Managerial controls

A Specialist Clinical Healthcare Provider asked us to check how well its managerial structure served the aims of the organisation.

It didn’t. The study showed up an unhealthy division of responsibilities between the senior executives. People had prime tasks, but only within their own functions. They needed to do more to help each other to boost the performance of the organisation. Their efforts did not cohere. The controls and measures of performance served only to reinforce this functional behaviour.

We talked through our findings with the managers, and reached consensus on a plan of action. Conflicting functional targets were thrown out and new measures of success brought in, linked to desired organisational outcomes. Executives led joint presentations to their colleagues, explaining the new ways of working and the need for mutual support.

What gets measured gets done! Yet often too little thought is applied to the design of measures, controls and reports. Managers measure things that are irrelevant, or even detrimental, to organisational performance, simply because the data are easy or cheap to collect.

Please contact us to find out more.