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Jerry Phillips

Without Metrics, Does It Really Happen?

Most of us have heard the saying that if a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound. In business, the saying is without metrics, does it really happen?

Yesterday I was working with my trainer and I shared that if I didn’t start the workout by starting my watch, it doesn’t show as a workout. He stated that he didn’t understand how tracking a workout on your watch affected people, until he started wearing a device. Then he understood that if it isn’t measured, it didn’t happen.

I track my workouts for multiple reasons. I measure heart rate for intensity. I measure calorie burn. I measure the length of the workout. I track how many days I close all my rings. Recently I’ve equated my sleep patterns to my workouts. I sleep much better and have more “deep” sleep when I’ve worked out. The result is I’m more effective and efficient in my work when I have had a strong workout, and great sleep. It’s a three-legged stool. Workout, sleep, and a stronger mental approach.

Business is driven by a similar three-legged stool. Strategy, people, and process. Without a strong strategy, you can have great people and processes, and you will still fail. Without a great team of people, the processes won’t be followed, and the strategy will fail. Without solid processes, the team will be doing workarounds and the strategy will fail. Missing one leg of the stool won’t force the stool to fall over, but it makes it much riskier to sit on. Without real time metrics, you miss the opportunity to correct one, or all three legs. To take this a step further, measuring lagging indicators instead of leading indicators creates risk as well.

I check my metrics on my watch during my workout. I’m looking at time, heart rate, and calorie burn as I do my work. It gives me an idea of how much more effort I need to put out. It isn’t effective to work at double my resting heart rate, all the time. It would shorten my workouts, and I would miss the length of workout goals. It’s the same in your business. Working at double your normal pace isn’t sustainable and it will set you up for failure. You will never know unless you understand your metrics on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.

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