Reflecting on our work, together: Dovetail 2023/24 Client Survey
At Dovetail much of our work is focused on helping organisations develop systems for learning, and improvement, using tools that enable them to better understand their impact and make informed decisions about the future. In this spirit, we also reflect on how well we are delivering on our own commitments.
Every two years, we invite our clients to share their thoughts on working with Dovetail. In our 2023/24 survey, we heard from clients across 22 projects, half of all the work we undertook in this period. We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who took the time to share their feedback with us.
Over the past two years, our team has grown from five to eight. This has allowed us to expand our areas of expertise and take on more complexity and scale in our projects. Our growth has opened up new opportunities for learning, mentorship, and innovation within the team and we are curious to know how we are doing. Take a look at a snapshot of key survey findings below.
We’ve continued to adapt to a shifting political and sector landscapes, adjusting the focus of our work in response to the evolving priorities of the organisations we support. This has required care, particularly in the public sector context where structural and strategic changes are significant for many of our clients right now.
From the survey, some of the things our clients value include:
Our ability to navigate complexity in the contexts our clients work in, bringing clarity in moments of change or uncertainty, and offering both insights and direction.
We centre equity across all of our work, and where a cultural lens is required, particularly in kaupapa Māori or Pacific contexts, we collaborate with trusted partners who lead from project design through to reporting.
Our team were praised for listening and maintaining open, respectful dialogue throughout a project. Clients noted our ability to adjust and respond as work progresses.
In recent years, we’ve led many evaluations where facilitation of honest and sometimes difficult conversations has been key. Clients appreciated our ability to surface critical insights while maintaining a constructive and forward-looking tone.
While the feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive, it also offered helpful insights into how we can improve:
Some clients preferred more frequent updates or touchpoints during projects, while others valued a more hands-off approach. We are now working to better understand and agree on communication expectations at the outset of each engagement.
We also heard that our reports could benefit from greater structural simplicity and a clearer mix of strategic insights alongside practical, actionable recommendations. This feedback is shaping how we present findings moving forward.
Looking ahead
We’re proud of the progress we’ve made over the past two years, growing our team, taking on bigger challenges, and adapting to a changing landscape. At the same time, we remain grounded in our values of responsiveness, equity, and collaboration, and we’ll carry this focus forward into the future.
To our clients, collaborators, and partners, thank you for your trust, your feedback, and your mahi. We look forward to continuing our mahi together, learning from you, and delivering work that matters.
Kia ora rā.