It is said that you can’t manage what you can’t measure. What do you say? Is it true or not? Some attribute this quote to William Edwards Deming – the man credited with revolutionizing Japan’s industry and making it one of the most dominant economies in the world – and Peter Ferdinand Drucker – described as “the champion of management”.
Before we get intellectually strained, let’s define what management is.
What is management? Management is a process. What kind of process? Here we go… There is a lot to think about, say, and do in the management process.
The idea is that we need to achieve a goal with maximum efficiency. For that purpose we need a process because we don’t want to have a one-time win, but a system to win everyday. Is it possible? Yes. How?
First of all, we need to know the key traits of effective management. I made a framework for that. Let’s travel together in this process of thinking!
Key Traits Of Effective Management
There are some management frameworks that are worth to be used in daily life as a manager, but I like the idea to create adaptable frameworks according to my thinking.
I’m not a genius, but I’m serious about my thoughts and that’s why I prefer to be organized and prepared for a business marathon, not just for a moment.
You can think about me that I’m little bit (or more) complicated or that I’m complicating myself unnecessarily. Why a new framework when we have SWOT Analysis, BMC (Business Model Canvas), Porter’s Five Forces and so on? Because I can understand better my own framework. Am I too subjective? After you study and understand a new domain, I believe it’s natural to create something.
I don’t want to say that my framework is better than the others. No. But that’s how I want to succeed. SUCCEED is the acronym of my framework for effective management.
Before that, I want to specify that SUCCEED is a good framework for teams, not for individuals. For individuals is good enough PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act) or other simple framework.
Here are the words that describe perfectly the key traits of effective management:
- Strategy
- Unity
- Communication
- Coaching
- Execution
- Evaluation
- Development
The order is very important! If you start with development, you’ll quickly end with unsatisfactory results. The strategy must be the foundation and development the icing on the cake.
I want to point out that this framework is a circle and the development phase is not the last, but a continuation of the strategy.
Management is a continuous process, not a single one. More than that, it’s a process that needs to be continuously improved.
The strategy should reflect the real potential of your team, resources and other factors that can be a threat to your organization.
There are some colleagues (or businessmen) that struggle to execute their strategy effectively. Is that possible? Why do you think that business strategy is perfect but you can’t implement it?
Let me clarify something: it’s a must that a strategy should be 100% customizable and that customization should be adaptable depending on how things evolve.
If you put on table a strategy that is incoherent and can’t be implemented by you and your team, it’s a bad sad fad. Am I too negative? If you are in a management position, you know that there is no time for playing games…
A strategy should be approved after you discuss it with your team. Why? Because you need unity. Without unity, it’s impossible to succeed. What would happen if everyone pulled the rope in different directions? This is where communications comes into play.
Communication is the key for understanding. Understanding is a step forward for knowledge. When you have knowledge, you have to pass it on. To whom? To your team! Coaching is not just a normal step in approaching your team development, but an essential one.
After everything is clear or well enough understandable, the next step is the execution. Obviously, the execution will not be perfect and you’ll notice some great ways for improvement in the evaluation process.
What is the final step? There is no final step! Development is a continuous step in the process. As I said earlier, management is a process.
These being said and exposed, the SUCCEED framework is a step by step process to create a strong business by management. Without management, there is confusion, chaos and the starting point for a catastrophe.
What You Measure Is What You Manage
It’s a logical statement, right? But let’s take a closer look at some of the disadvantages. It’s obvious that there are a lot of advantages, but the other side is full of dangerous effects.
Goodhart’s law says that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. How is that possible? Or “how dare you”?
I’ll give you three examples:
- Increase the numbers, decrease the quality: your team may find some ways to increase the numbers (let’s say the number of code lines written or products per hour in a specific production line), but lose the quality.
- “See and treat” system for hospitals: in UK, the model designed to reduce waiting time to 4 hours was a real danger for people because doctors were diverted from seriously ill patients to treat ones with minor problems.
- Low interest (or attention) towards students with C or D grades: this phenomenon of neglecting students in the middle or lower middle grades is a trap or a trap of the system. Why? Because teachers take care of those with A or B grades, respectively with E or F. More precisely, they deal with the extremes: “high achievers” and “at risk” students. Those in the middle are the “safe” students or the so-called “bubble” students.
Now let’s flip the coin.
It’s purely logical to manage what you measure. We need to answer the “What?” question before the “How?” in order to act properly.
Of course, we need to measure what matters, to focus on leading indicators rather than lagging indicators.
