How often have your heard someone say that what they do defies measurement? Join the Wily Manager guys this week, as they talk about how to measure the seemingly unmeasurable. This will be of particular interest if you are one of the many millions of people involved in service businesses.
Monday’s Tip: Identify Desired Results. Even if you work in the deep depths of the Ministry of Excessive Bureaucracy, there is some reason you are there – what is it?
Tuesday’s Tip: Ask what would happen if you stopped. If you unsure of what your outcomes are, what would happen if you stopped doing what you do? Who would notice? What would the impact be on them?
Wednesday’s Tip: Identify actions, behaviors and activities that you think generate outcomes. Sometimes we need to measure those things and processes we believe lead us to results. How are you doing at those things?
Thursday’s Tip: Use Descriptive Statements when hard measures are illusive. A well articulated description of the desired results when compared to the result you are producing can often be more useful than a hard measure.
Friday’s Tip: Don’t let your measures overwhelm your organization. Metrics are only useful if they help improve the business, and enable better decision – otherwise, they are a waste of time.