I’m guessing most all of those who read this haven’t been, aren’t and won’t ever be Olympic athletes. (If you are please leave a comment I’d love to know!) I’m also guessing with about the same level of certainty that you have watched, heard about or read about at least some of the Olympic activities over the past few days.
Here is my biggest lesson so far.
Everything is measured.
Of course the timing is kept, the judging scores are kept too – these are obvious. But split times, travel times, temperatures at snow level, snow amounts, speeds, and MUCH more are also measured and kept.
Before you dismiss this with a profound and loud DUH, think again.
Yes, the nature of the work of these athletes has measurement involved, but so does your business.
Yes they measure lots of things, and maybe it seems easier to measure what they do. Perhaps that is true, but it doesn’t change the fact that they measure and they keep score, of everything.
AND they are world class; don’t you want to be too?
We often read that what doesn’t get measured doesn’t get done (I believe this is generally true). And we read that we can’t measure everything that is important (I also believe this is generally true). When confronted with these two views, too many of us (me included too often), justify our lack of measurement and gauging of progress to the “you can’t measure everything camp.”
I’m becoming more convinced that few of us measure enough, and perhaps don’t measure the right things.
As I look at my work as a business owner, leader, consultant, coach, trainer, speaker and writer, I can clearly come up with more measures than I currently use. And my own experience shows that as I measure more and compete against those measures (do you hear accountability?), I get better results.
Here are five quick measures I could (and shall) employ specifically as it relates to my writing role.
- How long does it take me to write an email followup sequence? (get a baseline and then beat it).
- How long does it take me to write a typical blog post? (depends on if I find a picture, but typically about 15 minutes – but I don’t have a good enough handle on it yet).
- How long does it take for me to write an issue of our newsletter, Unleash Your Remarkable Potential?
- How long does it take me to write a handout, MAP or Review Tool for members of The Remarkable Leadership Learning System? (each is different, and at least one of them needs to be tightened up)
- How many words can I write in an hour or a day, when working on a longer writing project?
These are some of my personal examples, and likely most or none will be applicable to you. I did this on purpose.
As a leader you must determine those measures most important for you.
All that is at stake is greater success for you and your organization.
This post has me thinking, which I love to do. Thanks for the inspiration and best of work to you as you tighten/define your five.
Kevin,
You’re so right. It’s too easy for us to just say, “I don’t know what or how to measure so we take the easy road and don’t measure anything.” When in fact, any measurement will lead to improved performance – no matter what it is we’re measuring.
I’ll spend the next few days thinking about what I can measure and how to do it. Then I’ll start. Updates in the weeks ahead,
Brian
Thanks Christie, I appreciate it, and Brian, we’ll look forward to your updates, as well as the updates of other readers as well. 🙂
I’ve written an article for my newsletter on Monday, and that article will post here monday morning, that gives more Olympic lessons, and challenge for all of us.
Kevin 🙂
The “oh” moment for me with measuring was when I let myself give less than perfect metrics to start. Being an Engineer, I want to get it “right” and would analyze it to death – and never do it!
But I discovered that I didn’t need it to be “right”. Just start by picking something quickly that’s easy to measure and plan to re-evaluate. Sometimes that’s coming up with a proxy or a small sampling. I’m often surprised at how much it shows for every little effort.
Hi; This is great to think about. Right now I have had all my procrastinations come to a head because I didn’t take all the measurements I should and could have. Partly because I didn’t want to, partly because I wasn’t sure what information would be most helpful to have and partly because I never and still don’t have the time.
Over the past few months I have really started paying attention to the measurments and being in retail I am getting more depressed. For every good one there seems to be two bad…. What steps can I take to improve my business? What things do I have to leave behind/change/carry forward? These are the measurments I now have to find. Any suggestions would certainly help.
You mention measures. That is good for downhill or speed skating. But in writing, it may be more like figure skating, and there is a quality measure of how good it is, not just that it was done quickly. I’m not a writer, so I don’t have a proposed measurement. But if the quality isn’t good, I won’t come back to a web site, blog, etc.
Great comments everyone. First, Julia, you are right, better to start than not. Get started and adjust as needed. As a mentor of mine says, “good is good enough.” Which leads me to Bob’s point. Without a doubt, quality matters, and inside of my time measures are an assumption of quality (though I’m not saying there won’t ever be a typo missed, I do expect to provide great value or my fingers shouldn’t hit the keyboard to start!)
Valeria – in this forum I can’t get into great depth, but in short, my suggestion is, get really clear on your end goals and which ofthose are mosst important, then create measurements backwards that lead you to those goals.
If you want to talk more about it, send me an email (info@kevineikenberry.com) and we’ll see how we can help.
I learned long ago that “what gets measured, gets done”. I teach weight loss and wellness. Little things like a pedometer and a daily log really make a difference. Sometimes we don’t measure, because we don’t want to see it.
I know what to do, but if I’m not following the “measure”, I can blur the activity and subsequent results.
The Olympics are a clear, in your face, visual of persistence, dedication, focus, and coaching. I love the pursuit of excellence!