Monthly Archives: October 2016

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The Dashboard May Be the Most Important Part of Your Company Vehicle

Five Keys to Make it a Great Part of Your Business

ca-dashboard

I believe Seth Godin said that all organizations are slow to change, but organizations that don’t measure the results are even slower to change.  He is one smart guy, and I 100% believe that – with organizations and people too.  We need to measure progress continually to make headway with everything we do.

I am a big believer in measurements and tracking key performance indicators.  I have logged my workouts every day (what I did, how long, in what intensity, how I felt, etc.) by day, every day for the last 20+ years.  I guarantee that if I hadn’t logged, I wouldn’t have been as consistent as I have been and I wouldn’t be in the physical shape I now enjoy.

With measures for your business or medical practice, I believe it’s the same thing.  Logging performance consistently over time improves results.  And small improvement steps over time have huge effects.

I track and review my client’s dashboards every week.  Some of my companies are always making dashboard tweaks and are quite advanced using automated dashboards with Tableau and Cognos, and others are quite simple using a whiteboard or Excel graphs manually prepared. I think of business measures like a car’s dashboard. Tracking a few meaningful key measurements is important.  The car’s dashboard doesn’t measure the 100’s of things going on with your vehicle, but it does track important things like speed and the amount of fuel left. Experts agree that business dashboards should illustrate financial health, operational efficiency, and quality (quality product in business or quality patient care in a health care environment, for example.)

I think of business measures like a car’s dashboard. Tracking a few meaningful key measurements is important.  The car’s dashboard doesn’t measure the 100’s of things going on with your vehicle, but it does track important things like speed and the amount of fuel left. Experts agree that business dashboards should illustrate financial health, operational efficiency, and quality (quality product in business or quality patient care in a health care environment, for example.)

Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years by implementing key performance indicators and dashboards:

Key 1: Keep it simple.  Keep the measures limited. I like one-page dashboards.  Ensure all measures focus on your vital few objectives (ref post from early 2016).  Data needs to be easy to obtain and completely objective.  Ideas: sales growth, customer/patient acquisition/retention/loyalty, operational productivity measures, gross profit, debt ratios, asset velocity metrics, etc.

Key 2: Measure the right things.  Just because you can measure it, doesn’t mean you should measure it.  Again, think of your car’s dashboard.  The higher up the food chain the dashboard user is, the less information is needed.  The board of directors, for example, generally aren’t interested in the number of mistakes made by the fabrication shop—only in the big picture.  Always align measures with your company’s or practice’s goals, vision, and direction.  It’s not a very good idea to regularly change specific measurements, but don’t be afraid to make changes to ensure your measuring the most meaningful metrics to track over time.

Key 3: Be consistent. Dashboards need to be produced and reviewed consistently to get buy-in and provide useful results.  The measures you track generally have positive results and trends go in the right direction over time.  I like dashboards to be produced and reviewed on Monday for the previous week.

Key 4: Keep results visible.  This is so important. I’ve made this mistake several times. I developed great tracking graphs, but inconsistently (or never) brought them out for review or discussion.  Visibility helps everyone understand results and where the company is headed.

Key 5: Set realistic targets.  Dashboards are easy to get started, but take diligence and discipline to maintain their accuracy and value. I use reminders, tasks, and calendar appointments to keep consistent, but it helps a lot when a company is results-oriented.

Which of the above do you need the most help with? Contact me!

 

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Finish Strong! The 80 Day Plan

finish line

It’s the fourth quarter ladies and gentleman.  We can feel it in the air.  With approximately 80 days left, we need to be organized, committed and passionate to push hard to finish our year strong.

Words to live by – finish strong.

This year I focused on reviewing my goals almost daily in my morning routine, which I honestly only end up doing 2-4 times per week.  The process of reviewing my annual goals for 10 minutes a day really helped me to focus on important things and accomplish much more.  Even so, some of my goals are simply way off track.  Some of them need a big push now to be able to complete them by the end of the year, and in case you haven’t been counting, we only have approximately 80 days left in 2016!

Don’t panic though. 80 days is plenty of time to get important things done.  I love short focused periods of time to make quantum steps.  Think about what some people have gotten done in 80 continual days of focused work.  I met a guy last Friday who is running for a tight race for a US Congress seat…with 30 days until the election, he has a super short-term focused to try to win.   We talked about his plan. He’s getting an unbelievable amount accomplished in 30 days with a highly focused strategy.  It was inspiring. I suggest all of us spend an hour or two this week to develop our 80 day plan.  The 80 day plan idea invigorates action, it pushes us, and it helps create momentum right into the following year. The 80 day time frame is perfect.

Let’s start.

My 80 Day Process

Make a list:  Write down 5-8 wants or needs to get done by the end of the year, and the corresponding tasks or activities to get done by December 31st.   I update and print mine on Monday of each week.  I put reminders on my calendar for follow up items and review the list again every Friday.  I keep my “next action list” in Nozbe up-to-date to keep the goals moving forward.

Carve out quiet time: Another part of my ‘almost daily’ routine that I have been practicing for two years now is 10 minutes of silent time and meditation.  I am certainly no expert here, but I’ve found the results to be incredible.  I’m sensing less stress, enjoying more focus, making better decisions, and feeling better overall.  It takes practice and patience, but believe me it gets easier over time.

There have been thousands of studies over thousands of years that discuss the significant benefits of meditation.  I recommend everyone try it. Why not?  I use an app called Calm by Tamara Levitt.  I have also tried Headspace which seemed really good as well. For me, the key is just pushing play. I get up in the morning, drink a glass of water, make the coffee, and hit the button for the 10 minute daily calm.  I recommend it as a daily ritual. My current goal is to incorporate this more than three times per week.

Keep yourself accountable:  As I mentioned above, I check my list weekly. Keep your goals in front of you and adapt as needed along the way. Look forward to looking back at the end of the year to a productive and effective season in your life and business!

Here’s a spreadsheet that can help you take action with an 80-day-plan.

Let’s all finish strong together.