“If you want to value the system, get the system in the room.”
A New Currency: Reframing how we value systems change
Heidi Peterson · Lead Principal Consultant, Clear Horizon Consulting
About this episode
In this episode, Matt and Tenille speak with Heidi Peterson, Lead Principal Consultant at Clear Horizon Consulting and author of a new framework for assessing the value for money of systems change efforts. Heidi walks us through five types of value creation — from inherent and potential value through to transformative change — and makes the case for expanding how we understand, evidence, and deliberate on value. It's a rich conversation about what happens when complexity meets the demand for efficiency, and why evaluators should resist making peace with the tension.
Key takeaways
Traditional value for money methods fall short for systems change
Cost-benefit analysis relies on attributable, quantifiable outcomes — but systems change work is unpredictable, long-term, and involves many actors, making traditional approaches a poor fit.
Five types of value creation expand how we assess systems change
By blending Wenger's cycles of value creation with the water of systems change framework, we can talk about inherent, potential, applied, realised, and transformative value — not just the outcomes that are easiest to measure.
Potential value deserves recognition before outcomes are realised
When systems change work shifts relationships, connections, and power dynamics, it loads up potential for future change — and if we put that in the too-hard basket, the work becomes devalued.
Democratic deliberation strengthens value judgements
Bringing diverse stakeholders together to co-construct rubrics and deliberate on evidence produces more nuanced, legitimate assessments — and the process itself can be a form of systems change.
Evaluators can shift from judge to co-constructor of value
Rather than being the independent, neutral arbiter, evaluators can hold a trusted process — facilitating inclusion, dialogue, and deliberation — and look for opportunities to nudge the scale towards co-construction.
Topics covered
- Value for money
- Systems change
- Evaluation frameworks
- Democratic deliberation
- Rubric-based evaluation
- Complexity and efficiency
- Prevention