One more time: How do you make assessments stick/work/have meaning/make a difference?

We get this question all the time. There are books, movies and even songs written about it — it’s called commitment.

You have to be committed to the implementation associated with measurement. It isn’t enough to create the perfect test, you have to take a holistic view, develop your supporters, make sure you have the right people involved and make the data tell a story.

The other day, a frustrated project manager called to say she was about to present her assessment strategy for a huge work process change project … and wanted to know our tips for making it successful. Here’s what we wrote:

Dear Frustrated Project Manager,

Hang in there. It is not really smoke and mirrors. In fact, we think the following seven actions are core to successful assessment implementation:

1. The project stakeholder demands that performance assessment is part of the project’s implementation and is on the hook for monitoring the increase in performance. (And yes, this typically takes many behind-the-scenes meetings showing data to sell the stakeholder on why this process was critical to the projects’ success).
2. Create and pilot test the assessments to ensure they are valid and credible.
3. Have SMEs review assessments to ensure they are technically accurate.
4. Spend time and talk with assessment implementers. Review the assessment strategy and discuss the type of outcomes they will see from both personnel and the site. Show the type of data and reports they’ll receive and can use with management to show progress toward business changes.
5. Monitor the assessment process 24/7. React immediately if any part of the assessment is called into question.
6. Only share the results with the assessment implementers—let them determine how they to communicate the results to their site. It is your responsibility to turn the data into a compelling story—but it is not your story to tell, it is theirs.
7. Gain the trust and support of the project stakeholder. When we had tough conversations with the sites about poor performance data he joined us on every call—it was exactly what was needed to keep his/her buy-in.

Take heart, you can do it, but you must have tenacity and commitment.

Go forth and change the world, one assessment at a time.

Cheers,
Mark and Leslie

Tagged as: change the world, commitment, implementation