What gets measured gets done

Corporate executives and heads of organizations and communities are too often disappointed by the performance of their management team and employees. The result is nearly always punitive retribution, firings, additional rules or some other form of negative reinforcement. What would-be leaders often fail to realize is that the very behavior that they find unacceptable is behavior that they are responsible for through the measurement systems they put in place.

No organization can afford to tolerate sub-standard performance. However, seemingly poor performance can often be correlated to the system or process that employees are working within. True Leaders take the time and effort to design corporate and personal performance measurement systems that are based on a BALANCED set of metrics, and then reward their employees based on the desirable BEHAVIORS and the positive OUTCOMES that result.

A classic example (but one that I have witnessed first hand) is measuring sales performance only (or primarily) on orders booked, without adequate regard to profitability, actual shipments or returns. The results?.. The Sales organization “hit their numbers” and therefore qualified for their incentive bonuses! How?.. By cramming as many new orders into the last fiscal quarter as possible. The unintended consequences of this lop-sided measurement system were: orders booked in the 4th quarter which were then cancelled in the first quarter of the new year; orders that undercut price to the extent that they were not profitable; artificially large orders which robbed volume from next year in order to meet this years quota; and a Customer Service department swamped with return authorizations in the new year. The impact of course was catastrophic, leading to a shortfall in profits, starting the new year with a deficit in sales and numerous low and mid-level sales people being fired (note not senior management.. but more on that later). These Sales professionals were for the most part honest people trying to do their jobs and make the company successful, as well as wanting to maximize their own compensation by doing what was asked of them.. SELL!!

Change is messy

Simply making change is easy. Living with the consequences of badly planned and managed change can often be gut wrenching and catastrophic. Making sustainable change that is consistent with an organizations vision, mission and core values is HARD WORK. But well worth paying the price on the front end vs. the MUCH higher price (with interest) on the back end of poorly executed change. Leaders MUST embrace change to keep their organizations viable and vibrant. Change from within relies on good planning, good communication, good consultation and good execution. Change from without, such as an unexpected market, regulatory or competitive shift, can also be managed successfully if Leadership keeps a cool head, and has prepared their organization to respond. The same vision, mission and core values can effectively guide a community (corporate, public, or non-profit) through and around obstacles and challenges that arise unexpectedly and must be dealt with quickly. True leaders know this and LEAD by sticking to these principles while making even the toughest decisions.

Primary Focus

I am traveling this week and not able to vote on Election Day tomorrow. So I went Saturday morning to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in downtown Cleveland to cast my absentee ballot. Thinking it would be a quick visit, I stopped by at 9:00 am to find a fairly long line out the building and onto the sidewalk on Euclid Avenue. My first reaction was “@#!&*!.. This is going to take forever! And I have a flight to catch…” However, committed to voting in this primary, I joined the line of other would-be voters on the sidewalk. As I moved through the line, into the building, through security and sign-in, into and other line in an overflow area, and ultimately to the second floor where the polling station was, I was struck by a number of things:

• The people in line: Mostly African American, cheerful, courteous, patient, and lots of them… willing to wait in line outside on a cold Saturday morning to cast their vote;
• The elections staff: Professional, courteous, respectful and committed to explaining the process to the voters and making it go smoothly and quickly, but most of all, accurately;
• The process: The line moved fairly quickly from outside to the overflow area inside, where voters were taken in groups of 12-15 upstairs to the polling area, where their were plenty of poll workers to help voters through the process. I had moved recently and had to take the extra step of filling out the provisional ballot information with my new address… piece of cake.

I’m glad I went. I’m glad I voted. You don’t have to look very far to see the imperfections in this democracy. But I would argue that imperfections are what make a democracy. Please exercise your right to vote.