Connect-the-Dots Assessments

Turning individual knowledge into organizational knowledge

The Power of Organizational Learning and "Connecting the Dots"

Whether a task force or program has gone well or poorly, people come away with different ideas about what happened. They have only their "piece of the elephant" and often are not trained—or too rushed—to stand back and see the big picture. With different understandings of what happened (or what's happening), how can people act in concert to do better next time? The "data points" are all there in your people: They witnessed the meetings. They saw the client's reaction. They know why they didn't deliver when they said they would. They know why everyone was afraid to tell the boss the truth. But without "connecting the dots," all these vital pieces of information lie about like so many organizational dust bunnies, clouding your vision of how to improve your next project.

THE BENEFITS  |  THE STEPS  |  OUR ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLES

the benefits

Organizations that don't put effort into learning make the same mistakes again and again, losing competitive ground. When the elements of success are widely understood, people naturally work more effectively. Time is gained due to better decisions, more cooperation, and less re-work. Overworked managers who have felt compelled to do everything themselves can delegate more when they're secure that others have adequate knowledge and perspective. Once the core obstacles to success are clear, you'll stop wasting time on "symptoms" and focus improvement efforts where they'll get the most leverage. And monitoring the effectiveness of current improvement programs ensures that you're getting your money's worth.

Stop the time-and-energy-draining grumbling around the water cooler by surfacing and addressing the issues people have been afraid to raise in public. Establish new norms of candor and cooperation where people are more concerned with improving their performance than with hiding their shortcomings. Do you have talented people who seem to have "died on the job," losing their enthusiasm and can-do attitude? Find out why, so you can rekindle employee commitment, energy and morale.

Make organizational knowledge and best practices accessible through onsite documentation, coaching and training. Help people gain a big-picture perspective so they make better choices and take more effective action. Documenting procedures and best practices also makes your company more valuable should you decide to sell it.

Recent research indicates that a majority of employees plan to look for new jobs when the economy improves. Turning individual knowledge into organizational knowledge is one of the best ways to keep talented people, who become frustrated when their expertise isn't used. Our research in hundreds of companies found that perceived company ineffectiveness is the #2 reason (after lack of vision) that people switch jobs.

It's not just your employees who hold the gold. Learn from customers and clients why they chose you over your competitors... or why you lost those two who've been with you for years. Find out from valued employees why they left the company. Ask top candidates why they turned down your offer of a job or admission to your school. Learn from suppliers or alliance partners what works well and not-so-well in their dealings with you.

the steps

Our first contact would be with the leader(s) of a company, department, or project. The task is to frame a question or statement that gets to the heart of the learning opportunity. Some examples:

• "Our R&D division hasn't turned out any truly new products in five years. We've got smart people; what's in the way?"
• "We're trying to grow by acquisition. Our first merger went fine, but the last one never 'took.' People even sit together in meetings based on their prior company. We have another acquisition in mind. What lessons can we draw from the prior two so we get the next one right?"
• "Changes in our industry require changes in the way we work. Instead of pitching in to make the transition a success, the staff is acting like victims and blaming management. How can we fix this?"
• "We made a big investment in training our people to meet new environmental challenges. How well did it work?"
• "Our team consistently misses deadlines, and this time we're headed for big trouble. We know we've got communication problems but we don't know how to fix them. Everyone is afraid to say what they really think."
• "Our last product launch stumbled badly. Everyone is blaming everyone else and there's zero consensus on what went wrong. How can we get people back in sync and not repeat this?
• "I'm always trying to improve as a leader. I think I'm doing a good job and I'm pretty sure my people are candid with me. Just to be sure, I want to give them a chance to speak anonymously so everything is on the table."
• "Turnover is killing us. Why are so many good people leaving?"

Once the question/problem is clear, determining who has the relevant information translates directly into the interview list. If a task force or department is being assessed, obvious candidates would be members of the target group. Equally valuable can be the input of those who interface with that group—customers, vendors, other departments, support staff, executives, and so on. If the topic is turnover, talented people who left the company would be clear candidates.

