8.3 Analyse, learn and adapt
Taking time to think about how our actions went is very important to understand if what we are doing is working or not.
Sometimes we get too focused on the doing and we forget to stop, check-in, analyse, reflect and then adjust our assumptions, tactics and activities based on what we have observed, learned, or received feedback on. We might continue investing time and resources in something that might not work or that could even generate the opposite effect to what we are trying to achieve.
If you took an action together with others, hold a joint reflection with them to establish a common understanding of progress. If there are different understandings in the group, it can be really helpful to explore what those differences are and why they exist.
If you took the action on your own, you might still find it helpful to do this analysis with a friend, colleague or family member who can ask you questions, listen to your experience and help you think.
There are some questions in the table below to help you analyse how your action went, reflect on what you learned and consider what this means as you make choices on how to move forward.
| Question | Purpose |
|---|---|
| What was supposed to happen? Were your assumptions correct? What actually happened? Why were there differences? | These questions help you identify where there was divergence from the original plan. |
| What worked? What didn’t work? Were there any unintended changes? Why? | These questions generate reflection about successes and failures during the course of the action, event or task. The question ‘Why?’ generates understanding of the root causes of these successes and failures. |
| How do you know? What evidence do you have to inform your conclusions? | These questions help you to check-in with the facts of the situations so you don’t jump to conclusions that might not be true. |
What are your key lessons learnt? What needs to continue? What do you need to do less of or stop altogether? Have there been any important changes in the broader context that have an impact on your approach? What would you do differently next time? | These questions help identify specific, actionable lessons learnt and recommendations. It’s better if you can come up with very concrete and clear, achievable and future-oriented recommendations. |
Activity 8.2: Adapting as you go
How will you continue to analyse, learn and adapt your change plan as you go. Write your reflections on the approach you will take in the free text box, in the Make Change Happen Plan or in your own notebook.
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8.2 How did it go?
