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\u201cEfficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things\u201d<\/em> \u2013\u00a0Peter Drucker<\/strong><\/p>\n Drucker\u2019s famous saying is usually intended to remind us that it\u2019s not enough to do things right, you also have to do the right things. However, in social services, we often think that we are doing the right things, but many times we don\u2019t measure ourselves in a way that enables us to know whether we have indeed achieved our objectives.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take, for example, interventions designed to help families lift themselves out of poverty. Before the program starts and during the program, we measure its short-term effects.\u00a0 But in most cases the goal is for the outcomes of the program to be retained for several years after the intervention. The effectiveness of most intervention programs is only measured during or immediately afterwards, while the long-term impact is rarely examined.\u00a0 Short term measurement is important to let us know if we are going in the right direction, but it is not enough.\u00a0 Without long term measurement, we cannot know if the intervention\u00a0really<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0succeeded.\u00a0 In the case of relieving poverty, the family\u2019s income 3 years after the end of the program is a far more significant measure of success than immediately after the intervention, but as stated, we do not usually measure this.<\/p>\n Sometimes, measurement is done using data and metrics that are readily accessible to the organization.\u00a0 We tend to choose existing metrics and available data when we define how the organization\u2019s success is to be measured.\u00a0 This process is efficient but not \u201cthe right thing\u201d (now we can read Drucker\u2019s quote in his original intention).\u00a0 It results in measuring products or outcomes that are not necessarily the main goals of the program.\u00a0 A correct definition of metrics is the result of a process in which we first define how we perceive the success of the program (even though it may not be measurable). Once we have defined the \u2018winning picture\u2019 of the intervention, we must think which metrics (including those that are not available) will enable us to decide whether it has been achieved.\u00a0 Sometimes we may discover that we have to develop these metrics, collect the data, and invest resources in the whole process.\u00a0 But there is no other choice, if we really want to learn about the effectiveness of our activity \u2013 we have to invest the necessary resources.<\/p>\n Measuring impact is essential but may also lead to negative results.\u00a0 I am not talking about failure to achieve a program\u2019s objectives, but of the damage that may be caused by the measurement process itself.\u00a0 One of the processes that measured quality in the health system produced an almost perfect result.\u00a0 The program succeeded beyond all expectations.\u00a0 However, after a qualitative examination of the process, it emerged that in order to comply with the defined metric, not only were other metrics neglected, but there was even some incorrect clinical activity that led to a decline in other aspects of performance that were not measured, and adversely affected the health of part of the population.<\/p>\n As the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana) approaches, we must stop for a moment and assess our measurement processes (in our professional lives and in our personal lives) and ask ourselves the following questions:<\/p>\n I invite myself and you to take the few months between Rosh Hashana and the end of 2023, as we prepare to set our targets in the work plan for 2024, to assess our measurement processes and think about how we can achieve better measurement and assessment of our impact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cEfficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things\u201d \u2013\u00a0Peter Drucker Drucker\u2019s famous saying is usually intended to remind us that it\u2019s not enough to do things right, you also have to do the right things….","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n