Why Qualitative Research is Critical for Recovery
Organizations are a house on an eroding cliff. The house still has strong foundational elements keeping it in place (areas of Organizational Resilience) and areas that have eroded during COVID (areas of Organizational Recovery). Leaders are missing opportunities to leverage areas of strength and resilience and, more critically, unaware of exposures or unsure how to manage them.
Qualitative research allows us to see clearly what areas of the organization need recovery.
Our recent study of independent schools found these organizations have areas of incredible organizational resilience and areas in desperate need of recovery. What leaders are struggling with is the ability to accurately appraise where the organization is strong and where the exposures lie that require quick and effective repair or support.
One of the reasons leaders are struggling to accept the ways in which their organization has been compromised during this time (or even to refer to this as a time of organizational crisis) is referred to as the Cognitive Challenge, or the tendency for leaders to take refuge in denial, making the future “less unknowable than it is unthinkable” (Duchek, 2020). A staunch acceptance of the reality of the house on the cliff is a critical component of Organizational Resilience.
Leaders are struggling with an over-reliance on quantitative surveys due to their relative ease of use. The challenge is that when in crisis, even the most well-written surveys cannot get to the complexities, cultural nuance, and organizational layers that feed and fuel strengths and liabilities. Often surveys are thought of as providing us with a flashlight in a dark tunnel. They start to point out evidence of “what” (e.g. staff satisfaction/engagement levels) we may need to focus on but does not provide the “why” (e.g. historical and contextual contributors to the experience) or the “how” (e.g. the best/most effective pathway forward for sustainable recovery). As a result, organizations often exhaust precious resources on biased hypothesis for how to address issues with low return on investment.
Qualitative fills in the gaps in information that quantitative surveys do not provide. Scientifically relevant Qualitative research provides leaders with the following:
Historical context and how organizational history influences today’s behaviors
Beliefs, assumptions, and values that drive organizational culture and insight as to how to shift, shape, build, and rebuild culture
Major liabilities and how to mitigate those liabilities most effectively for long term sustainability
Major assets and how to leverage these for resilience and growth
Qualitative research will provide organizations essential insight into the areas that need attention most for the coming months to prevent major fallout or further erosion. Over the past decade of working with organizations in crisis, we have recognized how critical it is to strategically recover. Fallouts from times of crisis can include:
Erosion of trust with employees and stakeholders
Reduced retention
Loss of productivity and efficacy
Increased escalations
Organizations need to sure up their areas of recovery now and do so with the confidence they are tending to the right areas. Many of the issues that have challenged organizations are a result of having not effectively addressed past challenges. Now that we are all in a time of crisis, it is all the more essential that organizations see understanding their pathway to recovery as the paramount priority.
