SIRF Roundtables Blog

I’ll save you from the suspense: the “It” you are probably doing wrong is metrics. Specifically, performance metrics, by which I mean the measurements you put in place to guide or change people’s behaviour or decision making. A decade ago I gave a presentation at an international conference titled “What Gets Measured Gets Done”, and I have written about metrics before in this space, so you may have realised that I fancy myself a bit of an expert. Don’t believe me? Google “Lewis’s First Law of Metrics”. In case you don’t go to the effort, it states You get what you measure – that’s the risk you take. I should probably say that phrasing isn’t mine, it belongs to Bob Lewis (no relation) but is remarkably similar to ‘what gets measured gets done’. Bob also has a corollary – If you mismeasure, you mismanage – which essentially says that doing it wrong will cost you.

I had the pleasure of touring the Shingo Award winning Cimpress (formerly Vistaprint) facility near Melbourne in November 2016, the same day I toured Toyota’s Altona plant. I say pleasure, because the energy of the workplace was thrumming and a little infectious. 

With so many companies looking to a make change in their culture, or general business aspects; we look to our leadership to drive that change. But not all leaders are prepared, nor have the skills to drive continuous and sustainable change. What traits should you look for in a change Leader?