Measure to succeed, not to do

This week as I checked my reading list, I came across one of those blog posts about measurement that asserted that if something is not worth measuring, it is not worth doing. This is another take on the "what we measure, we do" mantra. I always have a problem with these assertions. As I have written before, do you measure how you look after your family? Do you count the meals, the trips to school, the time spent with children to evaluate effectiveness?

So it was refreshing to read a different take on measurement by Steve Denning on his Forbes Rethink blog called Why is the world run by bean counters? Well worth consideration.

I was particularly struck by this thought of Steve's:

It’s not that counting is wrong. Counting is good. We desperately need to know what’s working and what isn't. The problem with the bean counters is what’s being counted. It’s a focus on solely counting things, rather than dimensions of life related to people. It’s perfectly possible to measure dimensions like client delight and employee satisfaction, but the bean counters focus solely on counting the beans.

Try measuring what we achieve, what we learn, how we've grown: - measurements that can motivate, recognise and reward.

Organisations should be measuring achievement. Are we reaching our goals, are we moving forward, are we still innovating and delighting our clients. We don’t have the resources and the time to spend on measuring everything we do. Do you really want to measure every meeting, every memo, every communication, every operation you undertake?

Testing actions for effectiveness and continuing worth, undertaking performance evaluations and measuring particular programs can be worthwhile, but they should not be overdone or become the central measurements for your business.