Turning spirals into conversations: Why every evaluator needs a critical friend
Being in a monitoring and evaluation role, especially if you’re the only one in the organisation or working as a solo consultant, can be a solitary experience. Some days I can question everything, from individual indicators right through to the entire theory of change I’m working on (after all, questioning things is what we do). You can get stuck!
That’s why having a critical friend is such a lifeline. A good critical friend turns spirals into conversations that actually lead somewhere. They help you progress your work, sharpen your thinking, and bring a new perspective, sometimes when you don't even realise you need it. It’s one of the big reasons I moved from being a freelance consultant to partnering with Judy Gold and forming Cultivating Change.
Judy had to take extended leave for health reasons at the end of 2023. Her recent return has reminded me just how much I missed the reflective space we share. Judy is my critical friend. A trusted peer who offers constructive challenge, reflective questioning, and honest feedback, all grounded in care and shared purpose. Her return has also refreshed my motivation and creativity (case in point: I’m writing a blog for the first time in a long while!).
I wasn’t completely without critical friends while Judy was away. I had wonderful collaborator-consultants and clients who pushed the work to be better. And I had one unexpected source of support—ChatGPT. Not a replacement for a human critical friend, but surprisingly helpful as a sounding board. It gave me structure when my ideas were messy, reminded me of frameworks I’d forgotten, identified gaps in my thinking, and even helped with proofreading.
At Cultivating Change, we often step into the role of critical friend for our clients, especially organisations without large M&E teams or internal support. The benefits of having a critical friend in the M&E space are:
Provides professional (and emotional!) support in isolated roles
Encourages reflective practice
Reduces blind spots, tests assumptions, and increases rigour
Improves the quality and clarity of evaluative thinking
Helps untangle complexity
And let’s be honest—makes the work more enjoyable and sustainable
Whether it’s a consultant, colleague, mentor, peer, or even an AI tool, having someone who asks good questions, constructively, is invaluable.
I’m grateful to have my critical friend back.
Note: My non-human critical friend helped me with some light editing for this blog - thanks ChatGPT.
