating her retirement by emphasizing the importance of using plain language in evaluation. The episode offers a brief introduction to Plain Language and provides seven practical tips to improve your communication by using words that are appropriate for your audience.

This episode was informed by Maria's experiences as well as resources from Plain Canada Clair and the Plain Language: Clear and Simple - Trainer's Guide.

To celebrate Mental Health Month, Maria uses storytelling to promote discussions around mental health and celebrate the diversity within individuals in the evaluation profession. Maria shares her story navigating her Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD and how she has used a strengths-based approach to asses how her neurodivergence makes her a better evaluator. This episode provides an overview of what ADHD is, what symptoms may look like, and highlights the importance of accommodations and enabling environments for people with ADHD to thrive.

Maria shares a few resources including:

• 2024 Mental Health Month Toolkit
• ADHD Chatter Podcast
• Ettie Bailey King
• Stolen Focus
• Scattered Minds

Gabriela Rentería Flores, Chair of the EvalYouth Global Network, joins The Evaluation Couch to share her reflections. As we approach the upcoming elections for a new Management Group, this episode introduces EvalYouth and dives into the experiences of both Maria and Gaby. They discuss career opportunities, valuable learnings, and the sacrifices inherent in taking on leadership roles within EvalYouth. Maria and Gaby share their hopes for the future and encourage potential board nominees to recognize the impact they can make.

In this episode, Maria discusses Planned Happenstance, a career development theory. Maria provides an overview of Planned Happenstance and the five attitudes or skills that can help you make the most of chance events. She shares three tips that can help you adopt this theory to grow your career.