What Gets Measured Gets DONE!

The numbers matter and what gets measured gets done.

A business operates on its ability to measure the numbers. Everyone knows that financial statements reflect profit or loss and the health of an organization. Without this basic measurement a business would be operating blind.

In my career, I've had the opportunity to engage in a variety of high growth companies where I have had the role of creating or developing high performance teams. I've also worked in a variety of environments in need of crisis management.

Both environments can be highly stressful but I have had the ability to remain calm and focused while solving problems and taking on new challenges. Why? As with anything there are no quick fixes or simple answers but there are always tools and systems available which, when applied, can help drive success.

Here are a few of the lessons I've learned and tools I've used:

• Identify the challenge - Often, this simply means coming up with a hypothesis. It's easy to say that sales are flat and attribute this challenge to poor market conditions or some other random assertion. I've found you are much better off by looking at the whole picture and compiling all the reasons why you are facing a certain problem.
• Collect the data - Once you have your list of possible reasons for a challenge you can then go about collecting the qualitative and quantitative data. If sales are weak and your belief is that you're dealing with a tough market, dig into the economic data or research how many times your prospects have listed pricing as a concern. If the data then supports your initial theory you may have found your real problem and can begin to devise solutions. If the data does not support your initial theory you'll need to do some more digging
• Measure and trend the data - Once you have the hard data to support your theory of what the problem is you need to now measure how big of a problem you have, how long it's been a problem and how much longer you could have the problem if a viable solution is not found. Now, you can start to make a wise business decision.
• Identify solutions to mitigate your problem or challenge - Now that you have measured your problem you can now begin to create solutions to overcome it. Back to my example of weak sales. If your belief was that weak sales were a result of a weak market and found that the data supports this conclusion you can now create promotional strategies or financing options that can counter the objections. And by having the hard data available and the trending information available you can put these plans into place for the right amount of time as well.
• Know the numbers that support the solution -Before implementing a solution, define success in terms of the quantitative data that will spell success. Will it be a 5% uptick in revenue month-over-month? In increase in orders? More referrals?
• Measure the solution! This is perhaps the most important step of all. Business is an ever-changing environment. Therefore, even if the solution to your problem was spot on this month, it may be hurting your business in the next month if not measured on a regular basis with solid methodology. Many business miss this step and then miss opportunities or give away profit margin by making this critical mistake. A solution is not a solution until positive, sustainable results are attained.

The great news is that anything can be measured. Even qualitative data can be coded and grouped in a way that will help you spot trends, identify problems and create solutions.