Raise Your Voice Blog | Nicole Clark Consulting

27 Jul, 2022

A Project is Never Just a Project

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2022-07-25T13:28:41-04:00July 27th, 2022|Categories: Consulting|Tags: Collaboration, consulting, Staff Dynamics|0 Comments

I’m partnering with a health policy research firm on a multiyear contract to support a philanthropic foundation’s work in increasing its ability to thoughtfully invest in community-driven birth equity solutions.

A month ago, while administering a pre-assessment in preparation for a staff training, my project partners and I noticed how staff were responding to the assessment questions. There were a variety of concerns, mostly around how this initiative will impact their work, addressing power dynamics in moving the work forward, and having more of a voice in the planning and implementation of interventions.

Instead of moving forward, we asked for additional time to develop the training in a way that gives staff the opportunity to address this concerns.

From a project management perspective, you try avoiding delays, but in cases such as this, they’re necessary.

A project is never just a project. It operates under many dynamics, both internal and external, that can impact its success.

Because of this, organizations have to look at their programming within the totality of everyone and everything that’s involved.

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15 Jun, 2022

Try This: The SOAR Analysis

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2022-06-15T15:49:19-04:00June 15th, 2022|Categories: Strategic Planning & Sustainability|Tags: Strategic Planning, Try This|0 Comments

This this activity and let me know how it goes.

You’ve probably heard of the SWOT analysis. Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats. It’s considered a traditional component of the strategic planning process.

It’s useful, for the most part.

What I mean by this is that, a glaring issue with the SWOT analysis is that the SWOT analysis has a tendency to focus on deficits within an organization, with the intent of fixing issues and problems.

This can often be draining to your stakeholders to always think of the problems.

Another issue with the SWOT analysis is that everyone has to agree that what’s considered a “weakness” or a “threat”, as much as their needs to be agreement on what’s a “strength” or a “opportunity”. This is really based on your perception.

Dismissing the SWOT analysis doesn’t mean dismissing potential barriers to your strategic success, but it does prevent us from creating experiences that’s more engaging during the strategic planning process.

Enter the SOAR analysis.

This activity is ideal for:

Board of directors, staff, and other stakeholders involved in your strategic planning process

Here’s what you’ll need:

Set aside a full day (or several) for this activity, where you can work with minimal uninterrupted (as we’re still in a pandemic, determine how this will work for an in-person setting or a virtual setting) Make sure to schedule breaks!
Whatever setup you use to capture your process (laptop, pen and paper, whiteboard, etc.) but make sure it’s kept in a place that you can refer back to

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8 Jun, 2022

What Gets Measured Doesn’t Always Matter

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2022-06-06T23:05:44-04:00June 8th, 2022|Categories: Research & Evaluation|Tags: Data, Data Driven, Evaluative Thinking|0 Comments

In one of my earlier evaluation projects, I spoke with a program participant, who received a grant from my client organization to use towards a community-based event focused on community-level breastfeeding education.

She felt that their event had not been successful because, in her eyes, the event wasn’t well attended. I believe the attendee goal was around 75-100 attendees, but maybe less than half of that number showed up.

Putting on my social worker hat, we talked through their feelings on why a large turnout mattered.

“The more people that show up, the greater my impact is”, she said. “More people will know about breastfeeding, how to get support, and also where to go for formula in case breastfeeding isn’t working out.”

While she was frustrated that the intended number of attendees didn’t show, she also highlighted an unintended outcome: The attendees that did show actively participated and stayed the entire day. They filled out the post-event evaluation survey (which can often be a struggle to do after an event), and they’ve stayed in contact to learn more about how they can advocate for positive breast and chest feeding experiences in their community, and advocate for formula support.

A bonus: Her supervisor promoted her. Years later, she now runs her own nonprofit, focusing on breastfeeding and chest feeding awareness.

It may be tempting to think higher numbers mean more impact. This is likely due to organizations being motivated to be data driven as someone is requesting this. Most likely, a funder.

When we think about the people behind the numbers, it’s important to consider the WHY behind the numbers we’re focusing on.

From the number of social media followers you have, to the number of people that show up to your event, it’s easy to pay attention to the optics.

But sometimes what we’re measuring doesn’t always matter.

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1 Jun, 2022

Ask Nicole: Pros & Cons of Naming Your Business After Yourself

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2022-06-01T10:39:36-04:00June 1st, 2022|Categories: Consulting|Tags: Ask Nicole, consulting, Reflections|0 Comments

Have a question you’d like to be featured? Let me know.

Today marks 6 years since leaving my employer to run my business full time.

While I no longer talk about the ins and outs of running a business anymore, today is an exception.

Six years ago, I was more excited, more hopeful, less secure in whether this will work out, and restless.

Today, I’m more confident, more stable, pleased with how things have worked out, and still restless.

The restlessness comes in large part due to thinking about the future, what comes next, and how I want my business to live beyond me.

One of the most important tasks of starting a business is coming up with your business name. Since I wanted to focus more on what services I wanted to offer, I kept it simple: Nicole Clark Consulting.

Six years later, I’m considering changing my business name.

Much like a newborn baby, coming up with a name that resonates and speaks to your business’ mission can be daunting.

But what’s in a name? Here are my pros and cons for naming a business after yourself:

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4 May, 2022

How to Support Your Local Abortion Fund

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2022-05-04T10:27:24-04:00May 4th, 2022|Categories: Equity & Justice|Tags: Abortion, Abortion Funds, reproductive justice|0 Comments

Late Monday night, a leaked draft decision from the United States Supreme Court confirmed what many in the reproductive justice and abortion rights movement have known: Roe v Wade (1973) will be overturned, making abortion care extremely restricted and in some cases, illegal throughout the U.S.

While this was anticipated by many reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations, it doesn’t take away the worry of how this will disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and low-income people, youth, queer people, and others that live at the margins. And not just from a health care perspective.

The decision isn’t final yet, and most likely won’t be until Summer 2022. Presently, 26 states have laws in place that are poised to ban abortion procedures. Called “trigger laws” , these states will move to outlaw abortion the second Roe falls.

Until then, access to abortion care is still a constitutional right in the United States. Depending on where you are in the States, access has been dwindling for some time now. Instead of supporting paid family leave, universal health care, subsidized child care, and other economic and financial safety nets, legislators continue to restrict our right to access. And there’s no coincidence that states with the most restrictive abortion policies also have fewer policies supporting pregnancy, children, and families.

My consulting business began as a blog for me to share my thoughts about feminism and reproductive justice. At the core of the work remains the fundamental belief that everyone has the right to access whatever health care they need, and to determine their sexual and reproductive lives.

Do your part to raise your voice anyone that needs an abortion by supporting your local abortion fund.

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A Project is Never Just a Project

Try This: The SOAR Analysis

What Gets Measured Doesn’t Always Matter

Ask Nicole: Pros & Cons of Naming Your Business After Yourself

How to Support Your Local Abortion Fund

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