Part 27 (1/2)

The Art of the Unintended Consequence

Besides the danger of telling the wrong story and all the unintended consequences of that (wrong decisions, is that need to be ierous consequences

We've already discussed the da only the bad metrics Besides demoralization of the workforce, you also run the risk of creating, continuing, or increasing the following: Fear of er over misuse and abuse Uncertainty of what to do or ill be done Doubt of the validity of the , and reporting the atively affect a metric Reluctance to participate in future improvement efforts Each of these are worthy of discussion, but first it is i about-those who are providing the data and those who feel the data is about them Note that I said data It doesn't er story Those who provide the data won't care about your plans for the metric if they believe the data may be misused or abused These reactions to the er, mistrust, and avoidance are emotions that can't be dismissed or debated

Emotional reactions to the o into more depth

Fear of erous and can cause ood Employees may fear the misuse and abuse of metrics before you collect the first data point Even if you do everything right-sho the data will be used (to tell a complete story, which in turn will be used to improve processes) and hoon't be used (to punish or control staff)-fear may still exist Fear that you will not live up to your proe your et access to the data and then misuse or abuse them This fear is real and warranted Your h trust to overco how you will and won't use thethose promises

Uncertainty of what to do or ill be done When those providing the information for your metrics are uncertain about hoill be used (or if they will be used at all), they may hesitate to provide you data Uncertainty leads to many other potential problems, such as eventual doubts about the accuracy of your information

Doubt of the validity of thethe validity of the metrics, some people decide to call the validity of the data into question so that they won't have to deal with the nore them If the metrics are proven to be invalid or inaccurate, the power that er over misuse and abuse This, in my opinion, is a better response to er shows a level of concern and involveer, however, also usually creates a defensive reaction and has the ability to bring out the worst in others Leadershi+p er, or label theruntled” or a non-team player or ”disruptive” Rather than sier, their passion should at least be appreciated Passion, involveht or instilled

Mistrust of those collecting, analyzing, and reporting the metrics When we find er Mistrust requires a deep effort to overcome Mistrust as a whole can't be fixed easily, but mistrust about the use of the metrics can be addressed If you can build trust in this effort, then perhaps you can use it as a foundation for i overall trust To build trust requires steadfast dedication to the principles-use the metrics only in the ways you offered and never use them in the ways you said that you would not

Avoidance of activities that could positively or negatively affect a er, and/or mistrust can lead to passive resistance toward your metric efforts The si to do with theinvolvement in the identification, collection, analysis, or reporting of the metric This avoidance ain, you will have to proactively deal with this If you want to have a successful program, it is just as critical to deal with passive resistance as the more overt behaviors

Reluctance to participate in future improvement efforts This consequence is often overlooked when dealing with anizational improvement effort When you misuse the power afforded to you, the simplest retort available is to resist future improvement efforts Even when it was not intentional, it is hard to support another improvement effort or technique if the previous one was mishandled

These unintended consequences don't have to happen-if you're careful and respect the power of metrics

Recap

Metrics are a powerful tool-and like e You have to take precautions, use the proper safety equipment, and finally you have to respect that power

The rules of thuood

Metrics should never replace common sense or personal involvement

Metrics are not facts, they are indicators

What you say e froanization

Constant diligence is required to ensure : The Power of Metrics Even innocent e, such as low teaanization about the e will be done

Misuse of Metrics: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly These include: Sharing only part of the story Not sharing the story at all Sharing only the goodthe raw data Usingument or sway opinion The Art of the Unintended Consequence Themetrics, are as follows: Fear of metrics and their abuse Uncertainty of what to do or ill be done Doubt of the validity of the er over , and reporting the metrics

Avoidance of activities, which could positively or negatively affect athe power ofcautious and a little fearful of the harm that can be caused by metrics This fear shouldn't paralyze you; it should instead energize you to handle the ear, take precautions, and ensure that others are kept out of har the Research Trap

Let's start with my take on research By research I don't est you do to deteration we perform once we've identified anomalies in our data I also don'tthe data, measures, information, standards, or benchned

By research, I a to the non-directed exploration of information

This type of research can be broken into ories They include scientific and historical methods; qualitative and quantitative views; exploratory, constructive, and empirical research; primary and secondary research; andcoth of time to conduct Considerable effort to conduct Unknown applicability The government and other research supporters find it useful to fund research in e of the analysis garnered will result in breakthroughs Many tihts are inal intent Velcro and ies resulted from military research that ended up in uses other than coive us neays to see old problems and soone unnoticed Research is an essential part of hureat tool for businesses seeking information to help iham and Curt Coffman (Simon & Schuster, 1999) and Good to Great by Jim Collins (HarperCollins, 2001), the authors conducted some serious research on business performance ih the perforham and Coffman used more than 80,000 interview results froanization The authors used their results to coanizational development Their ideas were born from their research and many businesses benefitted from it

But this halo effect causes some to believe that they should partake in research or at least follow the principles used in research Just because there has been very good use of research, it doesn't mean that a business should try to replicate these efforts, especially not for practical application

It's iet all of the failed attempts at innovation, all of the research that proved not to be useful, and all of the results that led researchers down the wrong paths

Many leaders use examples of others' success to push them to try a new idea They cherish books like In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Robert Wateres

Most leaders want to seeThey don't want to undertake a venture without proven success froree ensuring that they are never in the lead or on the cutting edge This aversion to risk-taking was addressed in

Research can be a very good thing But anizations really can't afford to conduct non-directed research (that is, any research not directly related to product development) It is not that research is bad-it's simply too costly in terms of time and expense

Can you afford to perform non-directed research?