Schlimmbesserung - an all too useful word!

Schlimmbesserung is a handy word which means "An intended improvement that instead makes things worse". And it amazing how often the kinds of situations arise to which this word can be applied. Some that I have seen include:

• Someone comes up with an idea to save money, however it is implemented in such a complicated way that it ends up costing money - that's schlimmbesserung!
• A strategy is put in place to reduce sick leave or compensation claims, but instead leads to an increase - that's schlimmbesserung!
• Processes for selecting staff which in the interests of 'fairness' ignore information germane to an applicant's performance, and end up selecting someone who is less than optimal - that's schlimmbesserung!
• Holding a general meeting with staff to discuss increasing productivity, which comes up with no actual strategies, but the loss of time from the meeting itself reduces productivity - that's schlimmbesserung!
• Strategies for increasing staff morale are implemented but result in a further slide in morale - that's schlimmbesserung!

Much of the time Sclimmbesserung happens because insufficient thought or analysis has gone into the change, but sometimes it happens because the change has been over-thought. Sometimes a manager will think they understand a situation without actually checking whether their understanding corresponds to reality.

Ultimately, if you don't understand what is causing a problem, it is hard to find a solution and sometimes the obvious (usually simplistic) solution makes things worse. Even worse is when a reinforcing cycle results where as the situation worsens, more of the same solution is applied, so the situation worsens further, so more of the same solution is applied and so on.

If what you are doing isn't working, maybe it's time to try something different. If an expected solution just increases the problem, maybe it is time to roll back the solution instead of putting more effort or resources into it.

And just maybe, we should find out why the solution made things worse:

• what assumptions did we make about the problem,
• which of them were wrong,
• what assumptions did we make about our solution,
• which of them were wrong.
• what do we do now that we understand the situation better

In other words, reflect on what has happened and try to learn whatever lesson it holds to inform future action.