SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 150,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each Tuesday in our e-newsletter.
Last week we asked: What is your organization’s approach to metrics?
- We measure a handful of key metrics to achieve some degree of focus: 48%
- We measure everything and anything, but we lack focus: 28%
- We don’t measure anything rigorously — it’s all ad hoc or not measured at all: 14%
- We measure one or two key metrics rigorously and in a focused way: 10%
The old adage “you can’t manage what you can’t measure” cuts both ways. It seems 60% of you have a good balance between rigorous management and focus. You’re achieving this by measuring the most important metrics and not worrying about the rest. For those who don’t measure at all, pick two to four key metrics and track them consistently. You might learn something from the results. For those of you in analysis paralysis, take a long, hard look at that plethora of metrics and ask yourself which ones really matter. Keep measuring those and ditch the rest. Spend your new-found free time managing the business instead of measuring it.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of ThoughtLeaders.