By William Seidman
Organizational assessments are practically a given. Why wouldn’t you want to methodically inventory what works and what doesn’t and, then, what to do about it – planning how to get from “What Is” to “What We Want”?
The fundamental building block of neuroplasticity, the idea that “neurons that fire together wire together” is explored well by UCLA research psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz and science writer and Newsweek Senior Editor Sharon Begley, who suggest that organizational assessments may be counter-productive.
What’s wrong with organizational assessments?
- Emphasis is placed on what people in the organization are doing wrong
- Emphasis is placed on what the organization is doing wrong
- Neural pathways associated with undesirable behaviors and attitudes are reinforced, making them stronger and more difficult to overcome
- The fixes tend to be incremental rather than inspirational. There is no vision – just another “To Do” list.
What about a different approach – and one that is supported by good research? Focus exclusively on how to do things right. Who cares what people are currently doing? Let’s focus completely and intensely on the desired state. The most desirable pathways are stimulated and visonary change becomes possible.
It works.
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Hmm. That’s an interesting idea. It applies not just to organizational assessments but also to a good deal of day-to-day dealings in your average corporate workplace. As a manager leading a large support organization most of my interactions with internal customers focused on problems. People wanted to talk about problems and emphasize them. Over a dozen years the only effective, lasting improvements came by focusing the work of the team on ways of working better. Over time, the focus on problems subsided because there were fewer of them.