Interviews are the primary means for gathering the information. Observing meetings, reviewing documents, and/or administering short surveys might be used to fill in additional pieces of the picture. Two of our major strengths give particular power to our interviews:

We listen. Years of training and experience in counseling individuals, families and groups taught us how to really listen—for content, for emotion, and for the fundamental issues underlying surface symptoms. This depth of listening is atypical in most organizational settings, and has the effect of encouraging people to dig deeper for what they know. Often, in wrestling with the questions, they discover knowledge they, themselves, didn't even know they had! The experience of really being listened to can be satisfying in and of itself. Later, when the interviewee sees his/her knowledge incorporated into effective organizational solutions, a sense of empowerment and renewed commitment results.

We use a systems framework. Years of training and experience in assessing human behavior have taught us to think from a systems perspective. We're constantly thinking, "What would create this kind of behavior in an organizational system? How might the structure, strategy, reward systems, vision, culture, work processes, human resources, and even the physical layout be causing or reinforcing the current situation?" Our framework guides our questions, and when a good interviewer is asking the right questions, the interviewee is not just giving answers but is learning. They start to think systemically themselves, see connections that weren't evident before, and begin to see ways to impact positive change.

This is the phase where the consultant goes off with her piles of notes and, applying systems principles, connects the dots. A good systems analysis separates the important data from the noise, distinguishes core issues from symptoms, and highlights the most promising levers for change.

Connect-the-dots assessments range from small projects involving just a few interviews to larger undertakings involving scores of interviews. Similarly, formats for feedback can take many forms. They can be as casual as a verbal conversation or as formal as a full written report. We frequently use graphic diagrams to depict relationships among various events and perceptions.

Often the content of the assessment determines the best way to convey the findings. Perhaps a two-hour "post mortem" discussion with all members of the target group would yield the highest learning. Perhaps a feedback/coaching session with the project manager would achieve the greatest gain. For ongoing organizational learning, the lessons could be written as case studies for inclusion in your training programs. We can even provide the results in HTML for your IT people to add to your intranet.

We work with you along the way to find the best way to package the lessons for easy access by your organization. In fact, we can ask your people about their preferred mode of accessing organizational knowledge right in the interviews!

By the time the above steps are complete, the highest-leverage areas for improving your organization, department or group are obvious. We can help you explore options for intervening at these critical points. Involving the right people in this process teaches everyone to see the big picture and puts everyone on the same page. A clear vision of how to be more effective next time can transform even the negative energy of a failed project into renewed optimism. Where improvement plans call for individuals to modify their behavior and/or learn new skills, we are there to offer coaching to help them reach their goals. By then, we know your organization's dynamics in-depth and can use that knowledge to full advantage in the coaching setting. Learn more about our coaching services.

Our Assessment Principles

Our goal is greater effectiveness for your organization. We seek to understand and convey the dynamics that keep you from performing optimally so you can substitute more effective solutions. We aren't interested in affixing blame. Blame puts people on the defensive, leading to denials of responsibility, excuses, and attempts to deflect the blame to others. Defensiveness is antithetical to learning, which requires an open attitude and a willingness to see one's contribution to undesirable outcomes. When blame is absent, curiosity can flourish and the prospect of trying new things becomes exciting.

We don't provide evaluations (positive or negative) of the people we interview. If people think their career progress—or others' career progress—could be affected by the answers they give, they won't be candid. Candor is essential to obtaining valid data, and valid data are the absolute prerequisites of an effective assessment.

Anonymity is a promise not to reveal who-said-what, creating greater safety for the interviewee and, consequently, more complete and truthful data for the organization. Not only do we not name the sources of the information we report, but we work with interviewees to find examples that don't identify them (e.g., "Only Alex could have said that") if it matters to them. Of course, as the number of interviewees shrinks, anonymity becomes harder (and eventually impossible) to achieve. In these cases, we discuss the risks with the interviewee so they can make fully informed choices about what they divulge. In all cases, we strive to report back data in a way that maximizes goodwill and harms no one.

If not focused on learning and change, organizational assessments can be fruitless, even damaging. From our first contact on, we'll help you look ahead to clarify how you might use the information we uncover. We translate your concerns into the right questions, then translate the answers to those questions into accessible organizational knowledge you can really use to improve your organization or group.

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