Part 12 (1/2)
Figure 6-2 The Answer Key, Quadrant 4 The following are some questions you can ask yourself or others to deteranization is ready for metrics in this area: Do you have a anizations do these days
If you ask five workers what the et the saic plan? If yes, how far out is the furthest goal? Most process ioal should be three to five years out at a minianization have the -range goals, are they being actively worked? (I won't ask if you knoell they are progressing, since that would require anizational concerns been prioritized? If so, are those priorities adhered to or are they routinely ignored?
Do your goals include i project ely by the organization?
If you can't answer these questions in the affirmative, you may not be ready Noranization The leadershi+p, which is the anization in all aspects, all at one tiic plans It seeh-level leader to have a strategic plan with a h all the probleanizational-wide change Rather, I offer these questions to help you determine if you are ready Of course, you could ic plans, goals, and prioritized lists) are not working as intended That could be useful infor, most times you don't need metrics to tell you what you already know
Most times, you don't need a metric to tell you what you already know
I believe ic plans and prioritized lists Most even develop processes for their larger-scale efforts Mostly because these are ”the right things to do” But unfortunately, anizations aren't actually ready for these efforts, so their earnest atte this lost invest metrics would be wasteful
Future Health anizational Health
The Organizational Health quadrant (Figure 6-3) is froure 6-3 The Answer Key, Quadrant 3 Again, we can ask soet a feel for the readiness of this endeavor
Do you have a rewards and recognition prograram for the workforce to provide inputs?
Would you describe your culture as one of mutual trust?
Does each of your workers have a professional developanizational Health doesn't tend to be an early area of interest for leadershi+p Infrom immaturity, leaders fear metrics based on this area Leadershi+p should know if the workforce is treated well and feel valued They shouldn't ”need” metrics to inform them about this When the ”answers” aren't known, it creates doubt and that doubt rightly worries leadershi+p Until there is trust within the organization, this area could be troublesome for leadershi+p
In anizational Health anizational Health and Future Health quadrants speak directly to the ”State of the Union” of the organization In both cases, the ht things and pleasing the custoanization is in turram won't resolve the issues-to the contrary, it will probablywith either of these two quadrants would be like e airspeed, altitude, and lift coefficients of a paper airplane It is much more important to obtain better transportation before you starthoell a paper airplane works
Return vs Investure 6-4 The Answer Key, Quadrants 1 and 2 The top two quadrants (Figure 6-4) are where ravitate when they e to see customer satisfaction survey results It's the easiestup finding out how the custoht is always ”survey” I don't ative-in fact, I'ical place to start
The Balanced Scorecard also has four quadrants: Customer, Finance, Employee, and Process-and most leaders jump to the Finance quadrant The nearest equivalent in the Answer Key is the Process Health (or efficiency) quadrant
While the right two quadrants in the State of the Union require that the organization be ready, but typically the organization is not, the Return vs Investment quadrants can be addressed before anization, the better-especially when developing a ram
Process Health
The Process Health (efficiency) ure 6-5) can cause a lot of issues, especially in an organization suffering froreat rapport with the workforce, or if there is any lack of trust between the workers, trying to work on ure 6-5 The Answer Key, Quadrant 2 The questions I would have you ask to deter: Does your workforce trust ement?
Does your first line of supervision trust upper and/or ement trust the workforce?
To be able to use efficiency measures safely requires trust Honest and accurate data is i trust Most pundits think that a culture of trust is predicated on hoell the top leaders of an organization walk the talk Does the workforce trust the top leaders to follow through? To do what they say they would? To keep to their agreements and commitments?
I find the answer to the trust question to be much more direct and simple Does the workforce believe that their direct supervisors have their best interests at heart? They care much less about the top leader's level of authenticity They care about their direct er above all else As you er, the amount of trust required lessens
So, rather than preach to the CEO of the coain the workforce's trust, start at the lowest levels and ensure that there is a culture of trust from the bottoanization is, your employees clearly hear that you want to measure how efficient they are They will not ”hear” that you want to improve processes and procedures At least, they won't unless they trust you And by ”you,” I mean their boss
My CIO usually followed up his ad” with an equally iht way” If s are done-not i with efficiencyinaccurate data due tomore mistrust
Process Health metrics require a level of anizations
Reanizational Health metrics speak to the workers' situation, which most leaders are not ready to hear And even if the leadershi+p believes it is capable of hearing the feedback, if there is a lack of trust, most workers are not ready to share
That sa accurate data on hoell the business is run (Process Health) hard to accomplish
Product/Service Health
So, that leads us to the Product/Service Health quadrant (Figure 6-6) This is not only the safest place to start, it's also the ure 6-6 The Answer Key, Quadrant 1 Let's look at the following questions, which you should ask to determine if you're ready for effectiveness measures: Do you knoho your customers are? (This should be a no-brainer, but it's actually worth asking I am rarely surprised by what is not known) Do you knohat your customers consider important?
Do you know your customers' expectations?