Criteria
This section provides explanation about the Criteria in the MINCE Maturity Model.
Criteria: overview
All Towers in the MINCE "castle" each have observation holes in five directions (see the picture at the left hand side). These "windows" are available at each of the five levels in each Towers. In our language, we do not speak of "holes" – instead, we speak of Criteria (plural: the whole set) or (singular: one out of the set) Criterion.
Five Criteria, used in combination, allow us to see all around a Tower from different heights. Each Tower for that purpose has five observation holes, one set at each of the heights the Tower provides. These Criteria, in a neat round manner, cover the environment. The Criteria provide us with a full-circle view. They have to do with maturity aspects that can be considered in relation to the organizational aspects in the Towers. These are those five Criteria:
- Leaderhip;
- Staff;
- Policy;
- Means;
- Instructions.
This visualization illustrates the way to consider the physical position of these Criteria in each of the Towers. In this drawing the Criteria within Level 5 of a Tower are indicated. These five Criteria, indicated A-E, are repeated at each of the five Levels. Criteria deal with the perspectives (angles) used in order to determine the maturity levels with each Tower. Consider the Tower as being a fixed point in the landscape and the Criterion a direction in the distance, that you're looking at. In that way you can determine the maturity level of the section you're evaluating at that moment. While remaining in the same Tower, you turn and there is the next Criterion – the next direction to be evaluated. It may well be the case that, while you are evaluating a Tower and a certain Criterion in it, at a certain point, you will find out you are actually judging an interrelation between two Towers. In such a case, for example, from the Tower IV in below visualization, whilst looking through one of the Criteria-holes in there, at the fifth Level, you will realize that you are in fact looking into one of the Criteria-holes of Tower III (x). This might be (does not have to be) similar in the opposite direction (y).
There are many variations in how the contents of one Tower might be observed from another. Such observations of an opposing Tower will surely not always occur, but it might happen and it should not be considered an error – quite to the contrary. It should be considered a good sign, since it shows that there is apparently a cross relation. An example of such a cross relation is the following: The Policy Criterion with the People Tower indicates that the organization is supportive about the spread and development of individual knowledge. In the opposite direction, in this example it is from the Knowledge Tower, you can observe how with the Means Criterion the organization actively provides the means for assembling and developing knowledge.
Criterion A: Leadership
Criterion A, about Leadership, is the perspective from any Tower that relates to the degree an organization is able and willing to fulfill the leading position. Typically leading organizations will set the tone for each of the six Towers. Setting the tone implies others recognize the leading status of such an organizationb and as a result they are thet willing to follow their strategy, without too much discussion. Others adapt to the behavior of organizations with a strong Leadership position (i.e. organizations with a high maturity level in the Leadership Criterion). A typical organization with little leadership will need to follow others in that respect. (Note that such organizations may for the time being flourish nevertheless.) Such organizatiobns will have to compensate for this with one or several of the other Criteria. Organizations lacking a good reputation on leadership will often not have a front line position: They are positioned behind that zone – out of the heat of that "fight". Perhaps they will compensate for this by offering lower proces. Or higher quality products at the same price as others.
Criterion B: Staff
Criterion B, about Staff, is to be considered the most important of all Criteria. The truth of the matter is that the better employees are in the fulfillment of their tasks, the stronger your organization will be. Is not the quality of an organization greatly determined by the quality of its employees? Having the best staff qualified for a job is not merely a benefit – it also brings responsibilities and additional requirements. In order to keep well trained staff working for an organization, it will be necessary to keep them as close to the organization as possible. The organization will have to keep them in flow as much as possible: being in flow in change management is an indication of the emotional state of optimally performing employees (Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály; 1990). If they gave the impression that they are not learning and contributing as well as they would be able to, they will swiftly move on to the next, more challenging job. The way an organization handles staff, the way the personnel are tracked and hired, the manner in which an organization bids them farewell as soon as the end of their co-operation is reached – all determine the maturity level for the Staff Criterion with each Tower. A typical organization with a high maturity level for the Staff Criterion will have people capable of moving the company forward out of many status quo and continuously working coherently towards improvement. If an organization scores a low maturity for the Staff Criterion, their workers will tend to do what they personally think should be done, without much deliberation. They may well be surprised if they succeed in getting a task done.
