I have been on the periphery of the craze that is the decluttering phenomena sweeping the globe which generated from the book and TV show The Life Change Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. One of Marie Kondo’s tenets of her tidying approach is ‘to ditch long-held organisational beliefs – such as cleaning little by little every day’. Instead she posits that what is required, is an epic cleaning sweep. This approach has resonated with me lately, as many of organisations I work with seem to be having a predominate focus on performance monitoring and evaluation activities that enable tactical improvements to practice i.e. they are cleaning little by little. However, these processes often don't provide the information that is needed to inform strategic and sometimes radical change.

To apply the Marie Kondo principles, would be to ask evaluative questions that are fundamental to the organisation perception of ‘what sparks joy’ for them and for the people they seek to benefit. This might include evaluating organisational principles or values in addition to the evidence base around what outcomes are being achieved. Organisations would also need to foster and support time and space for strategic learning opportunities and be committed to make the difficult decision to get rid of strategies and practices that no longer spark joy! Easier said than done.

I am not suggesting applying the full Mari Kondo  method, after all social change processes are messy. We still need systems and information that support experimentation and real time change. However, I do think this focus can come at the expense of engaging in evaluations that could challenge and disrupt organisational beliefs and practices. Investing in a systematic approach to the epic clean up!

What is your experience of getting organisations to focus on strategic evaluation and learning? Has the focus on doing, learning and iterating come at the expense of the fundamental organisational questions?