Measuring Success
Measuring success is an essential part of any business or organisation. Without proper measurement, it can be challenging to determine whether your efforts are having the desired impact and whether you are moving towards achieving your goals.
Measuring success is an essential part of any business or organisation. Without proper measurement, it can be challenging to determine whether your efforts are having the desired impact and whether you are moving towards achieving your goals.
Here are some tips for measuring success:
1. Define clear and specific goals: Before measuring success, you must first define what success looks like. This means setting clear and specific goals that are aligned with your organisation's mission and vision.
2. Identify key performance indicators (KPIs): KPIs are metrics that you use to track progress towards your goals. Identify the KPIs that are most relevant to your goals and use them to track progress.
3. Set benchmarks: To determine whether you are making progress towards your goals, set benchmarks that represent your desired outcomes. This will allow you to track progress over time and make adjustments as necessary.
4. Use data: Use data to measure success. Collect data from relevant sources, such as customer feedback, sales figures, and website analytics. Analyse the data to determine whether you are making progress towards your goals.
5. Review and adjust: Review your progress regularly and make adjustments as necessary. Use the data you collect to identify areas where you need to improve and make changes to your strategies and tactics.
Why is measuring success important?
Measuring success is important for several reasons:
1. Helps track progress: Measuring success enables you to track your progress towards your goals. It helps you to identify what is working and what isn't, so you can adjust your strategies and tactics as needed to stay on track.
2. Provides clarity and focus: When you measure success, you have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there. This clarity and focus help you stay motivated and committed to achieving your goals.
3. Enables data-driven decision making:Measuring success allows you to make data-driven decisions based on objective metrics rather than intuition or guesswork. This approach enables you to make 1. more informed decisions and reduces the risk of making costly mistakes.
4. Facilitates accountability: Measuring success provides a framework for accountability. It allows you to establish clear expectations for performance and hold yourself and your team accountable for achieving your goals.
5. Encourages continuous improvement: Measuring success encourages continuous improvement by enabling you to identify areas for improvement and track progress towards making those improvements. This approach fosters a culture of learning and growth within your organisation.
Overall, measuring success is essential for achieving your goals and driving growth and success in your organisation. By tracking progress, providing clarity and focus, enabling data-driven decision making, facilitating accountability, and encouraging continuous improvement, measuring success helps you to maximise your potential and achieve your objectives.
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OKR Approach
OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is an approach to goal-setting that helps organisations align their efforts and focus on what truly matters.
OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is an approach to goal-setting that helps organisations align their efforts and focus on what truly matters.
Here's an overview of the OKR approach:
1. Objectives: Objectives are specific and measurable goals that the organisation wants to achieve. They should be aligned with the organisation's mission and vision and be challenging but achievable.
2. Key Results: Key Results are the specific metrics used to measure progress towards achieving the objectives. They should be quantitative and measurable and should indicate whether or not the objective has been achieved.
3. Alignment: OKRs are cascaded throughout the organisation to ensure alignment and focus. Each department, team, and individual should have their own set of OKRs that are aligned with the overall organisational goals.
4. Regular check-ins: Regular check-ins are conducted to monitor progress and make adjustments as necessary. This helps ensure that the organisation stays on track and can adapt to changes in the business environment.
5. Continuous improvement: OKRs are not set in stone and should be reviewed and revised regularly. This allows the organisation to adapt to changes and continuously improve its performance.
The OKR approach is used by many successful organisations, including Google, Intel, and LinkedIn. By setting clear and measurable goals, aligning efforts, and regularly monitoring progress, organisations can focus their efforts and achieve their most important objectives.
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Executing Change – getting it right
Change is inevitable. If you stay still, change will occur around you.
You know deep down you have to change, you plan the change however execution fails. More than 80% of projects fail to make the proposed change.
Change is inevitable. If you stay still, change will occur around you.
You know deep down you have to change, you plan the change however execution fails. More than 80% of projects fail to make the proposed change.
You know the process – you work on the business case document (more than 40 pages) to explain why change is required. You get the funding (most companies spend up to 30% of their cash inflow on capital projects to deliver change. But then you get to delivery, things fail.
The change doesn’t happen, it’s not well understood, there is resistance. The business case benefits are not delivered. After failed projects, people get despondent with the whole process and don’t ever both.
Why can’t organisation deliver change well? Well depends on where you work but I am going to focus on the 3 things you require to ensure you deliver.
3 things to ensure change will occur:
1. Executive Sponsorship – you need an Executive Sponsor that can support your business case and ensure where there are roadblocks they help clear. If you can get a couple of supports on the Executive team, this will help your case.
2. Budget & Resources – you need enough money to deliver the change and dedicated resources to help (that are not also trying to do BAU). When budgets squeezed and every project gets hit 20% cut, no that’s not ok you need to ensure you have sufficient money to deliver.
3. Build momentum & excitement – you need to build momentum and excitement across the team, division and organisation around the change – what does it mean for them? Why the change will help them and get support.
Other considerations that need to be considered to improve project management
Companies need to consider their business case process. People spending months building business case, is not a good use of time or energy. A business case document over 40 pages+ will not be read again or by many people and doesn’t help assess the delivery of the project. Could you do the business case in 4-5 pages.
Do less projects but deliver them well. Do less projects and then focus on delivering them well.
Don’t be scared to show RED, project off track. Everyone wants there project to be green, but can’t get things back on track or help if it’s status is not correctly represented.
