624 Panel

Interpersonal Competency: What Just Happened to All of Us and Where Do We Go Now?

Session Abstract

After three decades of vigorous debate, the AEA Membership voted to adopt a set of evaluator core competencies in 2018, recognizing the importance of the interpersonal competence of evaluators. This panel will focus on evidence-based approaches for developing evaluators’ interpersonal competence. Specifically, we will present new research illustrating that evaluator anxiety is a commonly experienced phenomena in practice today, and explore how to address its antecedents in an effort to mitigate its consequences. Next, an evidence-based framework for applying appreciative evaluation will be presented with a focus on improving stakeholder and evaluator satisfaction and effectiveness. This will be followed by a discussion of recent scientific findings from positive psychology that can be applied to achieve higher levels of evaluator well-being and positive functioning. Dr. David Fetterman will serve as discussant synthesizing how this new body of work can improve evaluation practice in the moment, and in the years to come.

Session Submitter:

Jessica Renger (jessica.renger@cgu.edu)

Stewart Donaldson (stewart.donaldson@cgu.edu)

David Fetterman (fettermanassociates@gmail.com)

Tessie Catsambas (tcatsambas@encompassworld.com)