Fear Around Diagnostics

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Published: October 2009

Fear around Diagnostics

Using diagnostics in an organization is a great way to find out what problems exist within it that need to be addressed.  They can also help to see differences of opinions within a company’s workforce and enable everyone to get on the same page.  Once these issues are diagnosed it makes it a lot easier to make changes and move forward.  So if organizational diagnostics are so great why don’t more companies make use of them? As Priority Learning’s web developer I have helped them administer many diagnostics online.  In many cases I get a chance to meet members of the organization and answer questions and concerns about the diagnostic process.  I’ve found that there tends to be a certain amount of fear associated with the idea of taking a diagnostic.  I’m using my article this month to address some of the common fears about taking diagnostics in general and also some fears specifically centered on taking diagnostics online.

Fear of the Results

It seems as if some organizations are hesitant to administer a diagnostic because they are fearful of what they might find out.  While it is true that the results may indicate some problem areas within the organization, not finding out about them doesn’t mean they don’t exist and in finding out what the problem areas are, you then have the power to do something about it.  In many cases the diagnostic itself will create a sense of goodwill among employees, as they will see that the organization is taking steps to make positive changes.

Fear of Inaccurate Results

When we begin the diagnostic process someone is always concerned that the one or two disgruntled workers will somehow tamper with the diagnostic to try and get their negative point across.  A sort of stuffing the ballots if you will.  It is possible for someone to login to the diagnostic more than once, the same way it is possible for someone to run off 20 copies of a paper diagnostic and turn them in.  The problem with this method is that typically an organization has a set amount of employees that will take the diagnostic.  If your organization only has 500 employees and 520 assessments have been submitted, it would be clear to see that the diagnostic has been tampered with.  It would also be pretty plain to see that the 20 assessments with strikingly similar scores written in the same handwriting or coming from the same ip address would be the ones remove when this happens. Even in the event that this wasn’t caught 20 bogus assessments in a group of 500 wouldn’t skew the numbers enough to make a significant difference.  Another problem that can lead to inaccurate results is participants not following instructions.  When doing a diagnostic on paper this can become a substantial issue.  Unlike paper a computer can detect what the user is doing and react accordingly.  On our diagnostics I am able to program alert boxes to come up and inform users to missed statements and any areas that have been filled out incorrectly.

Fear of Lack of Anonymity

The biggest common fear that people have about participating in a diagnostic is the fear that their honest feedback will be used against them later on.  This is especially true when a diagnostic is aimed toward a specific leader or manager.  I honestly can’t say how realistic this fear is when a diagnostic is done inside an organization.  However I can reassure you about how truly anonymous participating in a diagnostic administered by Priority Learning is.  When you a take a diagnostic on our website, your scores are recorded in our database, the only identifying information that is recorded is the IP address of your company’s network.  I record this in the event that a participant feels they need to retake the diagnostic.  Unless you tell me what your IP address is and the exact time that you completed the diagnostic, there is no way for me to identify who you are from your company’s IP address.  Movies and television have often alluded to the idea that everything you do on the web is transparent and anyone with a little computer savvy can hack into your computer and see how you scored on your company’s assessment.  This idea makes for dramatic television but does not hold up in reality.  Sure, someone could go on your computer, look at your browsing history and find out that you have in fact taken the assessment but they would not be able to access your scores.  The only way it could be done is if someone hacked into our database and happened to know the IP address of your company’s computer. The kind of person capable of doing such a thing is probably not all that concerned about your assessment of your organization.  This person is most likely tying to hack into government agencies and databases with credit card numbers. When this information is presented to the organization, your scores will be averaged with everyone else’s, making it impossible to identify individual scores.

Fear of Computer Literacy

This fear is specifically targeted towards online diagnostics.  Many people have fears about using online diagnostics because they feel that they are not good at using computer applications and they will have problems completing the assessment or they will “mess something up”.  We try to make all of our online diagnostics as easy as possible but we understand that not everyone in an organization will feel comfortable taking a diagnostic online.  Fortunately, unlike many other online services, we support every aspect of our website.  If there are any problems, I am always available to help.  My phone number and email address are always displayed on the email introduction to the diagnostic and can also be found on the contact page of our website.  No question is a “stupid question”.  It’s my job to make your experience on our website as effortless as possible and I like doing it.

If you are interested in taking an organizational diagnostic we hope that you will contact us.  A diagnostic is a great starting place for making positive changes within an organization and unlike “survey” websites like Survey Monkey and others, when you take a diagnostic with Priority Learning, you not only get the results, you also get a plan of action for moving forward and we also offer support in the form of free leadership coaching.  You can use one of our ready-made diagnostics like the 360 Leadership Assessment or the Leadership/Management Group Assessment or we can easily administer any in-house diagnostic you already have

If you feel like there are some issues I have not addressed or you have questions regarding this article, I would love to hear from you.  Please contact me at milly@prioritylearningresearch.com