Getting to the Heart of the Matter

How can I translate "results for children" into an evaluation framework for the organizational dashboard?  

Inspired by the work of the Accelerated Development Program back at GSK that encourages people to go and see, or "gemba," I headed to the Save the Children literacy programs in Union County, South Carolina.  Gemba (現場) is a Japanese term for "the real place. "  

What matters most to leaders? Improved standardized test scores since this is how academic performance is measured nationally.

What matters most to children? Caring teachers, parents, and grandparents that want to see them succeed.

What matters most to parents? Having opportunities to give their children a good life, having food to eat, and discovering what they can do for a living now that manufacturing jobs have been replaced by service jobs. 

I invite you to see the children, parents, teachers, and leaders in this slide show, as they are the "heartbeat" of the programs. While their world shows the face of poverty, their spirits are resilient. They are warm, engaging, and willing to let you into their world.

What surprised me most was that these children did not look different from my own and the homes we visited did not look different from some homes in my community. In getting to the heart of the matter, my own heart has opened up to the value of giving to those in need so that they can have a fair playing field.  For now, it is time to translate these new insights from the "gemba" into results for children on the Save the Children organizational dashboard.