Critical Friends: An Effective Guide - wiki Critical Friends: An Effective Practice Guide / Why use a Critical Friend instead of other approaches
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Why use a Critical Friend instead of other approaches

The aim of appointing critical friends is to support teams in achieving their agreed aims and outcomes. As they occupy a role outside the formal management structure, they can offer a type of support which is not so easy to achieve with other methods:

 

Critical friends balance an informal approach with a critical eye

  • Critical friends balance an informal approach, relating to a project team as a “friend”, with a critical eye. The process involves a certain openness with but also sensitive handling of the individuals involved, with a high degree of confidentiality between the critical friend and project members.
  • Needless to say, in order for the relationship between the critical friend and the project team to be a success, critical friends must remain independent of the project, both in funding and reporting on their work.

 

Critical friends are used in a range of contexts

  • Usually critical friends are appointed at the start of projects, but in some cases their appointment comes later. The latter may well occur because problems arise that were not foreseen at the outset, or that other support structures are unable to deal with.
  • Sometimes critical friends are appointed to a single project but they may equally well be supporting several similar projects at the same time. With the consent of the projects involved, this may well lead to cross-project benefits, which can be difficult to achieve ordinarily.

 

Critical friends have a distinct role

  • Critical friends are not evaluators, mentors or consultants for a project or professional activity although they are likely to use similar techniques as and when required.

 

The project team and critical friend share a common goal to make the project succeed 

  • Both the project team and the critical friend share a common goal; making the project succeed in what it has set out to do. That may not be the case for other stakeholders in the project. Evaluators may focus more on the outcomes of the project than on the way the project is achieving those outcomes. A mentor is usually someone who focuses on the success of a single individual, rather than on that of the project as a whole, whilst a management consultant will focus on the managerial aspects. The advantage of a critical friend is that their input is often more wide-ranging, helping to achieve success on technical, organisational, pedagogical and other aspects of the project, as well as the managerial quality.

 

Critical friends can sit alongside other support methods

  • It is not uncommon for critical friends to be appointed alongside others (such as evaluators, builders of communities of practice or technical advisers) in support of a project. In particular, the combination of support structures can help complex or very large projects fulfil their potential. In this instance it becomes very important to establish who is doing what. 

 

See also project feedback on the value of the critical friend.