The basic question to ask ourselves here is, “How would you know it if you tripped over it?”
There is far too much going on in terms of “feeling confident” or “clarifying” or “believing.” But you don’t know that those are not proper indicators. You wouldn’t know them if you tripped over them. (The only way you know that I’m more confident is that I ask you fewer questions, confront buyers with better rebuttals, speak up forcefully at meetings, and so forth.)
The measures of success will underscore the direct role that your contributions have played in reaching the objectives.
There can be more than one metric for a given objective:
- Objective: Increase repute in the community.
- Measures:
- Increased, positive coverage in local media.
- Local service club bestows accolades and awards.
- Higher levels of local, highly qualified job candidates.
Glossary
Metrics are indicators of progress or success, which anyone can use to determine that key goals have been reached. They reside in observed behavior and/or evidence in the environment.
Some of the questions you can ask include:
- How will you know we’ve accomplished your intent?
- How, specifically, will the operation be different when we’re done?
- How will you measure this?
- What indicators will you use to assess our progress?
- Who or what will report on our results (against the objectives)?
- Do you already have measures in place that you intend to apply?
- What is the rate of return (on sales, investment, etc.) that you seek?
- How will we know how the public, employees, and/or customers perceive it?
- Each time we talk, what standard will tell us we’re progressing?
- How would you know it if you tripped over it?
Some metrics are anecdotal, not scientific. That’s okay, as long as you and the buyer agree on who is doing the measuring and how. For example, a divisional general manager sought greater team collaboration with fewer turf battles. When I asked how he’d know this was accomplished, he told me, “I won’t be seeing warring factions every day in my office for whom I have to serve as referee.”
That was good enough for me and for him.
Metrics are vital during the project so that there are early indications of anyone falling behind. That way you can alert your buyer, who has the real clout and authority, that some attitudes and behaviors require changing. “You and I agreed that a key metric was that all five service areas embraced the new technology by April 1, but as of March 15, the call center has not had one person attend any meetings and the manager has not returned calls. You need to change his attitude about this.”
A professor at the University of Wisconsin posited four levels of measurement in 1959:
1. Reactions of learners.
2. Increased knowledge of learners.
3. Behavioral change of learners.
4. Results of the behavioral changes.
HR people still speak about this as if it’s the Holy Grail more than a half-century later, and training magazines quote it as scripture. Unfortunately, it was superficial and academic in 1959, and it still is today. The only measure that matters is improved results—an improved client condition, in this case represented by objectives met and validated by key metrics. Those metrics are, in turn, based on empirical evidence in the environment that can be readily identified.
Here’s another way to view the evidence you need:
Beliefs—Enlightened self-interest
Attitudes—Normative pressure
Behaviors—Coercion
We tend to “whack” bad behaviors, but that only lasts as long as the whacker has a larger stick and is present. We tend to try to sway attitudes through normative pressure (“be one of the in crowd”), but such entreaties are inconsistent and opinion is fickle.
Only through addressing enlightened self-interest can we prompt belief and attitude changes that will be reflected in behavior changes, which produce new results. Therefore, most projects will include elements on achieving commitment, and not merely compliance (whack), and will be measured by an improved resultant client condition.
Try not to choose metrics (or objectives) that specify a level of performance, for example, a 3 percent margin improvement or six new customers per month. In- stead, create movement in the right direction: Maximize the margins as measured by the profit per customer improving, and maximize new customers per sales- person as measured by additional signed contracts monthly.
Note that metrics and objectives may sometimes overlap and resemble each other. You may have an objective of “12 new accounts,” but I’d rather see “improvement in number of new accounts” as measured by monthly registrations. There are too many variables outside of your control to commit to specific numbers. The key is to arrive at a range in the objectives step that pleases the buyer (conceptual agreement) and to take the conservative end of that range.
Sometimes, “success” is years away, for example, “create a European operation within the next five years.” Your contribution may only be for a portion of that time. But your metrics will cover the elements essential during your tenure—hiring five European account managers, translating materials into the six major languages, and so forth.