Ask Nicole Archives - Page 2 of 18 - Nicole Clark Consulting

3 Sep, 2025

Ask Nicole: How Can We Make Research Participation More Accessible?

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2025-09-03T10:32:19-04:00September 3rd, 2025|Categories: Research & Evaluation|Tags: Ask Nicole, Research|0 Comments

Portrait of Nicole Clark smiling confidently against a gray background. The text reads: "Ask Nicole — How Can We Make Research Participation More Accessible?" with branding for Nicole Clark Consulting: Raise Your Voice for Women & Girls of Color. — Have a question you’d like to be featured? Let me know.

When most people think of accessibility in research, they think of translated surveys or hosting meetings in ADA-compliant spaces. While those are important, true accessibility requires much more. In addition to compliance, accessibility also creates conditions where participants feel seen, safe, and supported throughout the research process.

If your outreach starts and ends with “Here’s a link—please fill it out,” you’re likely missing a large part of your community.

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6 Aug, 2025

Ask Nicole: We’re Too Busy for Data-Driven Decision Making

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2025-08-07T16:46:23-04:00August 6th, 2025|Categories: Program, Service, & Campaign Design|Tags: Ask Nicole, Capacity Building, Data Driven, Monitoring & Evaluation, Staff|0 Comments

A smiling Black woman wearing a yellow top and gold earrings, is framed by a purple border. The text reads: "Ask Nicole — We're Too Busy for Data-Driven Decision Making." The image is branded with "Nicole Clark Consulting – Raise Your Voice for Women & Girls of Color." — Have a question you’d like to be featured? Let me know.

In nearly every monitoring and evaluation (M&E) project I’ve supported (whether it’s building a M&E framework or helping teams with data sense making) there comes a moment, often near the end, when staff reflect candidly.

“This was actually really interesting,” they’d say, “…but we don’t really get time to think like this.”

It’s a quiet acknowledgment of a very real tension: Staff see the value in evaluative thinking, but day-to-day programming demands of don’t allow them the time or space to engage with it meaningfully.

They’re not admissions of disinterest or resistance—they’re reminders of what it means to be inside a maxed-out organization.

Evaluation becomes something that’s outsourced to an external evaluator. Not because staff wants it to be, but because there’s no room to slow down, reflect, and strategize as a team.

And yet, the more you push data work to the margins, the more disconnected it becomes from the real day-to-day decision making.

Here’s how organizational leadership can make space for data-driven decision making—even when it feels like there’s none to spare.

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2 Jul, 2025

Ask Nicole: Casework to Systems Change: A Path for Social Workers

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2025-07-09T16:33:59-04:00July 2nd, 2025|Categories: Public Health & Social Work|Tags: Ask Nicole, Social Work, Systems Change, Systems Thinking|0 Comments

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At its core, social work training prepares us to see the bigger picture.

For example, when you assess a client’s environment, family dynamics, access to resources, and systemic barriers, you’re engaging in systems thinking. You’re asking, What’s influencing this situation? How does this connect to other people, systems, or conditions?

In contrast, when you take that insight and work to redesign the system itself—whether through policy, program improvements, or advocacy—you’re engaging in systems change.

This month’s Ask Nicole highlights how micro social workers already to think in systems, and how those insights can guide their path from casework to systems change.

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11 Jun, 2025

Ask Nicole: How to Fix Cross-Sector Collaboration Challenges

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2025-06-17T10:58:57-04:00June 11th, 2025|Categories: Strategic Planning & Sustainability|Tags: Ask Nicole, Community Partnerships, Cross-Sector Collaborations, Strategic Planning|0 Comments

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If you’ve ever wondered how to fix cross-sector collaboration challenges where no one’s on the same page, you’re not alone.

Cross-sector collaborating is where different types of organizations, such as government, nonprofit, and private sector, work together to address complex societal issues.

This sounds great in theory until you realize that no one’s on the same page, timelines and priorities clash, and decisions are being made in silos.

If you’ve ever found yourself frustrated with a well-meaning cross-sector collaboration that just isn’t working, you’re not alone.

But collaboration isn’t just about bringing people together to work towards a common goal—it’s about understanding the dynamics that quietly (and not-so-quietly) block progress.

Let’s unpack five common reasons collaborations break down—and how to get back on track.

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14 May, 2025

Ask Nicole: Why Staff Hate Working with Consultants

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2025-05-14T10:10:05-04:00May 14th, 2025|Categories: Consulting|Tags: Ask Nicole, consulting, staff capacity, Staff Dynamics|0 Comments

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Why do staff hate working with consultants? It’s a question many staff avoid asking directly, but it shows up in meeting side comments, disengaged participation, and sometimes open resistance.

And it’s not about staff being difficult. More often, it’s because no one told them what to expect—or how their work might shift.

As a consultant, I come in with only an external perception of the organization. Over the years, I’ve developed a practice of getting to know staff, particularly staff that are directly involved in the program/service, strategic planning, or research project I’m hired to work on.

After several projects, I noticed something: Staff may be welcoming to a consultant, but if given the opportunity, they probably wouldn’t work with one.

And it’s not because they’re unwilling to collaborate. It’s often due to:

Not being aware that a consultant is coming;
Not having a say in the consultant hiring process;
The consultant not understanding the organizational culture;
No expectations for how to interact with the consultant;
The consultant’s inability to understand context; and
Not clear plan for what to do next after the consultant leaves

A consultant is suddenly looped in, given access to meetings, projects, data, and strategy sessions—without staff ever being given context, clarity, or choice. That disconnect can feel frustrating and disempowering.

In many nonprofit and philanthropic spaces, consultants arrive as part of a strategic effort to fill gaps in capacity or lead big-picture projects. But what’s often missing is a critical heads-up to the staff who’ll be working alongside them.

In this month’s Ask Nicole, I’m unpacking some of the real reasons staff don’t like working with consultants. This post is for the program managers, coordinators, and team leads who are expected to engage with consultants but were never fully looped in. This post is also for the staff members who hire consultants.

Let’s talk about why this matters, what you can do when you find yourself in this situation, and how you can support your staff before the consultant shows up.

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