Can we spend too much time assessing rather than just getting on with the job?

Employee assessment is almost never done well in the first place. Coaching, goal setting and other employee growth initiatives fall into the same category, so the answer to your question is unequivocally "yes".

I think we have lost sight of the fact that there are two areas where an employee should be assessed: what is their rate of productivity compared to a base standard, and do they represent the company as they are expected to.

Too often employees are assessed on a myriad little things that don't matter a whit, and too many times evaluations amount to little more than finding a reason not to give full raises. All bad.

So yes, limit assessments to the things that really matter and get on with the work.

Together, let's put the fun back into work!
Belldon Colme
belldon@belldoncolme.org

An interesting question. In the military, standing still is not considered progress unless such action is predicated upon another unit achieving some intermittent goal necessary for your unit to take action. In the civilian sector, work for the sake of doing work is not necessarily the best use of resources. Rather, I would suggest that work, with some level of leadership or management pragmatism, would be result in a better outcome. I am no fan of assessment for assessment’s sake. Rather, as Belldon suggests, we should limit assessments to those metrics which have a measurable impact on the organization and to the benefit of the employee. Work should then be the natural byproduct thereof. Assessments are only a tool and not a substitute for common sense.

Are we talking about employee assessment, or an assessment of how well we are progressing on the job, i.e. progress toward our goal.

We can always spend too much time in assessing anything! But without periodic assessment of our progress, how will we ever hope to arrive at our destination.

There is an old saying, “All winds are favorable to a ship with no destination”. But if we wish to reach a specific destination, we need to have the ability to adjust the sails.

In business, it makes sense to measure what matters so you can improve on it. Still, spending too much time on measuring things is a waste of time when you could have just focused on one single metric and find ways on how it can help you achieve your goals. Your question made me think of choosing between: Having no plan or Having bad direction... Taking too much time assessing things can lead to wrong conclusions while getting the job done real quick can imply not having the right processes in place. Which is the greater of two evils? I'd say if you want to fail fast so you can learn faster from your mistakes and speed up on improving your plans/strategies - you can adopt a lean canvas business model. That's my opinion..

The trite phrase of "paralysis by analysis" applies to all manner of assessments. That contrasts with the "ready, fire, aim" approach favored by many.

The secret, as usual, is balance - of having enough discipline to reach a 90% level of understanding, and of having the inclination to act.

There are risks of failure, no matter the degree of assessment; they are increased by precipitous actions. Part of a rational and responsible assessment deals with risks, mitigations, and Plan (s) B (and includes the risks of premature execution).