To assess whether an enterprise is making significant progress, leaders usually depend on critical performance metrics to reveal the truth. Key Performance Indicators, OKRs, and related outcome measures confirm if the team is on track and making real strides toward the enterprise vision. But internal metrics don’t tell the whole story. Great leaders know there is one set of metrics that stands out when it comes to assessing organizational effectiveness.
Re: Direct feedback from users through surveys, interviews, focus groups, user support interaction, and interactive forums will give leaders a more textured understanding of how users are responding to the organization’s efforts.
This is good, but don’t forget to get off your butt and walk down to where people are using your product or service. The Japanese call this Gemba. The idea is simple. - you want to improve your business, you need to learn more about your processes, your people, your customers, you need to go and see for yourself.
In 2009, I went on a trip with the CEO and his directs to Shanghai for a quarterly business/talent management review. They took a field strip to one of our customers who purchased a large number of our sequencing machines. I remember it being a very big deal. The Head of Sales and the local Sales Leader received a lot of recognition for winning the account and beating out our competition.
When they returned from the field trip (I didn’t get invited to go) I learned that while the customer had purchased a large number of our sequencing machines, they sat unused. Instead they were using our direct competition’s machines. When asked why, the folks running the lab said our competitor’s machines were much easier to use. Ouch.
Re: Direct feedback from users through surveys, interviews, focus groups, user support interaction, and interactive forums will give leaders a more textured understanding of how users are responding to the organization’s efforts.
This is good, but don’t forget to get off your butt and walk down to where people are using your product or service. The Japanese call this Gemba. The idea is simple. - you want to improve your business, you need to learn more about your processes, your people, your customers, you need to go and see for yourself.
In 2009, I went on a trip with the CEO and his directs to Shanghai for a quarterly business/talent management review. They took a field strip to one of our customers who purchased a large number of our sequencing machines. I remember it being a very big deal. The Head of Sales and the local Sales Leader received a lot of recognition for winning the account and beating out our competition.
When they returned from the field trip (I didn’t get invited to go) I learned that while the customer had purchased a large number of our sequencing machines, they sat unused. Instead they were using our direct competition’s machines. When asked why, the folks running the lab said our competitor’s machines were much easier to use. Ouch.
What a great exercise.
"Ouch" yes, but a good pain to feel if you actually respond appropriately.
Such a great illustration, David. So happy you shared this story with us all.
If you enjoyed this Field Notes entry,
Listen to the 15 minute discussion we hosted this morning to unpack it a bit more:
https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1MnGnpMqpWkxO