8 Measures For Greater Leadership Success

Tuesday 25 October, 2011

by Kevin Eikenberry

Measurement. It’s something that we all know is important for anyone who is managing a team or business. While we've all heard, and likely repeated "What gets measured gets done", sometimes, when we get past the basic things we must measure - like the financials, and perhaps some safety numbers - we fall short in this area. Learn 8 things leaders should measure to encourage new expectations and behaviours in themselves and others.

By the way, if the idea of metrics and measuring things makes you think about statistics, fear not! My suggestions don't require multivariate analysis or a scientific calculator; you'll only need a pen and paper and the ability to observe and count.
First, some of the things you want more of:

1. Positive feedback
   
   Start with yourself. How often are you finding specific, important things to give people positive feedback about (and then giving that feedback)?  Research tells us repeatedly that most people don't receive much or any positive feedback at work. You have control over that with your team. Once you feel like you are getting better in this area (which measuring will tell you), then you can begin measuring that with others around you.
   
2. Mistakes you hear about
   
   You heard me correctly. I want you to count mistakes, and that is a good thing. Of course we don't want mistakes that cause injuries or break the law. I'm talking about the kinds of honest mistakes made in pursuit of organisational goals.  If you aren't hearing about mistakes, people either aren't trying anything new or are hiding their mistakes from you. Neither of these are things you want. How many mistakes are you hearing about?
   
3. Resistance
   
   And why do I want more resistance, you ask? Don't I have enough of that already? Maybe you do, but measuring it will help you think about it more carefully. Look at it this way: do you want people to openly and honestly challenge ideas? Do you want a serious discussion of opinions? This is the resistance you want to measure. It is a not-so-indirect measure (as are others on this list) of organisational trust. Besides would you rather have healthy resistance or passive apathy?
   
4. Laughter
   
   Listen in your offices and hallways. How often do you hear laughter?  Laughter is a powerful social lubricant and an indicator of both healthy relationships and healthy emotional balance. Measuring (counting, ok?) the number of times you hear laughter in your work environment is an indicator of organisational and personal health.
   
5. Celebrations
   
   Do you have planned and spontaneous celebrations? This ranges from the planned kind to the quick hallway high fives for something going well. How often does your team celebrate?

And now some things you hope, over time, to have less of:

1. Cynicism
   
   Consider this resistance with a negative spin. You know the difference between a healthy exchange of opinions and people simply tossing cold water on people (and ideas). How often do you hear things like "It will never work", "That's a dumb idea" and a hundred other forms of cynicism? It is worth measuring to determine how healthy it is.
   
2. Gossip
   
   The last time I checked, there was no such thing as positive gossip. Keep track of how often you hear gossip in your workplace. And recognise this is a not-so-indirect measure of how open the communication is in your organisation. After all, when people know what is happening, there is no reason to gossip, is there? And if the gossip is about other people, you are getting a measurement of relationship health. Both are measures worth tracking.
   
3. Surprises
   
   While there are certainly good surprises, you know what I am talking about here. When people are sharing progress, good or bad, there are seldom surprises. But when results occur, it is hard to hide. A lot of surprises indicate poor overall communication and perhaps trust issues between people. You might, therefore, want to track when you are surprised and when others are surprised as well.

Measuring things helps us know the status of, track progress of, and put focus on important indicators in our business - hence the wisdom in that phrase, "what gets measured gets done".  When you choose to measure new things, even in less than rigorous ways, you create new expectations and new behaviours.
What from the above list, or that the above list inspires for you, will you begin measuring today?

Source:ceoonline.com