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How To Ask For Measures That Matter
You sit before the monthly report and you contemplate whether it’s the best use of your time to paw through the pages to check if there’s anything useful in there for you. Past experience tells you that the report is full of many measures graphed in all their splendor, but virtually none of them pique your interest, help you make the decisions you barely have time to give enough thought to as it is... How can you make your measures more like adrenlin and less like anaesthetic?
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Document Transcript:
How To Ask For Measures That Matter
by Stacey Barr, the Performance Measure Specialist
You sit before the monthly report, which might be an inch or so thick, and you contemplate whether it's
the best use of your time to paw through the pages to check if there's anything useful in there for you.
Past experience tells you that the report is full of many measures graphed in all their splendor, but
virtually none of them pique your interest, help you make the decisions you barely have time to give
enough thought to as it is...
How can you make your measures more like adrenlin and less like anaesthetic?
y Grab a BIG red marker and cross out every measure or chart or section that you all but never read,
get any insight from or value. Be ruthless!
y Ponder the questions or decisions you need the report to inform. Write them down. Now match the
contents of the report to the question or decision and see where the gaps (information that is
lacking) are and where the waste is (information that is wasting time and energy and space).
y Go one step further than writing down your questions or decisions, and write down the RESULTS
you're trying to create in your organisation. Great measures always begin with a clear
understanding of what you're trying to achieve.
y Be brave because often the most powerful measures don't throw a positive light on things. Be
prepared to face facts, and make sure your staff know this too, so they don't fear the consequences
of being messengers of bad news.
y Talk to the team that produces the report, and let them know the questions you have. Let them help
you consider and choose the measures or information that will help you. If you jump the gun and
tell them the measures you want, without the reason for those measures, there's every chance you
won't get what you really want.
It's not rocket science. It's just about being more conscious of that link between the decisions you need
to make and the information you use to inform them.
about the author
Stacey Barr is the Performance Measure Specialist, helping people to measure their business strategy,
goals and objectives so they actually achieve them.
Sign up for Stacey's free ezine at www.staceybarr.com to receive your complimentary copy of her e-
book "202 Tips for Performance Measurement", and get more control over the destiny of your business.
reprinting this article
Please feel welcomed to reprint this article in your publication but make sure it stays complete and
unchanged (especially including the "about the author" information at the end), and please send a copy
of your reprint to staceybarr@staceybarr.com.
by Stacey Barr, the Performance Measure Specialist
You sit before the monthly report, which might be an inch or so thick, and you contemplate whether it's
the best use of your time to paw through the pages to check if there's anything useful in there for you.
Past experience tells you that the report is full of many measures graphed in all their splendor, but
virtually none of them pique your interest, help you make the decisions you barely have time to give
enough thought to as it is...
How can you make your measures more like adrenlin and less like anaesthetic?
y Grab a BIG red marker and cross out every measure or chart or section that you all but never read,
get any insight from or value. Be ruthless!
y Ponder the questions or decisions you need the report to inform. Write them down. Now match the
contents of the report to the question or decision and see where the gaps (information that is
lacking) are and where the waste is (information that is wasting time and energy and space).
y Go one step further than writing down your questions or decisions, and write down the RESULTS
you're trying to create in your organisation. Great measures always begin with a clear
understanding of what you're trying to achieve.
y Be brave because often the most powerful measures don't throw a positive light on things. Be
prepared to face facts, and make sure your staff know this too, so they don't fear the consequences
of being messengers of bad news.
y Talk to the team that produces the report, and let them know the questions you have. Let them help
you consider and choose the measures or information that will help you. If you jump the gun and
tell them the measures you want, without the reason for those measures, there's every chance you
won't get what you really want.
It's not rocket science. It's just about being more conscious of that link between the decisions you need
to make and the information you use to inform them.
about the author
Stacey Barr is the Performance Measure Specialist, helping people to measure their business strategy,
goals and objectives so they actually achieve them.
Sign up for Stacey's free ezine at www.staceybarr.com to receive your complimentary copy of her e-
book "202 Tips for Performance Measurement", and get more control over the destiny of your business.
reprinting this article
Please feel welcomed to reprint this article in your publication but make sure it stays complete and
unchanged (especially including the "about the author" information at the end), and please send a copy
of your reprint to staceybarr@staceybarr.com.
