What Should We Measure?

There is an old management adage… “If we can measure it, we can understand it”.  This is broadly true.  Certainly if we don’t measure, we find it hard to assess or judge. So. if we want to improve effectiveness and productivity, what should we measure?

There is one basic answer to this.  We should measure what is important – those things that contribute to the achievement of corporate goals.  (One might suggest that if we are doing things that do not add to corporate goals, then Why?). These are the things that are important.

We should not be measuring employee time – how long they are at work is irrelevant.  It is what they do, and the degree to which this does contribute to corporate goals.  So we measure task completion, outputs and outcomes – not inputs or activity. This is, of course, not just about quantity of output – but quality and consistency as well.

These corporate goals should be cascaded down throughout the organisation, being translated at each stage or level into language and concepts which are understood by the employees at those various levels.

We should take care that tracking outputs and outcomes does not impose a burden on employees which lowers completion rates.  The measurement should, as far as possible, be automatic, derived from something which is already measured as pert of the existing process.

Managerial control should then focus on the (translated) goals. Employees should not be micromanaged. Employees should be aware of what is being measured and tracked – and why.  If they truly understand the goals and targets, and the importance of their contribution to the overall process, motivation should be inherent, not externally imposed.

So, we  measure contribution to corporate goals at each level and in time frames that allow actions to be taken to adjust underperformance and errors. We communicate these measures and associated targets openly and fully – reporting data in easily digestible formats- preferably visually.

Everyone should understand how their job/role contributes to the overfall process, why it is important and how they as an individual or team  are performing in terms of meeting agreed targets.