The Four Gifts of Leadership: #4 - Hindsight

During the month of December each week I will be writing about one important gift of leadership that you can give your team in the year ahead.

Most teams and organizations have metrics, there’s nothing new there. We are predisposed to measure anything that moves in order to see its progress. Life and business are about change and momentum. Take a moment and think of your own metrics. The first things that come to mind are likely your financial markers and then your mind quickly moves to operational metrics. If you think about it long enough you’ll come up with a lengthy list of analytics that consume hours and hours of your team's time to track, distill, analyze and report.

But is it making a difference? You need to look back to move forward.

The purpose of metrics is to gauge our progress and success, two important indicators that your business or organization is on track. But is it? Are the metrics you’re religiously following giving you any indication that you’re moving the needle? What I find interesting is that our businesses grow and change as evidenced by an ever evolving business strategy or plan but often our metrics don't follow suit. 

Metrics, by their intent, are to keep us honest to our goals and objectives. But if we lose sight of our key strategic priorities our metrics become orphaned children screaming for our attention. The key here is to intentionally take stock of your current strategic priorities and then ensure the metrics are aligned. What are the four to six key deliverables that you need in order to be successful in the coming year? The end of the calendar year is an opportune time to spend some quiet time reflecting on what you need to accomplish to move forward. With that new clarity, it’s much easier to ask the question: “What indicators will tell me I’m accomplishing these key priorities?” These are the metrics that must be at the very top of your scorecard. 

Consider all your other metrics to be important but minor. They’ll give you an indication of quality, efficiency and operational health but they likely won’t tell you if you’re accomplishing your strategic goals. Those key metrics, the top four or six, will keep you honest and give you the gift of focus, that is, focus on what’s most important. If you lose sight of those priorities, at best your vision will become cloudy, at its worst you’ll start the slippery slide to irrelevance. 

So start with the end in mind, what are the top four to six things you need to accomplish next year. Then choose one metric to help you gauge the progress of each one. Write these down somewhere that is visible to everyone who walks into your office and don't be afraid to answer anyone who’s smart enough to ask: “What are those about”? 

This year, give your team the gift of hindsight, that creates clarity to move forward. That means, not only curating the correct set of metrics but leading an objective, blame-free discussion of your team or organization's performance. You are the linchpin to creating a culture of continuous improvement that allows everyone on your team to experience a work culture that thrives, challenges and grows.

Think about it. 

To learn more about the four gifts of leadership be sure to get your copy of Superpower: Release the Potential in your Team available on Amazon and all online book retailers