'What gets measured, gets done' Feat. Tunnel vision, Sub-optimization, Myopia and Gaming

'What gets measured, gets done'

Regular meausrement and reporting keep you focused because you use that information to make decisions to improve the results (If you can measure, it can be managed)

 

‘What gets measured, gets done’ is that the staff and management will only react to the performance measures chosen by the owners. In other words, poor performance reporting can lead to inefficient management. If an area is not measured then there is a danger that it is not efficiently managed and equally, if an area is measured then there is the danger that it is over-managed.

 

Key performance indicators are a small number of agreed-upon measurements that reflect your organization's critical goals for success.

 

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Tunnel vision

undue focus on performance measures to the detriment of other areas.

 

Example

Efforts to ensure a staff (teacher) utilisation ratio of 72%, measured in terms of chargeable hours as a proportion of total hours available, may lead to inadequate documentation of student records and developments in areas such as communication and teamwork.

 

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Sub-optimization

undue focus on some objectives will leave others not achieved.

 

Example

A divisional manager may be focused on winning investments from the senior management but this may result in inadequate supervision regarding the divisional performance of current activities.

 

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Myopia

short-sightedness leading to the neglect of longer-term objectives

 

Example

An undue focus on generating current client income could be to the detriment of longer-term goals such as practice development or innovations in approaches to the management of client affairs.

 

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Gaming

deliberate distortion of the measure in order to secure some strategic advantage. This may involve deliberate under-performing in order to avoid higher targets being set.

 

Example

Division managers intentionally set their lower targets to meet their performance-realted bonus. The managers acts for self-interst at the expense of long-term benefits of company.