Metrics - No Greater Friend, No Worse Enemy
September 15, 2006
Anyone in the business of transformation, is intimately familiar with the importance of metrics. The easiest way to determine change is to measure it over time, and compare to the original. In many cases, this offers an extremely informative and even inspiring tool. When change agent Geoffrey Canada delivered a brief about the Harlem Children’s Zone, he devoted a special section to raising capital. By affirming that he would be a stickler about Metrics and evaluations, Canada was able to convince skeptical Wall Street investors to donate millions of dollars towards his ambitious project. He said:
"The problem is, this is the data everyone wants, but not everyone has the money for evaluation. And if you don’t have the evaluation you can’t make the big money, but if you don’t have any big money, you can’t do the evaluation. Convincing people? myself included? that you should spend precious program dollars that you could be saving lives with, and spend them to do an evaluation? to prove what you already believe? it’s a tough sale, because it’s not cheap."
Measuring progress will not always be an ally and bring in the big money. In fact, there are instances when metrics can become as institutionalized as any doctrine, and negatively impact the creation of new business processes, as well as reinforce the wrong behavior. When Change Agent George Naccara, head of security at Logan International Airport, was asked, "What are the biggest challenges you face moving forward?" his response was simply, "Metrics". As an example, Naccara explained the challenge in convincing the Transportation Security Administration that the number of finger nail files and small pocket knives confiscated does not directly relate to a plane’s safety.
Modifying what aspects are measured is often one of the quickest ways to change behavior. Metrics are an important tool that change agents need to master; they require careful consideration when being created, and continual re-evaluation throughout their life cycle. Sometimes Change Agents are given the role of being able to create new metrics. This is an important part of pushing change through the system, and should not be overlooked. A great article in Business Week gives guidelines for creating new metrics in ways that help inspire innovation:
"One of the best ways to encourage innovation is to stop discouraging it. That can happen when every new product or service idea has to meet the same performance metrics. Invariably those metrics are designed to evaluate base hits, not home runs. This can lead companies to inadvertently kill the best ideas because they don't fit the metrics."
Although metrics can be a great tool, they can also become an obstacle. Change Agents must constantly consider this delicate balance; evaluating what works and what is obsolete. In the Louis Andre podcast, he gave a great example of reevaluating a widely accepted belief about turnover. When asked about the "Brain drain" being felt throughout Government he said, "When everyone else was gloom and doom about turnover I thought, we're running at a 5% attrition rate, I don't think that's high enough, because At 5% you intellectually recapitalize ever 20 years."
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