Mediocrity or Magnificence
Measures of Choice or a Choice of Measures

There are basically only two choices. Either you are diligently pursuing one or more objectives consistent with your vision or you're wandering aimlessly. And aimlessness is the sure road to mediocrity. The choice is essentially up to you!

When an organization deploys Solution-Centered Support it should be prepared to evolve through a number of stages of development. During this evolution the organization should never lose sight of the the fact that Solution-Centered Support is never the objective, but simply a strategy which will enable to organization to better achieve whatever it is striving to accomplish.

Measures are essential for an organization to maintain an awareness of what's happening in its environment, its response to that environment, and the results it is producing. And at the same time it must be noted that the measures are simply an indication of what is being created by some activity. The numbers are a basis for determining what aspects of the activity to focus on. If one focuses on the numbers they will change, yet the activity which changes to alter the numbers is not likely to be the most appropriate activity changes to benefit the organization. The activity changes will be those which will most benefit the numbers you were looking for.

So it is critical to measure a variety of activities that will influence meaningful and progressive changes. Here are activities, that if they are measured, reported and are the subject of management focus and conversation will generate improved performance and productivity and progress towards the organizational vision.

The comment most often made in light of all that has been presented above is, "That's a lot of work. When will I get any work done?" Well, for a manager, this is their work. Assessing the performance of the group and acting in a manner which continually improves the results of the group is the job of the manager. If they believe their responsibility is something else then they should discharge that responsibility with some other organization, because they're not benefiting their current organization in the manner in concert with what their responsibility should be.

The second question is what to do with all the information. All of the information should be used as feedback to the group so they know what they are accomplishing and what it's costing to produce that result. Yet one must be very careful as was mentioned at the beginning of this paper. Numbers are a double edged sword and without appropriate care a manager will quickly fall on the pointed end of this sword if they attempt to wield it inappropriately. If the numbers are not trending in a desired direction the numbers cannot become the focus. One must focus on the behaviors within the group that are responsible for producing the numbers. The numbers are not the behavior, they are just indicators. If the numbers are trending in a desired direction it's not time to become complacent. It is time to stick to one's knitting so to speak. Continually attention to behaviors are essential to ensure that numbers trending in the desired direction continue to do so.

With regard to measures it might be said,
"And that is that!"

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Copyright © 2004 Gene Bellinger