We are taught that in relationships that we shouldn’t keep score, and I would agree with that. However continual improvement in business requires measurement and understanding of what measures are important.
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results”
Sir Winston Churchill famously said, “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results”.
Sports teams review their performance at half time, to make adjustments in the second half. At the end of the match, they know where they are on the Leaderboard, and use that information to plan for the next match against the upcoming opponent.
Similarly, organisations that “keep score” find it easier to know which areas to focus on for continual improvement programs. In Good to Great, Jim Collins talks about ‘Great’ organisations finding what they do well and then continually improving on it.
Does your business continually improve?
How does your organisation continually improve? You may have been doing the same thing for 20 years. Have you had to respond to changes in market expectations? Changes in technology? Changes in skills or employee engagement? Have your business improvements been forced on you, happened by accident, or do you wait until the camel’s back finally breaks?!
A structured continual improvement program that is understood across the organisation builds a culture of contribution, where workers at all levels are thinking about better ways of doing things.
The score is not something to fear, rather it can be a catalyst for working together to improve results for everyone.