Are You Focusing on Your Dashboard?

I am working with an organization today that is creating a Decision Support Department to integrate all the data and information available to assist in making the “best” decision. Most small businesses and mid-size companies do not have the financial capabilities or available people to create such a department. All companies have the ability to manage data, monitor progress, and formulate benchmarks…..but they don’t or, let me be kind, don’t do it well.

Let’s compare companies to automobiles. All managers and supervisors, no matter what vehicle they are driving, need to glance at the dashboard periodically and it hopefully will reflect some sort of information that will be valuable in determining how the vehicle is performing and assist them in their decision-making processes relative to good car care.
The number of gauges available to you will vary according to your role and responsibilities associated with the vehicle. Some of the managers or supervisors will be driving “Mini-Coopers” while others may be driving “Chevrolet Malibus”. Senior management may drive a “BMW or Audi”, while the CFO and CEO will drive “Mercedes”. Remember, the difference in vehicle relates to the size and sophistication of company they work for while the dashboard enables them to view their performance at any point in time with the vehicle running.

Dashboards (a millennial business buzz word) should be popping up in most businesses because we need to get back into a goal-oriented environment. Competition is hotter than ever, great employees are scarcer than ever, knowledge pools are retiring at a rapid pace, and technology is moving faster than a speeding bullet. In other words, we better have a pulse on the performance of our vehicle to make sure it can handle the long trip or the excessive weight of the trailer. We need to make sure we glance at our gauges every few minutes to make sure we don’t overheat or ruin the engine by not adding oil.

One of the competencies that are needed by the leader of a company today is forward thinking. It relates to the ability to focus on the desired outcome and formulating a plan that can be implemented to achieve that specific outcome. Outcomes are only as good as the metrics you have incorporated in the plan and measured during implementation and define the desired outcome…..in other words, metrics allow us to measure our performance.

There are all kinds of fancy software that can make your vehicle’s dashboard look like a Mercedes. Or, there is a simple screensaver program that allows you to put the Dashboard right on your computer screen. We need to get back to basics. We need to focus on the things that got us here and monitor the things that are going to get us where we want to go. By clearly establishing benchmarks and monitoring our progress by recognizing what we do that makes a difference, we will continue to be highly competitive, profitable, and here for years to come. CEO’s and Business Owners, start your engines and watch your gauge . . .you need everyone in the company to focus on your goals!