The Humility of the Craftsman Before the Task
Learning from our own work takes discipline. But there is a roadmap and set of tools available to weave learning into the work itself.

Signet advises foundations and nonprofits on how to create pragmatic, operational plans to learn about, from and within programs and initiatives – maximizing learning while minimizing the time it takes to do it. We coach teams through the process of implementing new learning practices and help them track what they are learning (“lessons learned about lessons learned”) over time.

Signet Services:

Learning Practices Roundtable
Using Signet’s research and self-assessment as a platform, Signet moderates an informal dialogue session with program, learning and evaluation staff to reflect on current best practice and opportunities to bolster learning within and from grantmaking and other foundation activities.

Emergent Learning Agendas
Signet helps translate evaluation plans and strategic learning goals into pragmatic, implementable learning agendas at the executive or program level. Each learning agenda identifies the most critical questions to ask related to the theory of change or logic model and the best opportunities to turn the work itself into a learning experiment.

Before/After Action Reviews
Signet has conducted in-depth research into the history and best practice of this deceptively simple tool. We use that expertise to help program teams and other groups to close the loop – to learn about, from, and within the work itself. More info...

Board Preparation
Regular and important “punctuation points” like board meetings can be a powerful tool in building an organization’s learning muscle. Signet surveys current work processes to identify these natural opportunities, and advises organizations on how to use them to strengthen learning.

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