We Need Outcomes; Let's Not Waste Time and Talent in Gov + Beyond

A politician recently stated that he was a RINO – a Republican In Need of Outcomes. (He wanted that on his headstone. Don't get me started.) He’s not alone in being frustrated at the absence of tangible outcomes and improvements in America. I am frustrated too; good ideas are not enough. 

At a recent event involving my new book on student success, I was asked somewhat tartly: so, how are you going to get from ideas on school improvement into actual school improvement? How are you going to move the proverbial needle instead of just talking about it? Good question.

I gave some answer about moving the needle a few degrees was better than not moving it at all. And, moving the needle 179 is an ideal, not reality. But, at that moment, I officially became a PINO (Person in Need of Outcomes) and began to reflect more vocally and concretely about the importance of action, not theory, about outcomes that are tangible and measurable near, not long, term. 

It was in this context that I was struck by how much time and talent we waste in America.  I kept hearing stories from friends and family about daily events they were experiencing that just involved too much time – whether they were personal or work related. And we had too many one-off events, with no follow-up or follow through. And, I had my own share of time-sucks. 

So, if we just improved some ridiculous, cumbersome processes and approaches that steal our time and deplete our talent, we actually could move the needle. And in the process, we would have better outcomes and happier and healthier people and more productive workforces. And, we might just see changes that matter.

These unnecessary processes exist across government and businesses: the federal or state government or educational institutions or medical facilities. Pick your enterprise.  To be clear, I am not talking about the standard big-ticket societal items that lead to inefficiencies: commuting, divorce, poor physical and mental health, fraud or theft, harassment and bullying. Instead, I am talking about processes that are fixable in the near term.

The problem with process improvement is exacerbated by this reality: we are willing to waste resources because somewhere between here and there, we unwilling to speak up and out about how to improve the institutions we serve. Like the failures in recent months to speak up and out on other sizable issues including sexual abuse and harassment, it is if the proverbial cat got our collective tongue.

Perhaps power got our tongue too. Or fear of retaliation. Or fear of being fired. Or plain old fear of standing apart from the crowd. Whatever the reason, we are losing resources we can ill afford to lose.

Try these examples. 

I can’t get a Medicare card or a secondary insurance card – and by cards, I mean that plastic thing one keeps in one’s purse. I carry around paper copies of both forms of insurance (and pharmaceuticals). Yet, I can’t seem to get anyone to give me a card despite repeated efforts. I have actually given up trying (it was taking too much time) and I may laminate the paper shards I have.

Try replacing an ID card in the government. Try replacing an ID card in a university. How much time is wasted standing in line to get the needed ID? And, even when received, how many of the IDs work effectively to do their added needed tasks like open doors or unlock computers. Right: it isn’t just getting the ID that is oft-times cumbersome; it is activating its many features. A friend recently reported that it took 6 hours to get a new government ID (original was scratched) and then to activate the systems that use the card. More than 15 Veterans committed suicide in the meanwhile.

Then, we have redundancy: more paper or computer entries than needed when data can be pre-populated or garnered from another source. Take federal student aid where most data are readily available on federal income tax returns. While the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is being pre-populated again with IRS data (after a hiatus at the start of the current administration), why even have the FAFSA form? Just determine federal student aid from IRS data and if outdated, then the student can seek to augment or adjust.   

How many low-income students simply give up and decide college is not for them? The documentary film STEP provides a visual example of the frustration in getting the FAFSA completed. I assume these are unintended barriers to entry as we overtly express the desire for more low-income students to access post-secondary education. 

We have technology that actually slows down processes, often without positive and improved outcomes. But, because it is technology, we overlook its shortfalls in the name of progress. Consider classroom technology use in education across the pre-K – 20 landscape in the US. For starters, some technology isn’t even used due to lack of instructor training. In-class technology is often slow to operate, if it operates at all and we need added personnel to go to classrooms to get the technology to work – even for something as simple as group chats with another nation on well-known platforms. And when technology breaks or obsolesces or is incompatible, time is a wasting. And, for the record, at least among children, technology doesn’t necessarily improve grades (and in some instances learning).

Healthcare is a landmine of disasters in terms of waste of time and money with technology. We want medical professionals to be with their patients but the cumbersome nature of paperwork and bureaucracy limits those personal encounters (although there are other impediments to be sure including reimbursement rates) or the cost of bypassing it is so expensive (with added personnel), it is hard to manage. Now, on the plus side, if only we could get the systems implemented and operable across multiple platforms and get users to be comfortable with the programs, electronic health records (around for decades) could help. But, there are so many glitches along the way that speed is often lost and the technology ends up taking more not less time.

And then we have one-off events where speeches are given or meeting or conferences are held and the ideas raised fall into the ether. Actually, I recently gave a presentation at Columbia Teachers College where they used a service called Vialogues, a video of the program where, after-the-fact, listeners could comment on the event and I could comment back. What a terrific technology to prevent one-offs and enable engagement. Whether it actually works – namely engaging people – is another story. But, it is a start. Here’s a link to that program if you want to put words into action; and, I’ll respond I promise.

https://vialogues.com/vialogues/play/40859

To address all this, I have an old fashioned idea: rather than hiring consultants or outsiders to streamline a business or institution (and these groups are abundant), ask employees in a myriad of industries to anonymously suggest streamlining strategies that can work but let’s not stop there. Suppose leadership in these industries then committed to implementing at least one of these ideas every three months – for real. Suggestion then action then reaction and tweaking and the cycle can repeat. 

One more thing: speed for speed’s sake is not the goal here. The goal is moving that needle to show improvement, creating environments in which workers and students can more readily accomplish their goals and do so in ways that are productive and meaningful.

This PINO does not think we need just to dream about better workplaces, better use of our time and better delivery of services. We can make it happen now – at a relatively low cost.  We need to see the value of small changes and then we need to raises out voices. 

We can do this. Surely it is easier and less politically charged and personally threatening than speaking up and out about leadership sexual harassment or the use of deceased soldiers as political pawns in presidential discourse, or inappropriate government official spending on, say, trips to Wimbledon or the Copenhagen Mermaid.