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Need a Speech Coach? Vegas resident World Champion Darren LaCroix

How to Make Measuring a Little Bit Sexier

Question: What words do people use to describe performance measurement?

Answer: Boring. Dull. Bureaucratic. Effort. Nerdy. Challenging. Threatening. Irrelevant. Failure. Fad.

Words we’d rather hear describing measurement: Curious. Insightful. Relieving. Motivating. Focusing. Priorities. Improvement. Success. Achievement.

For many reasons, people are more likely going to have negative feelings about measuring performance. And before you’re going to win their enthusiasm to take measuring performance seriously, you have to spin those feelings around.

A great way to do that is to give them a very different experience of what measuring performance is all about. And a successful “run on the board” can do just that.

Forget about trying to convince everyone that measurement is important.  Forget about telling people their current measures suck. Forget about designing that corporate-wide, top-down, aligned-to-strategy measurement framework. Think small, think fast, think impact!

Somewhere in your organisation you’ll be able to find an opportunity to put practical performance measures to work to make a fast impact. You might already know of one manager who needs no convincing that measuring matters. Or maybe you know of a recurring problem one team has, that everyone knows about, like the maintenance team taking too long, or the IT team handling help desk calls badly. Think laterally about where an opportunity might be.

Then go and talk to the people who own that opportunity. Ask them if they’d appreciate some help to solve the problem, to get to the bottom of it and nail it once and for all. Don’t ask them if they need some performance measures! Yes, you’ll create and use a few performance measures to help them fix the problem, but the emphasis has to be on solving the problem.

It’s going to be easier for you if the people who own the opportunity are keen. If not, keep looking for other opportunities. You’re after a small, fast run on the board that shows the impact that comes from using measures to assess, diagnose and fix problems people don’t want to have.

When you find your opportunity, treat it like you would a small, pilot project. Focus on a single result you will improve, and schedule it such that inside of 2 or 3 months, you’ve created a few useful measures, and used those measures to diagnose the problem, to find a solution to the problem, and so show improvement in the end result.

And there’s one more thing, something weirdly powerful. Write up the project as a story. No, no, no – don’t use your project documentation template! Create something more akin to a scrapbook, with photos, quotes, anecdotes, learnings, mistakes, funny antics. Make it as human as possible.

And show and tell this story to anyone to whom you’d like to give a different experience of measuring performance.

About the Author

Stacey Barr is a specialist in organisational performance measurement, helping corporate planners, business analysts and performance measurement officers confidently facilitate their organisation to create and use meaningful performance measures with lots of buy-in. Sign up for Stacey’s free email tips at www.staceybarr.com/facilitators and receive a complimentary copy of her renowned e-book “202 Tips for Performance Measurement”.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE? Feel free to use this article in your own publications, so long as you include this info at the end: Stacey Barr is a specialist in organisational performance measurement, helping corporate planners, business analysts and performance measurement officers confidently facilitate their organisation to create and use meaningful performance measures with lots of buy-in. Sign up for Stacey’s free email tips at www.staceybarr.com/facilitators and receive a complimentary copy of her renowned e-book “202 Tips for Performance Measurement”.

Funny yet inspirational quotes?

I play for a ringette team (like hockey, played on ice…etc) and I am responsible for coming up with inspirational notes before every game during our tournament this weekend. However I would like to be creative and throw a twist in, so while being inspirational and motivational, also include humor (for some, if not all of our games).

I like your idea of including some humor in the quotes you give your teammates before the games. Here are some quotes I hope might fit the bill….

“Always remember Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David.”– Shug Jordan

“The other teams could make trouble for us if they win.” Yogi Berra

“You never lose a game if the opponent doesn’t score.”
– Darrell Royal

It’s always too soon to quit. Norman Vincent Peale

It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.
Vince Lombardi

It’s what you learn after you ‘know it all’ that counts.
John Wooden: Funny Sports Quotes

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing-that’s why we recommend it daily. Zig Ziglar

Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. Doug Larson

Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. George Halas

There’s no substitute for guts. Paul Bear Bryant

You don’t have to fear defeat if you believe it may reveal powers that you didn’t know you possessed. Napoleon Hill

You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself. Harry Firestone

Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscle.
Alex Karras

Why did I want to win? because I didn’t want to lose! Max Schmelling

Mental attitude is more important than mental capacity. Walter Dill Scott

Most people achieved their greatest success one step beyond what looked like their greatest failure. Brian Tracy

Concentration is the ability to think about absolutely nothing when it is absolutely necessary. Ray Knight

“Half the game is mental; the other half is being mental.” Jim McKenny

“Do not let ‘what you cannot do’ interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden

“Whoever said, ‘It’s not whether you win or lose that counts,’ probably lost.” – Martina Navratilova (American tennis player)

“Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates.” – Earvin “Magic” Johnson

“The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That’s real glory.” – Vince Lombardi

“Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.”– Wendell Johnson

If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in the dark with a mosquito. – Unknown

If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else. – Yogi Berra

It takes less time to do things right than to explain why you did it wrong. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.” – Mae West

Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent. – Unknown

Speaking of “luck,” here’s wishing you and your team the very best of it this weekend!