Metrics Matter

Metrics are the heartbeat of your business - are you in the game or just taking up space? Are your numbers healthy? Which numbers make a difference?

Over the years, I have never been much of a metrics person. Increasing market share was the main goal by focusing on customer and product mix. I have been working in strategic planning for 35 years, and metrics are the name of the game! We started pulling metrics into the strategic planning process (basic numbers, smart numbers, and critical numbers) to give us a mark in the sand to measure if the strategic plan is taking us in the right direction.

We have over 200 metrics we typically use in companies. Metrics are used to change focus, sharpen the game, reward a team, compare teams, fine-tune a process, create a process, identify a problem, identify what’s working or not working, to identify whether to turn left or right. We use them for performance reviews, communicating success, developing training needs, and allocating more or fewer resources. We can determine velocity, energy, and intensity to change results.

People need to see if their actions are making a difference weekly, monthly, and quarterly. Metrics are used for accountability and to show where we need to adjust the plan. People (knowledge and skills) play more of a role than ever in developing and executing a strategy, making metrics more critical. We can collect data faster than ever before; we can identify leading indicators that tell us if our behavior or our doingness will give us the results we expect.

We have a more educated workforce than ever before. They are technology-savvy and data-savvy, and if the numbers aren’t coming in immediately the way they are expected, the younger generation is quick to make adjustments. The older generation can’t hold them back, waiting for the numbers to change, improve, or be different. The younger generation will disengage because they know how to drive change in the numbers if we tell them what results we are trying to get.

On the other hand, I have some companies that still need to figure out what data runs their companies. Therefore they don’t have clarity on what needs to change to get the desired results. I often hear them say we need to work harder and smarter. I follow with, “Work smarter at what, and how much harder do we need to push?”

With metrics, your strategic plan is a good use of time. Go to the metric link and select five new metrics for your company; select metrics that can only be obtained when people work together to make the results happen. Make a contest with metrics followed by a celebration, then change the metrics for the next quarter! Make metrics fun; let the teams create metrics to drive company growth.

What metrics do you have that measure innovation? Is it one metric or a combination of metrics to make innovation happen?