Planning to Simplify At Work? Do This First
by Lisa Bodell for ForbesWomen
The reasons for simplifying how you do business are compelling: Higher profits, more consumer loyalty, less employee turnover. But six months after steering your org toward simplification, how will you know if your efforts are actually working? By establishing metrics that connect to each of your simplification goals.
After a decade of helping companies succeed through simplification — and writing a leadership book about it — I’ve found that the right metrics enable you to truly measure the effects of simplification. To decide which ones are right for your business, start by identifying your simplification goals.
Determine your three to five goals by answering the following questions and turning those into goals that address your areas of complexity.
1. In which areas of our org/business will simplification have the biggest impact?
2. Which behaviors in our organization need to change?
3. Which simplification behaviors do we want to encourage every day?
4. What types of simplification results will indicate successful outcomes?
Once you’ve drafted at least three goals, you’ll now create metrics that correspond to those goals. For example, if one of your goals is to “finalize our annual strategic plan more quickly,” one of your metrics could be “decrease in number of weeks spent drafting strategic plan.”
Feel free to create your own or customize from this list of popular simplification metrics:
· Decrease in number of approval layers for hiring qualified candidates
· Employees appear less overwhelmed by their workload