Prove It!

CHAPTER 11 START NOW: EVIDENCE-BASED LEADERSHIP STARTS AT THE TOP

Measurement is the most practical way to start the journey to a high-performance organisation. Measuring what matters (and doing it properly, as early chapters discuss) shifts the way people think about:

• performance
• their contribution to the organisation
• why they come to work each day.

I see it happen all the time. Executive teams routinely say to me that the conversation to re-articulate their direction in measurable terms is one of the best conversations they've had — a conversation they should have had years ago. Operational staff say they feel excited about their new measures, and that for the first time they can see a bigger reason for coming to work — bigger than their job and bigger than themselves. Start the journey to high performance with measurement, because it's really not about the numbers. It's about the way we see and appreciate and connect ourselves with what high performance is all about.

Dean Spitzer talks about organisational performance like no-one else I know. His book, Transforming Performance Measurement, is a classic. My copy has highlighter on every other page, but one of the most powerful things he has to say is this:

The key to success is MEASUREMENT. Measurement done right can transform your organization … measurement is fundamental to high performance, improvement, and, ultimately, success in business, or in any other area of human endeavor.

Know that you only need to decide to take ...