Systemic design How-to Series #11 Service Measures
Systemic measures are a key element of any organisation. Here we are developing measures that can be used for both transactional & complex services
Before we get into the detail of measures and designing them, perhaps the most important point to note about measures is that measures are not just about numbers, graph, and reporting. Measurement drive behaviours of the managers and staff. Therefore, although we will be talking about actual measures, the foundation of this section is also exploring the way that we understand what measures are and how they are used in a context that is embedded in behaviours, power, and control.
This whole section may be a bit of a push into the deep-end. If thats you, then just take from it what you find relevant this time around.
This whole section may be a bit of a push into the deep-end. If thats you, then just take from it what you find relevant this time around.
This description above describes the measures of a transactional service. If you're looking for measuring in a complex service, you might wish to go to this alternative page. Or else, carry on reading.
TRADITIONAL SERVICE MEASURES
Measurement and designing services go hand in hand. But, for many of us, the word 'measures' harks back to graphs and numbers. It speaks of a pile of charts arriving on a managers desk, for them to review and assign blame. What we are going to describe here is a very different approach.
Whilst this approach is not right or wrong, it implies several principles with regard to the decision-maker;
- they they know what should occur in the workplace.
- that measures are an accurate picture of what is occurring.
- it is a method of asserting the power of the hierarchy on those in the workplace.
- Measures are almost always used to monitor staff and activity.
- the measures drive behaviours of others to comply.
- the data is often manipulated to comply with what is expected.
SMART is a great example of a traditional measures method!
Good Systemic Measures
We are trying to move away from:
It the old-fashioned performance management that keeps us in a world of humans as 'resources', as command-and-control rigid top-down decision-making, and stifles learning.
This approach uses systems thinking. Looking at the service from end to end, and outside-in, the measures that we can create are different to those that there created by a Command & Control organisation design. This is because the command & control paradigm relate measures that focuses on control and data, and internal departmental efficiency.
So, what are alternative measures? They are those that measure of the performance of the WHOLE service and indicate what is going on in the wider system. As a part of the definition of person-centred they begin with the customer. They are a window for us to peek into the service as a system.
It the old-fashioned performance management that keeps us in a world of humans as 'resources', as command-and-control rigid top-down decision-making, and stifles learning.
This approach uses systems thinking. Looking at the service from end to end, and outside-in, the measures that we can create are different to those that there created by a Command & Control organisation design. This is because the command & control paradigm relate measures that focuses on control and data, and internal departmental efficiency.
So, what are alternative measures? They are those that measure of the performance of the WHOLE service and indicate what is going on in the wider system. As a part of the definition of person-centred they begin with the customer. They are a window for us to peek into the service as a system.
Good measures do more, much more than simply measure performance. They encourage systemic operational design. This means that they point everyone in the organisation to focus on the customer rather than on individual departmental targets. That encourage working across departments, and they encourage managers to design cross-functional teams. They create a positive culture within the organisation. They align governance and auditing to focus on the right things. They support the design of the service to continue to become person-centred. Their wider use moves from simply measuring performance and starts the journey of learning and improvement. Systemic measures can be, the secret level that opens up a new way of thinking in the organisation.
Definition; we are going to define what we mean by measures
Definition; we are going to define what we mean by measures
Service measures: that which helps us to understand what is going on in the service,
and,
how well are we doing with respect to our purpose (defined by our customers),
...so that we can improve
Systemic design changes measures as a mechanism to understand and learn. If we compare this diagram here with the Traditional process above, it is quite different.
- The managers are much closer to the work.
- The link to the work is through engagement.
- The purpose of the measures is to understand & learn.
The action to learn necessitates that decision-makers come closer to the workplace, and their interaction is more direct through visits and engagement. The mindset of those doing this is primarily one of learning together, and discovering where in the system design (not the workers) are the causes of any problems.
Data and graphs are replaced by sense-making and knowledge.
- The managers are much closer to the work.
- The link to the work is through engagement.
- The purpose of the measures is to understand & learn.
The action to learn necessitates that decision-makers come closer to the workplace, and their interaction is more direct through visits and engagement. The mindset of those doing this is primarily one of learning together, and discovering where in the system design (not the workers) are the causes of any problems.
Data and graphs are replaced by sense-making and knowledge.
We want to learn about...
Where so we start? I like to start from the measurement guru's, Dave Wheeler, wise words; Ask ourselves what is the problem we are trying to solve?
purpose 1 - how well is our service performing?
purpose 2 - we want to know how well the new design compares to the old.
purpose 3 - we wish to learn how measures affect the behaviours of managers and staff.
Where so we start? I like to start from the measurement guru's, Dave Wheeler, wise words; Ask ourselves what is the problem we are trying to solve?
purpose 1 - how well is our service performing?
purpose 2 - we want to know how well the new design compares to the old.
purpose 3 - we wish to learn how measures affect the behaviours of managers and staff.