Just Plain Nuts

Reading HR Magazine this week I came accross this great interview with the HR boss of Cable & Wireless in which he mentions a feedback campaign called "Just Plain Nuts". 

Apparently you can tell your boss about something at work that is driving you mad and see if it can be fixed....

But best of all... in this edition is an article on HR Metrics which opens with the phrase "Directors need to transform the airy cliche about people being their greatest asset into a guiding principle of business strategy."

Sound familiar?

I have been growing increasingly impatient with some of the waffle I've been seeing recently on the subject of metrics for IC.

My problem is that I can see that if you do x and have result y, then you can start building a measurement strategy but what if you can't show how Y results from X?  And that's what most of IC is like - although you wouldn't believe it from most of the stuff that seems to be written on the subject.

Last week I saw 3 different pieces of nonsense which went into great lengths to describe mathametical formulae for showing that as a result of superior communications some sort of amazing business result could be attributed.  In one case there was a particular emphasis on showing a specific ROI figure (which, if credible would have stunned any passing finance director).

The only difficulty was that cunningly hidden away was an assumption that communication was the sole or main causal factor at work.

So, for example, HR want more managers to conduct performance reviews and ask communications for help.  If suddenly the number of reviews increases five fold should IC claim the credit?  Of course not - well at least not until we've seen what else was happening by way of leadership, systems etc....

I have always taken the line that we shouldn't obsess about the figures - mainly because the energy involved in getting close to an accurate figure isn't justified by the marginal benefit it brings.  In short it is enough to know that you are moving things in the right direction and at the right sort of speed.

So, do you remember the scene in Dead Poets Society when the students are told to rip from their textbooks an essay explaining how to calculate the greatness of a poem?  That's just plain nuts isn't it?

Liam

Comments

[Marc Wright]

Heresy I know, but how much credibility can you give to absolute figures? It's absolute figures that valued certain banks at $50bn a year ago that have been sold for $2bn recently. As communicators we bow down before the numerists - but post credit crunch who are you going to believe? The credit rating agencies or the quality of service you receive when switching your account?
The US rescue plan that was rushed through the Congress was appalling communicated. It was only the a small clause in the small print that allowed them to redirect the billions from soaking up toxic debt to the more logical step of buying bank's shares. It took a politician rather than a banking expert to make the right call.
Tracking figures makes sense during stable times, but when things go awry (remember inflation in the Weimar Republic) it's the orators, not the accountants that haver the biggest impact on the progress or decline of human happiness and progress.