The Evaluation Couch

This is the last episode in the series dedicated to healthy job search mindsets. In this episode, Maria discusses the importance of developing your story, the narrative that describes your uniqueness and the value you add to a job. This episode focuses on an important component of your story: your strengths. Reconnecting with your strenghts will not only allow you to stand out but will also increa...

Welcome to the second episode in our series dedicated to job searching and maintaining a healthy mindset throughout the process. In this episode, Maria provides several practical actions you can take to embrace failure as part of the job search process and increase your grit and resilience to overcome job rejections.   Resources:  Angela Lee Duckworth on Grit  Hidden Potential by Adam Grant   

Welcome to the first episode in our series dedicated to job searching and maintaining a healthy mindset throughout the process. In this episode, Maria explores the external factors that can impact your job search outcomes. By understanding these factors and gaining insight into the inner workings of the organizations you're applying to, you can shift your perspective and protect your self-esteem d...

In this episode Maria shares her strategy for leveraging conference to grow your career. This episode includes actionable steps you can take before, during, and after conferences to move closer towards your career goals. 

In this episode, Maria explores why some people take action while others don't. This episode discusses the process of stepping outside our comfort zone and navigating our fear zone to reach our growth zone. She shares how she experienced and overcame the fear zone when she launched The Evaluation Couch. She then shares tips you can try out to navigate your own fear zones and her reflections on all...

In this episode Christine Wise and David J. Hanson join Maria to share about Eval and Ink. Eval and Ink aims to unveil the identities and elevate the voices of evaluators by exploring the narratives behind their tattoos. Christine and David share the story behind this project and reflect on the powerful experience of connecting with others who are sharing the stories of their tatoos with them. Thi...

Chris Lysy, from Fresh Spectrum, sits in the couch to share how he built a special career by leaning into his interests and diversifying his skills. Chris shares how he became the artist behind thousands of evaluation cartoons and shares valuable tips related to exploring our interests, finding opportunities, starting a consulting business, and creating content.    Visit Chris' website for free re...

In this episode, Maria highlights the value that younger generations bring to workplaces and the importance of understanding generational differences to build better working conditions for all. This episode provides an overview of the historical and contextual factors that influence the motivations and expectations of different generations. It also provides suggestions of how we can transform work...

Diego Luces joins Maria to discuss evaluators' use of artificial intelligence (AI). Diego brings a lens to this discussion from his work as a software engineer working on AI tools. This episode discusses barriers and self-limiting beliefs that evaluators shared with Maria about AI. It includes suggestions for how evaluators can address some of their concerns and reframe their limiting beliefs if t...

In this episode, Maria reflects on the role that a bad job experience can have in shaping our careers. She shares her own learnings from a bad job and how reframing her experience has helped her learn how to navigate future challenges. The episode also includes tips to help you reframe challenging job experiences to turn them into learning opportunities.     

In this episode, Maria discusses her experience with scarcity mindset around the earning potential of a career in evaluation. She introduces the concept of scarcity mindset and how it can impact your decisions, stress, and well-being. This episode discusses the importance of talking about money and having compensation information to make career decisions. Maria shares a few steps you can take if y...

In this episode, Maria interviews the incoming Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) President, Michelle Anderson-Draper. Michelle reflects on her journey in evaluation, the role of planned happenstance in her career and her hopes for her presidency term. Throughout the conversation, Michelle shares her own careeer goals, highlights the value of lifelong learning and provides valuable tips to help eva...

In this episode, Maria honours her friend and colleague Carol Wilson, celebrating her retirement by emphasizing the importance of using plain language in evaluation. The episode offers a brief introduction to Plain Language and provides seven practical tips to improve your communication by using words that are appropriate for your audience.  This episode was informed by Maria's experiences as well...

To celebrate Mental Health Month, Maria uses storytelling to promote discussions around mental health and celebrate the diversity within individuals in the evaluation profession. Maria shares her story navigating her Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD and how she has used a strengths-based approach to asses how her neurodivergence makes her a better evaluator. This episode provides a...

Gabriela Rentería Flores, Chair of the EvalYouth Global Network, joins  The Evaluation Couch to share her reflections. As we approach the upcoming elections for a new Management Group, this episode introduces EvalYouth and dives into the experiences of both Maria and Gaby. They discuss career opportunities, valuable learnings, and the sacrifices inherent in taking on leadership roles within EvalYo...

In this episode, Maria discusses Planned Happenstance, a career development theory. Maria provides an overview of Planned Happenstance and the five attitudes or skills that can help you make the most of chance events. She shares three tips that can help you adopt this theory to grow your career.   

In this episode, Maria discusses positionality statements and shares her positionality statement for The Evaluation Couch. This episode includes a brief introduction to positionality statements and examples of how evaluators use them in their practice. Maria shares aspects of her identity and position in this world relevant to the topics that will be discussed in this podcast. She shares three tip...