No-one ever tried to performance manage Mahatma Ghandi. Mother Teresa didn’t have to fill out quarterly reports. Martin Luther King Jnr wasn’t concerned by key performance indicators. And on that basis, as great as these figures were as agents of social change, none of them would land a job in public services these days.
Two mantras I’ve often come across as a social worker are: “If you didn’t record it, you didn’t do it” and: “What gets measured gets done.” Both of which make you wonder how much more Nelson Mandela might have achieved had he been filling out the right forms.
But, then, what am I saying? Times are different. We live in an age of accountability and, of course, you should expect a social worker to have performance targets. Everyone else has them. A friend of mine, working in a call centre, used to return home from work each night horrified that even the length of his toilet breaks were monitored.
Social services hasn’t got that far yet. But most other parameters of our work are recorded; how often we see a client, the length of time we spend with them, what the nature of each visit is. And I’m not saying this is a bad thing. We’re a public service. You have a right to know how well we’re performing.
But does it actually work?
I’d say it’s questionable. There’s often a powerful mismatch between the information an organisation wants and what frontline staff can actually provide without impairing their ability to do the job.
It’s a pain. You’re trying to get on with seeing clients but there’s this constant tugging at the shirtsleeve. Another survey, another questionnaire, another tick box, another form – unceasing demands to know what you’re up to.
A belief has arisen that the more a job is scrutinised, the better it will be done. And, up to a point that’s true. But with the dawn of the computer age, when all it takes is the workforce tapping in some new data, there’s no limit to what senior managers will ask for.
Timescales for seeing clients are a big one, but you can also record how quickly documents are completed, how complete these documents actually are, how long social workers spend with clients, how long they spend in meetings talking about clients, and then, from drop down boxes, what was the purpose of talking about the client. That’s what senior managers want to know. And, then, from another drop down box, what was the outcome? When you opened your mouth, was it a good use of hot air?
Everything is outcome based. I once tried to use my dog for animal therapy with clients. She was taken to the vets, given a clean bill of health, assessed as being of good temperament and issued with a certificate. But before Tilly could step over the threshold, a business plan had to be assembled. What was the measurement for success? What data were we going to collect before bringing in a Labrador that we were also going to collect post-Labrador visit, to demonstrate it was a good idea?
Imagine if this applied to guide dogs. How many times would a person have to be run over, and on what paperwork would this all have to be recorded, before someone thought it a good idea to help? Sometimes the need, and the help required, is self-evident.
But we’re venturing into a world where good judgement isn’t enough. All that matters are the statistics and how these can be used to demonstrate good performance. Yet, harvesting all this takes time, and that inevitably takes away from performance. It doesn’t add to it.
Am I the only one to realise that? Once – and I promise I’m not making this up – I attended a meeting in which a secretary with a stopwatch timed how long everyone talked so she could compile a spreadsheet. Senior staff then reviewed this at a week-long event, so they could see whether meetings could be run more efficiently.
I despair. As a public service we need to perform well, no question. But if Martin Luther King Jnr had taken this approach to organise his march from Selma, he wouldn’t have got as far as putting on his shoes.
The Social Life Blog is written by people who work in or use social care services. If you’d like to write an article for the series, email socialcare@theguardian.com with your ideas.
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