5 Reasons Why Your Metrics Don’t Change Anything
Continuing our 5 Reasons series, this month we look at why you carefully-constructed metrics dashboard is ignored, denigrated, and is utterly failing at changing behaviors. You have charts for everything but decisions still get made on gut feel and the same problems show up month after month. Meanwhile, everyone is creating their own “private” reports, wasting valuable time.
Here are five reasons your metrics are not effecting change, with solutions you can apply now.
1. You track too many metrics
A dashboard with 40 charts looks impressive, but it’s also overwhelming and misleading. When everything is important, nothing is and minutiae replace strategic thinking.
Start from the decisions you actually make (or want to make). Want to add staff? You probably need to look at volume and occupancy. Want to invest in self-service? You need data on case categories. If you prefer to work backwards, for each metric ask, “So what?” What will you do with the information. If the answer is nothing, you don’t need the metric, or at least it doesn’t belong in the standard dashboard.
Mature organizations often drown in metrics. Just because “we’re always measured this” doesn’t mean we should continue. Scrub the metrics list at least yearly.
Lesson: if a metric doesn’t inform a decision, it’s clutter.
2. You measure activities, not outcomes
Cases worked, page views, QBRs delivered are all measures of effort or activity. They are easy to collect, they make teams look busy, and they are also essential to getting results, but they don’t actually show results. Outcome metrics, on the other hand, encapsulate a result for the customer. So cases worked, issues resolved in self-service, renewal rates are better alternatives.
It’s ok to use some activity metrics, but focus on outcome metrics.
Lesson: avoid activity metrics
3. There are no targets
A metric without a target is just trivia. If the backlog volume creeps up, no one knows if it’s a normal seasonal variation, a concerning trend, or an emergency that requires immediate action.
For each metric, define a target, an owner, and a course of action for deviations. Don’t forget to review and update the targets regularly. Ratchet up!
Lesson: every metric needs a target, a trigger, and an owner.
4. Averages hide the (very important) details
Say you target the average time to closure to be a week, and you meet the goal. But in fact, simple cases are resolved in hours while complex cases take weeks, and your customers are up in arms about the long delays. The average is hiding reality.
Instead, segment the data. For instance, we want 50% of cases closed in 24 hours and 80% closed in a week. No averages, just targets by segment.
Lesson: look at the distribution, not just the average.
5. You never agreed on the metrics
I see this particular issue a lot with organizations that grew through acquisitions: the various product lines used different metrics in the past and each is adamant that they are special and need a particular set of metrics. Different geographies often use a similar agreement.
This is a standard leadership challenge. There are myriad reasons why certain groups, and certain individuals, are special. Your job as the support leader is to ensure that you implement metrics that make sense for everyone. You want to have a single source of truth for everyone. If each organization runs its own books, as it were, there’s no accountability.
Lesson: One organization, one set of metrics.
What are you doing to implement a meaningful set of metrics? Tell us in a comment.
