Measuring Progress
One of the things that I enjoy doing most is working with others to build businesses. Lots of things go into doing that. Customer service, meetings, sales calls, financial projections, negotiations, quoting new jobs, travel, technology challenges, and responding to emails all come to mind – and each of these things may occur in just a single day. In short, there can be a dizzying, complex and exhausting array of activities required to build a business.
But wait… At the week’s end, when we are so beat that we can hardly make it to happy hour and we’re still certain that we’re nowhere close to checking everything off the list, how do we know if we are actually getting the most important goals accomplished? It’s surprising when you think about it, but given your schedule and mine, it’s easy to go a week, months or even a year without measuring our progress.
Unacceptable… and Dangerous!
Whatever it is that you are intent on achieving is measurable. You’ve got a revenue, fundraising, fitness or savings goal; a grade point average target or a project deadline. These things are measurable. BUT, if we’re not careful we can become so busy that we lose sight of the goal. That’s risky. If you lose sight of where you are going, any bumpy road will take you there.
So we’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to find a way to keep ourselves reminded and focused on our goals. And we need tools to help us. I can think of several that might help. Budgets and financial statements are great tools, as are journals, check book registers, report cards and work plans. KPI’s (key performance indicators), OGSM’s (objectives, goals, strategies and metrics) or GAM’s (goals, actions, and metrics) and task lists can also help. But, one of my favorites is a simple sales pipeline report.
Using a simple spreadsheet you can track people, dates, comments, dollars, and clients; easily updating each category and sorting as needed for whatever purpose. When I worked as a sales manager I insisted that all sales representatives update their pipelines each week. Reviewing this data gave me a good sense of how we were tracking towards budget, when things were really running behind schedule and what projects I should jump into to help get closed. The data included in the pipeline kept me and my teammates focused on the most important goal – Closing The Deal.
All of us get up each morning and roll out of the bed for a purpose. That purpose is measurable. Let’s not be so busy that that we rob ourselves of the satisfaction of accomplishment. Measure your work. Be diligent about it, insist on it and enjoy it. Give yourself that gift of knowing when you are not progressing (so you can fix it) and of knowing when things are on schedule (so you can relax a bit).
Dreaming big is easy. Without metrics it can be tough to be sure that you are executing.
