Self Assessment Best Practice 3 - Avoid Using Absolutes
Self Assessment Program
Evaluators performing self assessments often find themselves awash in data suggesting their company’s performance significant lags that of competitors and top industry performers. Evidence suggesting the need to improve may be so plentiful that the self assessors come to believe immediate reforms must be made if to only ensure the continued viability of their organization.
All too often, the performance improvement focus of a self assessment drives assessors to lose a degree of perspective regarding what their organization does right; even for those things for which they are recognized as an industry leader. Lacking a balanced perspective on their organization’s performance, evaluators fall prey to the notion that no process, product, or person is adequate to the task and that everything and everyone needs to dramatically improve. Translated into the self assessment report itself, this overly negative perspective may result in the self assessment team advocating the proverbial “throwing out the baby with the bathwater.”
One easily employed method of reducing the likelihood of overstating the organization’s performance improvement needs is to, at a minimum, challenge and often to avoid the use of absolute terms. Such terms typically point directly to overstated positions warranting further consideration. Absolute terms to listen for during routine team communications and oral presentations as well as in written notes, memos, and reports include:
- all, every, everyone, everything
- none, no one, nothing
- always, forever, have to
- never, under no circumstances
Final Thoughts…
There may be occasions where a self assessment team finds no readily available evidence that corporate performance need to improve in one or more areas. The history of business reveals, however, that many significant advances came from the improvement or replacement of industry leading practices. Subsequently, the avoidance of absolutes is equally important, if not as often applicable, to the characterization of strong performance.
In some rare cases, the use of absolute statements is warranted and necessary. However, it is important that instances are recognized, validated, and deliberately and conservatively made so as to not diminish the credibility of the overall assessment findings.
Nathan A. Ives is a Strategy & Operations Manager at Deloitte Consulting LLP, a StrategyDriven contributor, and co-Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over fifteen years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at numerous Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.
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StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve better results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag posts on the StrategyDriven website.
Howard T. Dickens Jr. is Vice President of P Enterprises and co-Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. A dynamic public speaker, facilitator, and training consultant, he has shared his insights with hundreds of executives and managers at all organizational levels; helping them develop motivational leadership behaviors, cultural competence, and the ability to manage workplace conflict. To read Howard’s complete biography, 
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