Evaluating the Intangible: Capturing Relational Shifts in Network Leadership

Nov 12, 2026 • 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Adaptive Leadership, Equity & Inclusion • Free Event, Virtual Event

How do we evaluate shifts in leadership when success relies on how people build trust, listen deeply, and navigate complexity together?

Relational leadership moves away from the burden of single-hero narratives toward shared, trust-based stewardship. Grounded in joint reflections and evaluation data from the 10-month Bopa DiPeo Fellowship with network leaders across Africa, this session explores how a mixed-methods evaluation can capture this evolution. We explore how the fellowship enabled participants to cultivate inner capacities (such as Autonomic Regulation or Feelings & Needs Expression) and applied capabilities (like Facilitation) to shift leadership practice.

We will dive into two core strands:

From Heroic Execution to Embodied Stewardship: Examining empirical evidence of how inner development leads to strategic agency, enabling leaders to shift from operational firefighting to relational stewardship.
Capturing Intangible Shifts via Mixed-Methods: Exploring a mixed-methods evaluation design that combines quantitative baseline/endline assessments with light-touch, participatory tools—such as Most Significant Change stories and Ripple Effect Mapping—to track trust and emergence without creating reporting burdens.

In this session, you will gain practical perspectives and tools for evaluating relational leadership in your own context:

Holistic & participatory evaluation design: Practical examples of how to integrate data collection into program rhythms—using tools like Professional Development Plans and brief advisor logs—so measurement actively enriches participant learning.
Linking inner capacities to real-world practice: Clear concepts and evidence showing how inner capacity growth (e.g. Autonomic Regulation) directly enables applied capabilities (Context of Care, Facilitation) and organizational impact.
The Methodology for Credible Claims in Complexity: Practical tactics for applying a 4-layer methodology that weaves quantitative survey metrics and qualitative stories into compelling, verifiable claims for funders, boards, and partners.

No cost associated.