Not all outcome measures will be obvious. Think Differently.
Today’s Readwise highlight happens to synchronise with a discussion I was having with the team today. Not every area for improvement will have measures, but they will need a way of assessing baseline performance ahead of testing change ideas.
Can we measure culture?
As we know, organisational culture is a powerful influence on successful outcomes. Measuring culture can be a challenge:
- Is there a validated tool?
- What is actually being measured?
- How often is culture measured?
- What can we do about our results?
In healthcare, we have validated tools to assess Patient Safety Culture. These are usually distributed every two years. Many of you who follow my musings and have attended various courses will know my concerns with running a survey every two years, when we are looking to test change ideas for improvement. See my article here for a discussion on this.
Pick an Apple - Think differently
Those of you old enough will see the link between the the slogan 'Think Differently' and Apple. That was a great campaign.
Totally irrelevant to my point, but an exercise in quick association! Perhaps my faculties remain intact?
Looking with a systems perspective helps us identify measures that might not be obvious at the outset. Jacob Stoller refers to an example where employee turnover was used as a measure of the impact of investing in enhancing organisational culture (by whatever method). A behavioural indicator, leading rather than lagging indicator we can respond to sooner.
References
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. What is patient safety culture? AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture® (SOPS®) Program. Rockville (MD): AHRQ; 2024. Available at: https://www.ahrq.gov/sops/about/patient-safety-culture.html.
Al‐Hussan AM, Al‐Qutaishat F. The relationship between organizational culture and organizational performance. Int J Bus Soc Sci. 2018;9(2):149-162.
Lin C-Y, Chang C-H. Impact of organizational culture on individual work performance: evidence from Taiwan-funded enterprises in China. Sustainability. 2022;14(11):6897. doi:10.3390/su14116897.
Stoller J. Productivity Reimagined: Shattering Performance Myths to Achieve Sustainable Growth. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley; 2024.
