This week, I attended a superb educational program provided by a diversity department in a medium-sized organization.  The 700-seat house was packed with employees, customers and other stakeholders.  The program was witty, provocative, entertaining, informative and compelling. “Riveting” was the word my associate used to describe the speaker as we left the event. Feedback from others in attendance – of all levels and backgrounds – suggests that this type of reaction was typical across the board.

Later in the week, I spoke with an employee of one of the sponsoring departments.  “How do you measure the success of a program like that?”  I asked.

“Good question,” she replied. “Other than noting the date held and maybe estimating a head count, we really don’t.”

It’s an opportunity.

Nothing can be taken for granted in the “new economic reality.” We have seen over and over that most venerated departments with the best reputations for quality work are not immune to the ax. If you are doing good work, how do you show it? How are you demonstrating your contribution?

For something like this program, an evaluation could be as high tech and complex as a cell phone response system or as low tech as tiny pencils and third of a sheet of brightly colored 8½ by 11 paper with a few well-chosen questions handed to audience members as they go in the doors before the program and collected as they come out the doors after the program.

You choose.

Now 600 or 700 paper ballots could seem like a task to tally.

On the other hand, imagine if you had actual data that showed something like an average satisfaction rating of, say, 4.38 on a 5-point scale from 419 attendees of whom 76% said they learned something new that they will immediately apply in their work, 72% said they were most likely to attend another program provided by this company and/or 81% said they were most likely to recommend this company’s programs and products to others. Might that make a difference for your department in the company’s next budget cycle?

I suspect ratings for the program I attended would be higher even than the examples provided above.  But what if they were lower?  Again with the right questions, an evaluation can identify opportunities for improvement that would shape decisions about the next actions.  Either way, accountability is demonstrated.

In an uncertain age where nothing is sacred, costs of responsibly demonstrating results can simply be weighed against the costs of not doing so.