How’s that for a clickbait title?
Metrics are important but they aren’t overly important. Several outcomes are more important than hitting metrics.
To illustrate, a US Congressional inquiry identified Boeing leadership’s emphasis of delivery timelines and productivity as a cause of the 737 Max tragedies. Another infamous example of misapplied metrics is the emphasis on body count to indicate the United States’ progress in the Vietnam War. These are gruesome examples and senseless deaths aren’t always the result of misused metrics, but missing the “why behind the what” leads to plenty of conflict in an organization.
Here is an outcome hierarchy to consider:
Purpose
Vision/Mission
Strategic Approach
Tactical Action Plan
Metrics
Notice that metrics are last in the hierarchy. This is because metrics SUPPORT higher order outcomes. By itself, achieving metrics is valueless, possibly even tragic.
Going through the hierarchy in order…
Purpose is the reason for being or the “why.” It has the power to bring the best out of people and can bring profound meaning to work.
Vision and Mission capture what winning will look like for the organization. Logically, these need to be connected to purpose. Some like to separate vision and mission but end up struggling to do so. In the end, what’s important is having a compelling description of what winning looks like for the organization.
The Strategic Approach describes how winning will happen. By its nature, strategy requires choices and associated tradeoffs. It’s been said “pick a side of the road or get hit by traffic coming both ways” and “one butt can’t ride two horses.” Optimization is always a good idea, but optimization is not strategy.
Tactical Action Plans describe who does what by when and with what resources. This sets up execution and ideally derives from the strategic approach. Keep in mind that strategy without execution is useless and execution without strategy is reckless. Another way to think of it is that strategy is aiming and execution is pulling the trigger. Handling strategy and tactics separately leads to trouble.
Metrics become the scoreboard that indicates whether the plan is being executed, and whether the plan is the right one. Working back up the hierarchy, metrics determine whether the plan is being executed and delivering against the strategy. Executed strategies lead to realization of the vision, mission, and purpose. Suddenly, there is rich meaning to work with results that match.
Organizations certainly exist without these outcomes defined or with disconnects between them. But is that any fun?
Outside eyes will help in putting the outcome hierarchy in place…