ATD Blog
Mon Feb 11 2013
A number of years ago, Joe Harless in his brilliant An Ounce of Analysis is Worth a Pound of Cure (Newnan, GA: Harless Performance Guild, 1975) set the stage for encouraging serious people not pick a solution, or cure, before knowing the problem.
In our new ASTD Press book Needs Assessment for Organizational Success, we take the insight even further. Analysis is important and useful only if you have evidence that what you are dealing with is the actual problem. Otherwise, you might think you are dealing with the actual problem, when in fact you are merely dealing with a symptom. The consequence is moving ahead, only to find that you implemented useless and expensive cures.
During the cold war, President Reagan uttered the famous words “trust but verify”—advice that is just as useful in today’s performance improvement world. We have to validate (ie, justify) our problem before moving forward to the pound of analysis and ton of cure. Of course, the heavy lifting in any organization takes place in the analysis and cure. But before expending our time and talent guided by hope or speculation, let’s do the assessment first.
In their writings, Deming and Juran noted that 80% to 90% of all performance problems are not about individual performers but breakdowns at higher levels: at the organizational level in alignment with external, or societal, needs.
The Titanic provides a solid example. No matter how efficiently and effectively the crew of the ship rearranged the deck chairs, and no matter how well-trained they were or how well they worked together to meet passenger expectations, the direction in which the ship was headed turned out to be the most important factor. One could have analyzed the performance of individuals, groups of crew members, and team behavior. They could have set up massive training and human resource development programs. But all would have been futile. So even a ton of analysis and then a pound of cure, would not make the mission successful. This is where assessment comes in.
In our book, Ingrid Guerra-López and I make the argument and supply the concepts and tools for that vital, even critical, ounce of assessment. Good assessment. By defining a “need” as a gap in results, and by assessing those gaps in results at three aligned levels (societal/external clients; organizations; and individuals and groups of individuals) we can determine if the organization is heading in the correct and most practical direction. If it is not, valid information can be provided to change direction. That is the most useful type of needs assessment.
The justification for any cure is always based on prioritizing the needs at each of the three levels on the basis of the costs to meet the needs (close the gaps in results) compared with the costs of ignoring them. By doing this “ounce of assessment” before doing the pound of analysis and ton of cure, we can better assure that all we do in analysis and cure/development will be successful.
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