Assess and Evaluate Your Network
Collective Mind has developed multiple tools and frameworks to assess, analyze, understand, and support networks in a structured and streamlined way. Grounded in both research and real-world expertise, these tools and frameworks assist networks to understand their network health and identify strengths, pain points, and opportunities for network strengthening to increase effectiveness and impact.
Network Capacity Assessment
Our Network Capacity Assessment provides a high-value snapshot of your network in order to identify strengths and weaknesses based on the network’s internal capacities, as a springboard for growth, organizing, and generating impact. Network capacities are the competencies and attributes required to help a network achieve its mission: shared purpose, membership, leadership, culture, infrastructure, resources, and measurement. By taking the pulse of the network in a structured way, the assessment gives a tangible, comprehensive answer to the question “how are we doing?” and provides direction on what to prioritize in order to improve and align your network.
Goals of the assessment:
Gain usable knowledge that reflects where your network is now, where you need to go, and how
Identify network development priorities and where your network is along a continuum of network capacity
Establish a baseline measurement of your membership’s engagement and satisfaction to integrate into regular planning or evaluation processes
Strengthen internal network operations and effectiveness to improve external impact
Inform processes like strategic planning, network review, member engagement, governance design, and other areas of network development
Prioritize realistic and actionable recommendations to help support your short-, mid-, and long-term efforts
Who should use this assessment?
The assessment is designed for emerging, established, and evolving networks that have an existing membership. Networks should use this assessment to inform their annual membership evaluation, strategic planning exercises, governance or member engagement strategies, and more.
We offer a range of customized options so we encourage you to reach out to discuss your unique needs and interests and determine the best approach together.
The Network Capacity Assessment has limited relevance for new networks. We recommend instead working directly with Collective Mind to establish your network’s design and strategy, receive direct coaching, build your Board’s or team’s skills and capacity, and/or receive support on other network development areas.
To learn more about how the capacity assessment can be valuable to your network, check out our FAQs and read our blog on understanding network assessment.
Network Diagnostic
Our analytic and conceptual Network Diagnostic Framework establishes the three main components of any network — network capacities, network functions, and organizational functions — as the basis for measuring, understanding, and approaching networks as a unique type of operating model. A full Network Diagnostic includes use of the Network Capacity Assessment complemented by additional methods to build out a broader, deeper understanding of your network along all three components of the Network Diagnostic Framework. The resulting in-depth report provides a nuanced analysis of your network across all areas with specific recommendations for improvement to each area and across them.
The diagnostic process:
The full Network Diagnostic starts with the Network Capacity Assessment which evaluates your network’s core capacities through a survey mechanism. Additional methods — including a review of your network’s core documents and interviews with key network stakeholders — complement the assessment data to expand, deepen, triangulate, and validate those findings. The diagnostic report articulates a thorough analysis across all components of your network and provides targeted recommendations for areas of network development and strengthening.
Who should undertake a diagnostic?
As with the Network Capacity Assessment, the diagnostic is designed for emerging, established, and evolving networks to support their strategies and network development.
The specific process for the Network Diagnostic is determined in collaboration with the network.
Contact Us to Get Started
Get in touch with Kerstin Tebbe at kerstin@collectivemindglobal.org to set up a conversation.