The Goal: To understand the importance of making a correct diagnosis by asking the appropriate questions.
The Tool: Organizational tools.
Diagnosis is a word that has its etymological origin in Greek and even more in the union of three words of that language. In particular, it is a term that is formed by the prefix diag- which means “through”; The word gnosis, which is synonymous with “knowledge,” and finally the -tico-suffix that is defined as “relative to.”
A diagnosis seeks to reveal the manifestation of a disease or an abnormal situation by asking, observing and analyzing.
Actually, the activity of diagnosing is performed in any profession: From the mechanic who asks us questions to diagnose what our car’s problem is, to the doctor in any specialty who asks us questions to diagnose a disease and know which medicine to prescribe or what additional tests to recommend for validating the diagnostic.
Think about it for a moment, how many times have you had to ask a series of questions to identify what happens, validate what you think, or simply help someone?
The secret to making a good diagnosis is to MAKE THE RIGHT QUESTIONS!
In the same way we diagnose problems in things (cars, appliances, etc.), situations and people; we can also diagnose problems in work teams and organizations.
Why is diagnosis important in organizations?
In a world of rising expectations and diminishing resources, aggressive cost-cutting programs have run their course. Studies have shown that 90% or more of the causes of performance problems are found in organizational structures, systems and the culture within which people work. However, attempting to improve organizational performance by reorganizing, changing leadership or instituting new training and development programs leads to changes, but when done without an adequate diagnosis of an organization’s structures, systems, and culture, managers often solve a problem and unintentionally create others.
Most managers struggle and try to deal with the complexity of today’s world, but on many occasions they are frustrated by an invisible force that undermines their attempts to bring positive change. Their instincts and formal learning tell them that organizational structures, systems, and culture are preventing them from getting the results they want, but unfortunately “culture” remains one of the least understood aspects of organizational life.
Why is it so difficult to make decisions, and why (once made) so many decisions that are made do not apply or are out of date?
Why is there a gap between how things should be done and how they are actually done?
Why is vital business information leaked, altered or stopped as it moves up and down through the organizational structure?
Why do projects that seem to have the full support of top managers and key personnel die slowly and no one knows what happened to them?
Why are some organizations capable of changing against the forces and threats of the external environment, while others seem to have no visibility on these issues and fall in the same problems again and again?
Why does it seem that the universal principles of organizational development work in some organizations, but in others not?
Why do change initiatives so often show failed or marginal results?
Why do so many people find that their work is a substantial part of life’s problems, rather than one of the solutions to life’s problems?
Just as a physician uses precision instruments and experience to improve a patient’s health, an “organization doctor” (usually known as a “consultant”) uses validated evaluation tools and extensive experience to improve an organization’s performance. Managers need to make decisions based on facts using scientific analysis and diagnosis, not just business experience and intuition. While the most powerful learning comes from direct experience, most managers do not directly experience the long-term consequences of their key decisions because they have a system-wide effect that spans several departments and can affect the day-to-day operations of one organization (positively or negatively) in the coming years. The inability of most people to directly experience the long-term systemic consequences of their most important decisions is the main reason why most people do not learn from experience, especially when the consequences of a decision are not immediate.
The organizational diagnosis may have different levels of depth, but it resembles an x-ray of your organization, the key influences on its functioning and the key challenges it faces.
Do you want success? Diagnose correctly.
In our C3X platform you can find the tools to properly diagnose and focus on what really matters.
