Yes - summertime is here. Do you remember “back in the day” when your family would go on a vacation? My dad was a huge AAA fan, and for our family road trip vacations, we always had the AAA “TripTik.” It was a customized paper map that highlighted the route, the towns along the way with mileage estimates in between, etc. For you younger folks, no, we didn’t always have GPS devices in the car.
Given your company’s current path and journey, what “map” are you following? Is your map determined by the daily headlines? Is it determined by fluctuations on Wall Street, or by a reactive leadership team?
To reach your goals, whether they’re at a personal or company level, you need to know how you are measuring success, and what action items need to be initiated to change performance. How are you going to change processes or a given set of behaviors?
I like to think of three basic components to setting goals and achieving results. Call it designing your own personal “TripTik” or your MAP: Measure, Action, Performance.
For your given scope of work, day in and day out, what should be on your MAP? The first step is to determine what you are going to Measure. What are the top 3-5 measures that you should examine and track that will provide you with the best indication of how your journey is progressing? If you are a leader at the top of the organization, you’ll be following some “lagging” or broad scope measures like margin or turnover rates. However, you’ll want to dive deeper and identify some leading, or causal measures as well. Ask yourself, what few measures provide us with the best indication of future performance? If you’re in healthcare, maybe it’s your imaging volumes, cardiac procedure revenues, and use of contract labor that provide the best indication of your end of the month or quarterly margin.
Maybe you’ve heard the statement “vision without strategy is called a dream.” Well, measures without action items are just numbers. They do no good if they don’t lead to Action. You now have the top 3-5 measures for your department or your project; each of them should have an initiative or project aligned with them. Something will bring about a change and lead to results.
Once your initiatives are in place, once you’ve applied a strong lever arm to that measure you want to move, you need to monitor and manage the Performance. Did it improve for one month, then fall back to the previous performance level? How are you going to track and keep that measure in control? Consistent reporting with the expectation that the measures will be reviewed and discussed are key components to accountability within your teams (and maybe even for yourself).
Chances are, you’re probably not loading up the minivan to drive aimlessly across the country this summer. (If you are, please call - I want to go.) In today’s economy, you don’t have all kinds of time to reach your destination, so you better have a good MAP.
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