Competition and proper reward structures encourage people and organizations to constantly renew, improve, and reinvent what already exists into something better. In order for such innovation to take place, an accurate evaluation of the previous or current state is required. Without knowing what to improve on, and by how much, it is impossible to move forward in a direction that exceeds the old.
The art of setting measurable goals and tracking progress along the way, in conjunction with proper and thorough evaluation of the results is the springboard from which innovation leaps. Notice I used the word ‘art’ to describe goal-setting, measuring, and evaluation. The choice to describe this process as a form of art comes from the fact that in most cases, it involves taking the abstract and translating it into something concrete.
Having this understanding on the importance of measuring progress and performance, it isn’t too hard to see how this translates into your workplace and personal career development. Being able to record and track your progress in measurable ways in all activities or projects will go a long way in helping you grow as a professional.
Here are a few examples of what you can measure:
- Number of times you actively share and participate in weekly meetings
- Time it takes to perform a routine task
- Specific results of a new project you are about to kick off
Here are a few practical tips on how to do this effectively:
- Define your metrics – a set of key performance indicators (KPI). Ideally, they should be quantifiable and easily measurable. Be sure they are relevant to the activity or project you want to address.
- Set a challenging, yet attainable goal(s) based on your metrics.
- Track your progress at predetermined times. Lay out a schedule of how often and for how long you want to record your progress and stay disciplined.
- Evaluate and analyze. Examine your progress to identify your strengths and weaknesses from this exercise and use them to your advantage in the future.
A particular challenge you may face in designing this exercise is to define meaningful, relevant, and quantifiable parameters for qualitative activities or outcomes you wish to examine. In such cases, try asking these questions to solve the problem:
- What are the different parts or sub-processes that make up what I want to measure?
- At the core, what are the levers that will determine the success or failure?
- How can I describe in specific words the varying degrees of (in)effectiveness?
It only takes 5-10 minutes to structure the exercise around your professional context, but this can be a great addition to your arsenal of tools in developing yourself and your career!
