Measuring What Matters

What happens at your workplace when you ask to see the performance indicators? Do you get that deer-in-the headlights look? Maybe you are presented with a chart that has no goals overlaid on the data? Or do you get a spreadsheet with a thousand lines of data with a lot of green and red?

In each case, it would be hard for anyone to quickly determine the health of the organization and respond when things go bump in the night. Unfortunately, many organizations don't measure performance at all, or measure the wrong things, or measure too much. This leads to a lack of clarity and focus, and slows reaction time when issues arise.

In order for an organization to determine how well it's doing, it must measure its processes-and it is critical to measure what matters.

Imagine going to the hospital for minor surgery and afterward waking up with thousands of electrodes affixed to your body. You can hear dozens of beeps and pings, and can see a large screen with hundreds of measurements on it. If something were to go wrong, where would the doctor look first? Would your medical team have to decipher hundreds-or thousands-of data points, sounds and signals before they could treat you?

Fortunately for us, the medical world has gotten measuring "vital signs" down to a science. These measurements of a body's basic functions are taken to assess the general physical health of a person, give clues to possible diseases, and show progress toward recovery. They call them vital signs for a reason; they are the five to 10 measures that are critically important for the body to continue functioning.

Related Compete: Do Your Metrics...