It’s said that history is written by the victors. So too a lot of leadership stories are written by the successful, and therefore miss half the truth. Looking at our failures is important too.
Performance measurement can be misunderstood – it’s not a neutral activity.
What performance we measure can be highly influenced by what we are good at, and more importantly, what we’re not good at.
A recent survey found that only 55% of companies use data to improve efficiency and rely on it to predict changes and outcomes. Forty-seven percent are using data to improve interactions with their customers.
Why so low?
At BalancedKaizen we have a view. Lack of measurement is not due to lack of ability to appreciate numbers, rather it can be due to lack of confidence, or even lack of success.
If I’m not good at something, and I have the choice, why remind myself by measuring and tracking my failures?
More importantly, why remind my boss if I can possibly avoid it?
Did you ever have a poor result at school and didn’t want to tell your parents? Do you think that behavior changes at work?
Good leaders realize this, both for themselves and for the teams reporting to them.
A key role of leadership is to carefully decide what gets measured and make sure those measures are tracked and shared, regardless of whether the results are positive or not.
The most important measures are often those you don’t want to see.
“If I’m not good at something, why remind myself?”
Secondly, a leader’s reaction to poor results is key.
Good leaders realize that poor results are part of life, and respond in a way that encourages getting to the cause of those results, not attacking individuals or personalizing or humiliating.
Apart from the pain inflicted on people, attacking the individual shifts the focus away from the problem, and discourages honest discussion, therefore limiting learning.
What you measure, and how you respond to results are key leadership traits.
Choose your measures carefully, they can help you perform or cover up your weaknesses.
Do you measure the right things? Or the comfortable things?