Glance-able

With your head down, focused on the beautiful complexity, busy with the day-to-day, out and about in the world, getting things done – how do you know the ship is still heading in the right direction?

There are any number of metrics that try to make sense of a steady-state business. Sales calls, pipeline value, order volume, production numbers, productivity numbers, acid-test ratio, cash at bank, revenue, profit. At a departmental or personal level, as many more ways as there are managers to invent them and staff to be managed.

Amongst all that noise, which is the one clear signal that gives the earliest indicator of a change in the wind?

It’s not revenue, not a results based metric.

It’s an input.

A beginning of things.

A blunt number that shows, at-a-glance, that this day or month or quarter or year is going to be ok. New enquiries, page views, trials started, requests to tender, cars parked, rooms booked, email responses.

The one metric that holds the promise of all the others. What is it?

Skippy Strategy: The more complex and steady-state a business, the easier it to get lost in the woods. Find the one number, in amongst the trees, that marks the path for all the others. Make it glance-able. Pay attention to the dips.

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Category:
Measuring