Review, Assess, Celebrate, and Refocus PDF Print E-mail

Our performance results are determined by what we finish, not by what we start. It's ultimately our improvement action that determines our performance results. The effectiveness of that action hinges on our follow through and stick-to-it-iveness.

It is all too easy to let what's wrong and what still needs to be improved overshadow what we've accomplished and how far we've come. The pressure of continuous performance improvement can be very draining. If we're going to maintain high energy levels, we need to develop the habit of periodically taking the celebratory pause that refreshes.

Many organizations, teams, and individual have a limited or faulty understanding of what's working, what's not, and why. Reviewing, assessing, celebrating, and refocusing are essential elements of a vital step in the improvement process. It's the step that both completes and restarts the endless improvement cycle. Without this essential component, learning, energy, and momentum dwindle.

Need for Reviewing, Assessing, Celebrating, and Refocusing:

  1. Results come from what we finish, not what we start.
  2. The "tyranny of the urgent" often drives out the important.
  3. Constant change and relentless improvement can be exhausting.
  4. When you don't know how you're doing, you can't improve.
  5. It's easy to drift off track.
  6. Learn what's working/not working, and redirect efforts.
  7. Savoring success and small wins is energizing.

Why Reviewing, Assessing, Celebrating, and Refocusing is so Rare:

  1. Planning and new beginnings are more exciting.
  2. Weak discipline of following through and following up.
  3. Reflective learning crowded out by crisis/operations.
  4. No time to learn how to better use our time/resources.
  5. We dwell on what's gone wrong rather than what's gone right.
  6. Fear of complacency and status quo.
  7. Managers don't appreciate its importance.
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Focus & Context

1. Vision, Values, and Purpose

Customers & Partners

2. Customers
3. Internal Partners
4. External Partners

Strategy & Direction

5. Strategy, Structure, and Roles
6. Goals and Priorities

Measures & Rewards

7. Measurement and Feedback
8. Reward and Recognition
9. Review, Assess, Celebrate, and Refocus

Processes & Systems

10. Process Management
11. Systems

Learning & Development

12. Education & Communications
13. Skill Development
14. Teams
15. Innovation & Organizational Learning
16. Improvement Infrastructure/Process


 
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