Ultimate Performance: Measuring Human Resources at Work

More and Better Performance Metrics Must Be Developed

Sabermetrics. It’s a great word. No doubt a consulting firm would be using the term had not baseball already laid claim to it. Sabermetrics is the search for objective knowledge about baseball using mathematical and statistical analysis. Yes, after a century and a half, new metrics have been developed for this, the most measured of our pastimes.

Performance metrics are also about the search for objective knowledge using mathematical and statistical analyses. Baseball metrics help team management to make the best decisions about players and ultimately optimize the team’s performance. While most organizations are more complex than a baseball team, a primary purpose of performance metrics is the same: to make the best resourcing decisions in order to optimize organizational performance.

There are no baseball metrics for strategy, player management practices, or player engagement. Even before sabermetrics, baseball statistics have always measured performance outcomes or results, as should any organization’s performance statistics. Performance metrics should be associated with measurable objectives. You can’t—and shouldn’t try to—measure strategy or practices or engagement.

You’d think that the baseball stats that we’ve been using for generations have to be the best, but the data supporting sabermetrics is incredibly compelling. Michael Lewis’s Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game is a must read book for anyone involved in ...