No, not the candy. Morbidity & Mortality Conference. It's a rough event.
Sometimes when a patient dies in hospital from other than purely obvious causes, the case is selected for M&M. The doctor responsible for the lost patient stands before his peers and explains the events leading to patient's demise. It's a dreaded process.
Hard questions are asked and judgment questioned. Did you make mistakes? Why did you administer that drug? Why so much? Why so little? Why did you make that decision? The process is meant to be a learning experience with a bite.
Imagine yourself before your co-workers trying to explain a death of a customer.
Okay, that's a bit much. Imagine yourself in front of your co-workers explaining a screw-up and subjecting yourself to their incisive questions.
Doctors subject themselves to this process called M&M. They do it in the interest of being better at what they do.
In business, we sugarcoat everything. Can you imagine someone at your business or organization having to defend a bad outcome of one of her decisions?
I strongly believe that we do far too much comforting and not nearly enough evaluating of performance. Stuff doesn't just 'happen' as the saying goes. Stuff is created by us.
Murphy's Law is law because we create opportunity for failure.
M&M may be too tough for your business. But a peer review process will improve every aspect of your business from marketing to manufacturing to service.
Few managers are up to the task of conducting a peer review session. Too bad. When we have a lot of failures we run to team building and feel good seminars when what need is accountability. But we are afraid someone will be offended.
Ever been to an accountability seminar?
Sure, this sounds harsh. But the super star companies like Apple, who posted its most profitable quarter smack in the middle of a recession, set expectations and hold people accountable.
Seems to be working.
I understand that this kind of approach is different from you're used to. But we're falling behind other countries and losing jobs to foreign competition.
Any of the books below will improve your performance at work. Here's a thought. Buy them all, set up a library at work and loan them out. Start talking about these ideas. Get the stimulation for new thought started.
Then you might be ready to start a peer review program.
