Measure the Right Things

Peter Drucker famously said "What gets measured gets done." Have you noticed how true that is?

As high performance leaders we must take care to measure the right things because if we measure (and reward) the wrong things, we'll get more of what we don't want. What we want are the results of our goals. What we want are positive experiences for our customers and profitability for our organization.

In any environment there are things worth measuring and things better left unmeasured. If we want to create a collaborative team that is energized by working well together, we need to measure levels of cooperation, NOT levels of competition. Don't set up a contest that forces your team members to compete against each other if you expect them to help each other. Don't reward people who do the most of anything unless that anything can be fairly accomplished.

Keeping score doesn't guarantee that you're counting the right things.

What you measure should impact your organization positively in one or more of these six areas:

Increasing Revenue
Reducing Expenses
Increasing Customer Happiness
Increasing Team Member Happiness
Operating in Compliance with the Law
Acting with Social Responsibility

If your score keeping thwarts any of those efforts, you are likely counting the wrong things.

What is your team's most important measure? As a leader, how are you energizing results in that area?

-- Doug Smith

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