What are the leading and lagging indicators?
- Leading indicators: the predictors – measure the activities or inputs that predict a future result – hard to measure, easy to influence.
- Lagging indicators: the results – measure an outcome that has already happened – easy to measure, hard to influence directly.
Nowadays, many leaders or managers subscribe to the idea that not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts. Does that make sense?
We need to make a difference between being busy and being effective or efficient. The measurement must be attached to us, but the results and the future perspective must not be missing.
Work without results can be a waste of energy (or an accumulation of experience?). Work without future perspective is a waste of potential (treadmill). Whatever, waste also needs to be measured.
Without Measurement, Improvement Is Just Guessing
Performance is science, isn’t it? Not science fiction, but science in its pure form.
What is science? The act of investigating the world by recording, observing, listening, and watching (#rowl). Guessing is not a part of science.
You might say that guessing is the same as forming a hypothesis. I’ll agree with you after you’ll manage your business by guessing, not by facts.
What happens to a blind man walking towards a precipice? The same thing happens to a business run by guessing.
Everyone is aware about improvement in a business, team or other areas, but few can understand that without measurement, improvement is just guessing.
In business or let’s be more exactly, in management, there is a particularity that can’t be copied. You can’t copy 100% something that works for other. Why not? Because there is a unicity that can’t be replicated with 100% precision.
You can say that it’s ok to copy 75% good things from your best competitor, but nobody will guarantee that the results will be the same (or better) because every team has a different environment, mentality, and experience.
At some point of my life, I needed some answers and someone told me that there are answers that can’t be understood because I’m not in the shoes of the one who answers. Million dollar answer, right?
The same concept is in management. Everything must be adapted to the environment and to the team. Every improvement must be continued by the team. If the people of your organization can’t understand “The Why”, they can’t align to your work culture. Take your time and teach them to have a memorable “That’s Why” answer.
100 points question: how to do you know that you improved something after 10 days without knowing what was before? Maybe you’ll observe a visual improvement, but if you don’t document it, your team will suffer in the future. Or you want to be indispensable?
I’ll recommend you to read the following article about bus factor: “The Bus Factor: A Silent Threat To Organizational Stability“. Take your time!
Many Things Can’t Be Measured And Still Must Be Changed
What are the things that can’t be measured and still must be changed? I think that thing is a person or a human being.
You can track how many people speak up in a meeting, but you can’t measure the quality of trust behind it. Trust is the invisible glue of a team. If people are afraid to fail or admit mistakes, innovation stops.
Standardized metrics often kill true creativity because they reward volume over breakthrough thinking.
When I was younger, in my first job in a corporation, I heard about brainstorming sessions. I didn’t knew what are those mysterious sessions, but lately I found out that in brainstorming, no idea is worst. The goal is to accumulate a lot of ideas, not concentric ones, and to develop an environment where everyone is listened to.
Someone says that a culture is how people act when the boss isn’t in the room. You can’t measure how your team behave when the light is not on them.
By the way, do you know about the Hawthorne Effect? Hawthorne Effect is an experiment and also an official psychological term, often occurs when people behave differently because they know they are being watched. You work differently when the boss is around, right? Why? It’s something natural…
You need to be aware that you can’t measure the following things:
- Employee engagement: passion, creativity, and dedication.
- Customer experience: the ideal metric that can’t be truly known.
- Long-term impact: hope and purpose (your teammates should be trusted as partners, not slaves).
What should be done? As a manager, you should learn how to manage the shadow. How? Trying to be a leader moving from a transactional mindset to a transformational one. The shadow is made of human behaviors and unspoken beliefs, so you can’t fix it with a process. You have to learn to read the room and shift the atmosphere.
I like the concept of MBWA – Management By Walking Around – a proactive approach that builds trust, improves communication, boosts morale, and allows leaders to address issues promptly. That’s how a normal human being is. You don’t have to move mountains. Start with a short discussion, day by day, and you’ll know what the next step will be.
Learn & Grow
What are your thoughts after reading this article? Are you aware of the importance of measurement in management? Can you manage what can’t be measured?
Management is not an umbrella role. You have to deal with different people, situations, expectations, and you should be able to align everything in the right direction. Package the information into a solution process. That’s your purpose and that’s how you know whether your work is well done or not.
I hope you’re doing well! Keep learning!
“Good is good when it’s well done.”
✍ Horja Robert Emanuel
Digital Ecosystems Architect
