What Gets Measured Can Be Managed
Organizations typically measure revenue, margins and market share growth together with a relevant set of key performance indicators (KPIs). These metrics are tangible and easy to measure, and they provide an indication of “output” or “outcome” from the business that we manage:
- Output indicators are factors that relate to the delivery of products and services—productivity, efficiency, quality, etc. The goal of tracking these is to improve productivity and efficiency of the company.
- Outcome indicators are factors that relate to business goals—income, sales, repeat business, new clients, market share, employee satisfaction, staff turnover, etc. The goal of tracking these is to focus on overall health of the company.
Nothing new under the sun so far. But behind all these output and outcome indicators we find our employees. Our employees’ wellbeing and ability to bring their whole selves to work will impact the two metric categories above. In the words of Virgin founder, Sir Richard Branson:
“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”
Your only lasting competitive advantage
In today’s fiercely competitive market place, the knowledge, motivation and engagement of your employees may represent your only lasting competitive advantage. Underneath their corporate personae lie their values, beliefs, and attitudes. These are the factors that make the difference between success and failure in the long term, also known as “causal indicators”:
Causal indicators are factors that impact the output and outcome indicators—employee energy leakage (aka. Cultural entropy), values alignment and mission alignment—factors that influence employee engagement. The goal of tracking these is to uncover and act on cultural needs to improve performance.
This last set of indicators is what most leaders need to come to terms with in order to be successful in the 21st Century. The challenge with many organizations today, is that this “causal” part of the overall business success has been largely delegated to HR professionals. While HR does a great job in many companies, it is the strong engagement from the leadership team that will convince employees whether they are seen as a company’s “most valuable asset”, or whether leaders are just paying lip service to this adage in town hall meetings.
How you can measure – and manage
Through our strong suite of tools, and customized approach to your business needs, we help you to measure the intangible values and culture – enabling you to manage for long-term success, sustainable growth and true employee engagement.
When you understand the aggregate values of your employee base, you can start mapping out what their needs are and how you can best meet their needs in order to create a working environment that feels safe, meaningful, and inspiring. This, in turn, releases the incremental energy needed to achieve goals, drive innovation and delight customers.
On average, values-driven organizations that crack the code of working both bottom-up and top-down on these issues deliver nearly 400% better return on investment compared to S&P 500 in a U.S. context.
The Best Companies to Work For (BCWF) engender high levels of employee engagement and commitment, because the leaders of these organisations focus on meeting employee’s basic needs and satisfying their growth needs: they focus on helping their employees feel happy and fulfilled.
With the Cultural Transformation Tools from Richard Barrett and the Values Centre Brainwave can help you leverage a simple and proven methodology used by over 6,000 organizations in 90 countries and make your culture both measurable and manageable for competitive advantage and improved results.
