Intensive
Self-Assessment
What is intensive self-assessment? Why do it? How does
an organization get started? What resources and time does a tough,
self-critical review require?
Intensive self-assessment is a
planned, structured, and staffed evaluation of system or process performance
against accepted criteria. It takes place concurrently with the working
process. It is not an end-result inspection. It is not conventional
continuous improvement.
You Have to Want It
Successful organizations want intensive
self-assessment. Top executives and middle managers must passionately
care about what is going on in critical areas and be ready to act on
potentially unflattering information when they find it.
Self-assessments fail when they search for ways to imitate
others, satisfy regulatory agencies, or placate industry oversight groups.
Your
self-assessment needs to reflect the organization’s unique style, while moving
it in a positive direction. If you have a total quality, lean
manufacturing, or Six Sigma process already, we'll build on it. Intensive
self-assessment is no program du jour.
Get Real
Strong
self-assessors choose standards of comparison in advance and write them
down. They waste no time with aimless brainstorming. They
systematically chase down valid performance data, convert troublesome findings
into problem statements, and solve those problems with root cause analysis.
Benchmarking fits perfectly here.
Just the way
standards of comparison enable measurement, self-assessments must trigger
concrete, measurable actions.
You must
budget, schedule, and execute Intensive self-assessments as valid “work.” Why?
Because they constitute preventive maintenance on the organization. Self-assessments are as valuable as
equipment cleaning, calibration, and lubrication. Include them in the
annual business planning process, and support them at the highest executive
levels.
Leadership
in Action
Self-assessment
leadership is a management skill that contributes to career growth. Don't
use idle or plateaued persons for such critical work.
Organizational
development staffs should recognize and support self-assessment as
"learning in action." Avoid agenda-less group exploration
sessions, and develop leadership in real time instead. Facilitate, don't
direct, people attempting an intensive self-assessment.
Make it
“safe” for self assessors to identify and discuss any issue they raise.
The first adverse finding you squelch will be the last one you ever hear.
Proposed
solutions must not create additional investigative or defensive work,
especially for the assessors. They must
describe clear paths forward with no room for second-guessing or debate.
We Can Help
SeaState Group is ready to help you apply Fix-It-Once® principles during your next intensive self-assessment, or we can help you plan an effective cycle of integrated reviews.