Organisation Interventions
An organisational/business is only as good as its people. When things go wrong there will frequently be a human component. Decisions can accumulate to cause compounding consequences, and the consequences merge into a complex array of signs that something is wrong. It requires starting with the consequence and working backwards - partly science - largely art (intuition).
A Problem is - a state or source of difficulty
The first ‘sign’ of a potential problem in your organisation can, if you notice it, expose ‘symptoms’ that can be explored to find the ‘causes’ – and the ‘consequences’ they generate. Problem avoidance is better than problem solving. Too many people complain about ‘always putting out fires’ - dealing with consequences.
- A ‘sign’ warns, it is usually small – usually missed - probably not measurable.
- A ‘symptom’ is a measurable deviation from normal. Early detection is preferred - achieved by being sensitive to signs. For a simple example, a little raspy cough from a colleague (sign) may seem unremarkable. Upon following up you learn that the person has a sore throat (symptom that is subjectively quantifiable) and a high temperature (symptom that is objectively measurable).
- The cause could vary from something mild like a cold, to something major and nasty. One of possibly many consequences could be their absence from work for a while.
Obviously the two extreme causes require very different responses and generate very different consequences, making it clear that accurate diagnosis is important - preferably before the problem actually presents. Prevention beats cure.
You may have noticed that a sign is also a consequence - an early and small consequence. For the sign to exist, so must the problem The sign is the earliest warning that allows there is a problem to be identified and addressed. The earlier the better - the smaller the problem to solve.
Prevention would be better, but requires anticipation of problems and acting to disallow the conditions under which the problem can occur. Is that feasible?
Consider an actual organisational example: an act of minor sabotage by some unknown employee, where nothing was noticed until machinery didn’t work. Even simple setbacks can be expensive. Earlier attention to ‘signs’ may have noticed other warnings about workplace moods and then corrected the condition before the event could happen. An absent employee (sign) may alert to an increasing trend of absenteeism (symptom). The cause could vary from something relatively mild like dissatisfaction with the new office arrangement, or something serious like deficient management behaviours. Using the medical equivalent, once you have identified symptoms you should consult appropriate diagnostic experts - there is no point in treating the wrong disease. Taking the medical analogy further, sometimes we notice that things are wrong and seek medical opinion. Apart from that, we also have regular checkups like mammograms, heart test, prostate tests, diabetes and cholesterol and so on. We do so because finding out requires tests be done, and the consequences of not doing so can be serious indeed. Once identified, remedies often require other specialist services.
In organisations the most serious and difficult problems to deal with are ‘people’ problems. Sometimes you know of the problems and sometimes you won’t. Organisations can have the equivalent of Cancer - and not know it. If it is true that “our advantage is our people” then people problems need expert attention. Just as you call in expert engineers, solicitors, and accountants to solve specific kinds of problems or pursue opportunities, there are specialists services available to help you get and keep things right for “our people”.
This web-site is formatted to inform you in both situations - you know what you want, or know your problem and are not sure what you need. There is information about organisational issues and our services, as well as information about organisational problems in a logical manner - signs, symptoms, causes and remedies.
For an example, we can apply this format to the current phenomenon of low staffing levels.
- Sign: seats with no people in them (observed)
- Symptoms: (measurable numbers and costs)
- Attracted only #n good people [Attraction]
- Lost #n good people this year [Retention]
- Causes
- Poor Supervisor - worker relationship
- Poor leadership of work prioritisation and workload
- Poor communication quality
- Consequences: (difficulties faced)
- Keeping up business pace
- Training cost higher due to turnover of staff
- Costs of recruitment
- High number on stress leave
It’s easy for organisations experiencing staffing problems to blame the skills shortage. A successful management approach seems to be to regard the organisation as being in the marketplace to attract and keep good people. Treat this market that same as any other market - sell into it. Organisations that don’t succeed in this market will remain understaffed And being attractive in the market place isn’t primarily about the money. Payment must be fair and adequate, but it’s other things - look at the list of signs, symptoms and causes - especially causes - for ideas.
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