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Measure What You Manage
It’s not a new concept. You’ve probably heard the saying “What you don’t measure, you can’t manage.”
Today about 70% of the Fortune 1000 companies use the balanced scorecard to help manage performance.
However, some businesses in the small to mid-market sectors either don’t manage enough – preferring erroneously to support a “family oriented atmosphere” that lacks team management accountability and leads to sub-par interpersonal relationships (family-like bickering) and lack of trust.
At the other extreme of leadership styles, some businesses foster an overwhelming lexicon of three-letter acronyms and reporting structures that become a burden for individuals and groups - a detractor from the focus on performance and service. Too much measuring can make work feel like prison.
Instead, smart, successful businesses use a more balanced approach and some even make it a game. The key is to develop a balanced, limited and meaningful set of a vital few measures – linking ONE for each important internal processes or strategic outcomes. And they should be specific. For example, if you wanted to use a measure to increases in deal flow prospecting, you could apply a specific “rating system” to identify “qualified” prospects and measure the number of 1st and 2nd meetings with qualified deal prospects.
A great example of a firm making this process engaging and effective as a “game” comes from one of the winners “The Best Places to Work in NYC (Crain’s New York). Teams get “points” based on properly entering billable hours into the time-tracking system. Then each “game-winning ” team is treated to a surprise reward. There is no directly “extra pay” for doing this – Dan Pink’s book “Drive” teaches us that after basic needs are met, additional pay is not always a motivator… instead the friendly competition and unknown reward keeps the productivity on this matter high, and the team aspect empowers people to manage themselves and each other, rather than needing extra management attention from above.
In other words - whatever results you want to achieve, make a game of it and make sure to have a reasonable easy to use scorecard and a willingness to treat the matter as a “playing a game to win” rather than a rigid, serious problem to solve.
Napoleon Hill says, "Action is the real measure of intelligence." What about you – what are you trying to accomplish and what means of measurement and tracking can you “right size” to make a difference in your productivity, profitability and engagement. To hear some ideas, listen here:
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By Jonathan FlaksIt’s not a new concept. You’ve probably heard the saying “What you don’t measure, you can’t manage.”
Today about 70% of the Fortune 1000 companies use the balanced scorecard to help manage performance.
However, some businesses in the small to mid-market sectors either don’t manage enough – preferring erroneously to support a “family oriented atmosphere” that lacks team management accountability and leads to sub-par interpersonal relationships (family-like bickering) and lack of trust.
At the other extreme of leadership styles, some businesses foster an overwhelming lexicon of three-letter acronyms and reporting structures that become a burden for individuals and groups - a detractor from the focus on performance and service. Too much measuring can make work feel like prison.
Instead, smart, successful businesses use a more balanced approach and some even make it a game. The key is to develop a balanced, limited and meaningful set of a vital few measures – linking ONE for each important internal processes or strategic outcomes. And they should be specific. For example, if you wanted to use a measure to increases in deal flow prospecting, you could apply a specific “rating system” to identify “qualified” prospects and measure the number of 1st and 2nd meetings with qualified deal prospects.
A great example of a firm making this process engaging and effective as a “game” comes from one of the winners “The Best Places to Work in NYC (Crain’s New York). Teams get “points” based on properly entering billable hours into the time-tracking system. Then each “game-winning ” team is treated to a surprise reward. There is no directly “extra pay” for doing this – Dan Pink’s book “Drive” teaches us that after basic needs are met, additional pay is not always a motivator… instead the friendly competition and unknown reward keeps the productivity on this matter high, and the team aspect empowers people to manage themselves and each other, rather than needing extra management attention from above.
In other words - whatever results you want to achieve, make a game of it and make sure to have a reasonable easy to use scorecard and a willingness to treat the matter as a “playing a game to win” rather than a rigid, serious problem to solve.
Napoleon Hill says, "Action is the real measure of intelligence." What about you – what are you trying to accomplish and what means of measurement and tracking can you “right size” to make a difference in your productivity, profitability and engagement. To hear some ideas, listen here: