Le lundi 11 mai, 12 h (heure de l'Est)
Titre : Building Your Systems Toolbox: Boundary Evaluation with Critical Systems Heuristics
Résumé : “Systems thinking” is by now a familiar phrase in evaluation, often used to describe complexity, emergence, and non-linearity. Yet many evaluators find it difficult to translate these helpful ideas into concrete evaluative practice. This challenge is even more pronounced when it comes to the more ambiguous aspects of systems, such as values-alignment, control, power dynamics, and legitimacy. This half-day interactive workshop will build your capacity with an introduction to boundary critique and Critical Systems Heuristics (CSH), a structured approach for surfacing and examining the normative assumptions that shape both evaluations and evaluands. As a participant, you will work step-by-step through the four domains of CSH (motivation, control, knowledge, and legitimacy), applying structured questions to real evaluation contexts. Through a mix of knowledge sharing, individual application, and facilitated discussion, the workshop supports participants to surface boundary judgments, distinguish aspirational from actual experience, and examine how values, power, and perspective shape systems. The workshop is facilitated by an evaluator with extensive experience designing and delivering systems-thinking and evaluation capacity-building initiatives across organizational, community, and funder contexts. Drawing on applied practice in philanthropy, Indigenous governance, and professional development settings, the session presents CSH as a practical, learnable method for ethical sense-making.
Présentation : Roman Katsnelson
Type : Atelier d'une demi-journée
Langue : English
Expertise : I am an evaluator and organizational development practitioner with nearly two decades of experience applying systems-thinking and ethics-informed approaches to evaluation across organizational, community, and funder contexts. I currently co-facilitate a multi-year capacity-building initiative in systems thinking with Calgary Foundation, supporting learning, decision-making, and reflective practice within a large, 360-degree funding environment. I have also been invited to design and facilitate systems-thinking sessions for the Chiefs’ Steering Committee, a representative governance body comprised of Chiefs from nine First Nations across three Treaties in Alberta, where questions of boundaries, legitimacy, and perspective are central. I serve on the American Evaluation Association’s Systems in Evaluation Topical Interest Group and have presented widely on systems-oriented evaluation practice at professional conferences and learning events, including the American Evaluation Association, Community Foundations of Canada, and related networks. Since 2023, I have served as Director of Professional Development for the CES Alberta/NWT Chapter, designing and overseeing evaluator learning opportunities. Across these roles, my facilitation practice emphasizes the ethical dimensions of systems thinking, helping evaluators surface assumptions, examine power and legitimacy, and strengthen evaluative judgment in complex contexts.
Niveau : Intermediate
Prérequis : This workshop is intended for practitioners with some practical experience designing or conducting evaluations and exposure to common evaluation approaches such as logic models, theories of change, or utilization-focused evaluation. Participants do not need prior experience with systems-thinking methods, boundary critique, or Critical Systems Heuristics. The workshop assumes comfort engaging in reflective discussion and applied exercises using real-world evaluation contexts. Participants are encouraged, but not required, to consider a current or recent evaluation example they can draw on during reflection and practice activities.
Objectifs : The workshop aspires to build capacity and confidence with a technique, so that participants can use it independently in their own practice. To that end, participants will learn:
(a) the core components of CSH, including its rationale, underlying assumptions, and the four domains (motivation, control, knowledge, and legitimacy)
(b) the implications of two approaches to using CSH in practice: as a stand-alone evaluation, and as a component in a broader evaluation or evaluation framework)
(c) how to design and facilitate CSH-informed dialogic reflection sessions with evaluation teams, power-holders, and rights-holders.
Stratégies : The workshop leans significantly to application-focused active learning, with about a 40-60 split in time allotted. Instruction is used to introduce the foundations of CSH, the ethical dimension of systems thinking via boundary critique, and the structural logic across four domains. Active learning strategies include guided individual application of CSH questions to real contexts, paired reflection, and facilitated plenary dialogue to support collective sense-making. Participants will work with their own evaluation contexts where possible, supported by prompts and examples. I make heavy use of Slido interactions to surface prior and emerging knowledge; keeping the room engaged even during lecture components.