Criterion C: Policy
Criterion C, about Policy, relates to the way an organization carries out its mission and vision in order to turn these into the approach towards daily routine. Policy in MINCE is regarded as the practical translation of the (often rather elusive) mission and vision statements. Internal policy in this respect addresses the way that employees co-operate, grow and stimulate growth. External policy splits up into the first part (which translates mission and vision into a viewpoint towards customers) and the second part (that translates these viewpoints towards others in the environment – "others" being competitors, suppliers and organizations in related areas. An organization with a high maturity level for the Policy Criterion will typically have thought deeply over its mission and vision (statements) and will have translated the outcome of that process into an approach to be used by its staff when interacting with customers, competitors and the rest. Even particular situations, that were not predicted, will not be difficult to deal with, because of the clear base message. Low maturity rating organizations will not have thought about their mission or vision for a second, so that the way they deal in practice with customers, competitors and other organizations is unpredictable and dependent upon the circumstances, for example on who is the actor at a given moment in time.
Criterion D: Means
Criterion D, about Means, for each Tower links the Criteria Policy, Staff and Leadership to the day-to-day-realities of business. You can have the best Policy and Staff and work from a leading perspective in the market, but if you fail to have Means to deliver your solutions and services the, it all will be useless. Finance are also considered one of the Means. Financial issues are also a part of this Criterion. Means in the MINCE perspective relates to things that can often be translated to financial means, but that need not be true in all cases. Anyone will agree that frequently the means required in order to be succesful have little or no financial value. The financial value often bears no relation to the impact that the tool, machine, binder or communication means (just to name a few) have. As with the other Criteria, an organization can also become a victim of the Criterion Means. As soon as a client organization does not have the required Means available, your organization will rank a low maturity level, perhaps merely a Level 1 (Activities), in the Tower III (Customer) and Criterion D (Means) combination. This is a particular annoying one, since your organization in this example is in fact a victim of poor performance by your client... An organization with a high level of the Means Criterion will typically have made a solid an throrough consideration of the Staff and Policy ambitions. They will have also translated these into the Means required to live equally well up to their Leadership ambitions. Poor performing organizations will typically have little to no means available – often they will lack vision at the same time. The result will be that, because these organizations fail to have the required Means available, they repeatedly have to disappoint customers. They will, at the same time, also expose their weaknesses to competitors. These competitors will be quite willing to go for the kill or at least inflict as much damage to your organization as they possibly can.
Criterion E: Instructions
Criterion E, about Instructions, observes the way an organization provides instructions in anticipation of business scenarios. These instructions will, for a large part, usually come from one of the methodical approaches and/or quality criteria available, such as PRINCE2 for project management, ITIL for IT Service Management, TMAP for test management, EFQM for quality management, MSP for programme management and so on. Alternatively, these instructions will be created by the organization in order to be able to deal with particular situations. Having clear instructions, such as a selected project management method like PRINCE2, will empower your organization to deal with any king of organizational issues (in this PRINCE2-example it wouls specifically be focused on project management). As soon as new environmental change comes into perspective, you'll be able to swiftly translate it into:
- described sets of adaptations, required to deal with the organizational change (e.g. a programme, according to MSP);
- the required detailed changes (e.g. one or more projects to be initiated according to PRINCE2);
- standardized test sets in order to determine the success of newly realized detailed changes (e.g. using the TMAP standard);
- maintaining the updated established steady state (e.g. by means of the ITIL standards for service management);
- keeping your instructions on the working floor in good shape.