Organisational theory of change: Peer Review

Introduction

BookTrust had drafted an organisational Theory of Change (ToC) to help guide and inform their work and strategy. They commissioned Traverse to conduct a peer review of the ToC in 2020, acting as a critical friend and providing constructive challenge and guidance to refine the final product. This also included a workshop with their Senior Leadership Team to help them embed the ToC in their upcoming strategy.

Methodology

Recognising the importance of embedding the ToC in BookTrust's work, we combined our technical expertise in ToC development with an organisational development approach to understand the context and organisational priorities, work collaboratively with our client, and deliver a workshop with the senior leadership team to support buy-in and facilitate discussion.

Impact

Throughout the process, our work prompted and enabled several impactful conversations at BookTrust, helping them to articulate their vision and intended outcomes more clearly and identify questions and issues that require further exploration and discussion across the charity. BookTrust are now using the organisational ToC as part of the strategy development work.

The client fed back that our work has helped to:

• reassure them that several outcomes are based on sound evidence and assumptions;
• identify areas where the evidence is less clear and further work could be done to explore and assess assumptions;
• make sense of complexity by organising the themes and feedback from the workshop with the SLT to produce a clear and concise ToC; and
• give them the confidence to take the ToC forward and use it as a live document to inform their strategic and operational work.

If you’re interested in learning more about how Traverse can help you develop or refine a Theory of Change, do get in touch with us.