Centralised PMO structure needs to be provided to the business to have consistency across projects, but should not be running the projects. Business SME should lead and run the project. Working out the project model is critical, otherwise it’s all about governance and nothing gets done.
For the money that companies spend on projects, getting them right and delivering the change that is required is critical for strategic success of the organisation. Companies need to rethink their process for projects and be honest on what works in the current project.
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Have you got head in sand?
Have you got head in sand?
No seriously, have you?
Whether you like it or not, the world has changed. Priorities have changed, life has changed, the way we work has changed and we are never going back to ‘normal’. There is no going back, we need to create the new.
Have you got head in sand?
No seriously, have you?
Whether you like it or not, the world has changed. Priorities have changed, life has changed, the way we work has changed and we are never going back to ‘normal’. There is no going back, we need to create the new.
In 2020 when COVID landed, I was as shocked as anyone that I would see something in this in my lifetime (makes me sound old, I know). But it came into our lives (and hasn’t left) and has changed the way we used to know the world.
COVID has impacted everyone differently and there is always a bittersweet story to tell. I can’t complain; I haven’t had anyone I know die of COVID, and I might be a minority.
COVID has created perspective:
I wrote an article last year around perspective. Check article here. I note that perspective normally comes from a bad situation. So how has COVID created perspective, let’s see:
The concept of working in office 5 days a week, has changed
The concept or reality of flexible working, has changed..
The normalisation of having children in zoom/teams. calls or home while you are working has changed.
People are rethinking their careers/jobs and what is important (i.e. the great resignation, war on talent)
Employees are demanding more, and with the war on talent they are getting what they are asking for and more.
Employers that have a clear EVP are well ahead of the companies that haven’t invested in the people experience side of things. It’s not a piece of paper or words – it’s reality.
Amount of people moving out of the city; to the country or more regional. This includes people moving out of Melbourne and Sydney to Queensland etc.
People got a taste of different life, slower life, easy lifestyle and more time spent with their families.
People are looking for a change in lifestyle
Perspective and change creates opportunity. So many new jobs, roles, life changes ….how have you created your new. If you don’t take this opportunity to create your ‘new’ you, you will have missed an opportunity.
What is your reflection from COVID? How has it changed your life, work or other?
Employers who are pretending the world hasn’t changed, are in for a significant amount of pain! Employers need to ensure they pivot to ensure they can attract and retain great talent in this very tight market.
Proactive approach to culture and employee engagement including flexibility is becoming really critical.
Article by Jo Hands, Whiteark Founder
Have you got your head in the sand? If yes, this might be the time to sit up and work out what you want/need to do different for personal and work!
At Whiteark, we have been helping our clients with new ways of working, employee engagement activities including role clarities etc. We have watched our clients embrace the new normal and helped them through the transition.
If we can help you, reach out for a no obligation chat to Jo Hands on 0459826221, or jo.hands@whiteark.com.au
Read more articles written by Jo Hands
What does 2022 hold?
When the clocks strike midnight on the 31st December 2021, I’m going to be ready to yell Happy New Year bring on 2022. While 2021 has been a good year, there is a lot of look forward to for 2022.
When the clocks strike midnight on the 31st December 2021, I’m going to be ready to yell Happy New Year bring on 2022. While 2021 has been a good year, there is a lot of look forward to for 2022.
My key 3 focus areas for 2022 are:
Are you clear on what you want to achieve?
Goals are part of every aspect of business and life. They provide a sense of direction, motivation, focus, and clarify importance. By setting goals, you are providing yourself with a target to aim for - without a goal, your efforts can become disjointed and often confusing.
Goals are part of every aspect of business and life. They provide a sense of direction, motivation, focus, and clarify importance. By setting goals, you are providing yourself with a target to aim for - without a goal, your efforts can become disjointed and often confusing. Goals will influence how and where energy and resources are used. Goals provide a destination for you to get to, so they encourage motivation and reduce procrastination. By setting goals you can measure your progress. Once you reach your goal, it gives you a taste of victory and you will want to taste that again so you will set yourself new goals.
Effective hybrid working starts with company culture
Colin D Ellis, an award-winning speaker, facilitator, and best-selling author has recently released his new book – ‘The Hybrid Handbook’. Colin covers the 6 Considerations your organisation needs to address to implement a successful Hybrid Working Model.
Colin D Ellis, an award-winning speaker, facilitator, and best-selling author has recently released his new book – ‘The Hybrid Handbook’. Colin covers the 6 Considerations your organisation needs to address to implement a successful Hybrid Working Model.
To secure your talent pool for future success, you need to move quickly on implementing your Hybrid Working Model to be considered an employer of choice. It’s time to start working through your checklist.
How to find new customers during COVID
During yet another lockdown it’s hard to reach out and acquire new customers. You are busy managing your family, your own mental health, plus you actively try to keep morale high at work too. To reach new customers, you will want to understand how they have changed. How did their shopping preferences, their daily routines, their work lives change? Let’s explore these questions together.
During yet another lockdown it’s hard to reach out and acquire new customers. You are busy managing your family, your own mental health, plus you actively try to keep morale high at work too. To reach new customers, you will want to understand how they have changed. How did their shopping preferences, their daily routines, their work lives change? Let’s explore these questions together.
Measuring success is an essential part of any business or organisation. Without proper measurement, it can be challenging to determine whether your efforts are having the desired impact and whether you are moving towards achieving your goals.