Do Operations Improve When Measured?

Focusing on KPIs—KEY performance indicators—helps you to zoom in on the data that matters most. There are a hundred ways you can look at your data; KPIs offer a bit of compromise. These are the numbers that matter to you today, right now. In other words, it’s a tool to help you tune out the white noise and zero in on the highlights.

A fact-based gauge of improvement

Take a look at the facts, and step away from the emotion. You may have your heart and soul in your business’ sales pipeline. In fact, you may feel that those leads are so close to signing on the dotted line. It may seem that an average enterprise account takes 90 days to close. Or, you may be a marketer who is hearing good feedback on a new paid search campaign.
Whelp. The facts—the data—may have a different story to tell. And any numbers geek will be the first to say that numbers don’t lie. The numbers give you the ability to take a breath and see what’s truly happening today, last year, last month. They give the ability to look ahead to the future, too, to predict what’s coming around the corner.
Sure, count on your intuition. But stay grounded in the truth.

Drive accountability across your entire business.

This is the real kicker. The numbers aren’t meant to be hidden away in any one person’s back pocket. For a real business to operate with speed and efficiency, they’ve got to be shared and cascaded down the line.
It’s a simple concept: share the KPIs that matter most to every person in every team. And take off the blinders to the rest of the business by allowing everyone to see what’s happening, in or out of their department.

This is where the real innovation and collaboration begins. Because the KPIs serve as a single version of truth to spark teamwork, improvement and growth at every level.

No doubt, Peter Drucker would approve.