The Parable of the Toast

A colleague recently asked, “How do I communicate realistic conservation impacts that sound like major successes for our organization when conservation is slow and collaborative?”

That’s a fantastic question and one many funding recipients have to wrestle with. Sometimes funders want to see evidence of a return on investment after, say, 3 or 4 years, when in reality the project won’t see measurable improvements to the target species or habitats for many years beyond that.

This is where a project can see huge benefits if they have taken the time to create a results chain.

A results chain is a series of if-then statements that articulate the team’s assumptions about how it expects results, and ultimately impact, to be achieved as they successfully implement their conservation actions.

Along this “chain” of results, the team should identify measurable benchmarks so they can know and demonstrate if they are achieving their desired results well before they expect to see measurable, positive changes to their target species or ecosystems.

Let’s consider a silly example. I want to have a heavenly experience eating a piece of toast smothered with warm butter and topped with my favorite home-made raspberry jam. 😊

That’s the impact I am looking for. 

The obvious action I must take to get there is to “make a piece of toast and put jam on it.” 

That sounds straightforward, but there are several assumptions buried in that action statement, and because I don’t want to invest time in this action if it is unlikely to produce the desired impact, I wrote out my assumptions as follows:

QUINN’S RESULTS CHAIN FOR SWEET SUCCESS:

IF I place a slice of bread in the toaster, and IF I depress the lever,…THEN the toast will be cooked to the perfect crispiness (assuming my kids haven’t messed with the timer).

IF the toast is browned,… THEN I will put butter on it and it will melt into the toast (assuming I put butter on it before the toast cools down).

IF the butter is melted into the toast,… THEN I will put the right amount of jam on the toast (assuming there is jam in the cupboard).

IF the toast has butter and jam on it,… THEN I will eat it and it will taste heavenly (assuming I get to it before the toast gets cold and soggy).

As you can see, there are a lot of assumptions between “putting toast in the toaster” and achieving my desired impact. 

The good news is, if I have been explicit with my assumptions, I can monitor key points along the way so I know if I am on track to achieve my grand reward, even though it has not yet arrived! Plus, because I have articulated my assumptions ahead of time, I can be extra vigilant about  circumstances that might derail my progress toward my ultimate desire. I might even take pre-emptive action to mitigate potential failure points (e.g., make toast only when kids aren’t around to distract me so it gets cold).

So, how does a results chain help when funders want to see if you have achieved impacts with their funds? 

Simply share it with them, along with your monitoring evidence that demonstrates where you are along the path. 

To infuse my silly example back into this scenario, let’s say the funders REALLY want to see me enjoy my heavenly treat after only 1 or 2 minutes (they have no patience). 

I can show them that after just a minute or two, I have successfully browned my toast and melted butter into it. 

While I haven’t achieved my desired impact yet, I am confident, based on this evidence, that if I continue on the path I am on, checking my assumptions as I go, I will arrive at toasty nirvana.

Even a funder unacquainted with the process of making toast will recognize that the process takes time. If they see my assumptions laid out logically in a results chain, and if they see that I am achieving them as predicted, their confidence will increase that I will be able to achieve the impact I promised.

I hope this little story gives you some ideas on how to improve your conservation work…or at least inspires you how to make better toast. 😊

Photo credit: jamstraightuk from Pixabay