You cannot measure everything

Deming (1991,1992) condemned grades and performance appraisals because they provide a limited picture of an individual s contributions and potential. They might also constrain the number and type of interventions used to improve the quality of a work culture. If, for example, the only procedures implemented to improve safety are those that allow for objective measurement, the number and quality of safety interventions is severely restricted. 

In Chapter 16, for example, I discussed a number of ways to increase achvely caring behaviors directly, through applications of learning and social influence principles, and indirectly, through improving the five personal states that increase willingness to actively care. It is impractical and impossible to measure the impact of many of these interventions. Should we avoid doing so just because we cannot measure their occurrence and impact  

We entertained the points reviewed earlier in this chapter, that 

Our discussion group did, however, agree that we should try to develop objective, process-based measures for our quality—or safety—objectives. Although we cannot measure every important process directly, defining and tracking desired actions or behaviors guide proper procedures and motivate continuous improvement. In other words, the quote from Hansen (1994) at the start of this chapter is accurate, but it does not say it all. Many factors affect performance. Not only is it impossible to monitor all of them, it is often impossible to identify the specific change in performance that led to an improved system. 

Actually, every chapter of this text has addressed program evaluation in one way or another. Early on, 1 explained the need for achievement-oriented methods to keep score of your safety efforts. This enables people to consider safety in the same work-to-achieve context as production and quality. This implies, of course, the need for program evaluation numbers people can xmderstand and learn from. This is how evaluation leads to continuous improvement. 

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Leaders certainly appreciate the need to hold people accountable with numbers, yet also understand you cannot measure everything. As I discussed in Chapter 18, there are some things you do and ask others to do because it is the right thing to do. Leaders believe, for example, it is important to increase self-esteem, self-efficacy, personal control, optimism, and a sense of belonging throughout a work culture (see Chapter 15). 

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