Key Indicators for Effective Leadership

When I attempted to follow up with my son about the preparations for his exams and the measures he was taking to study, he once retorted that I shouldn’t scrutinize every minute detail of his day, but instead focus on the actual goal, which was to secure a good score in the exams.

His words made me reflect on my work as a manger – of people primarily, and all that it included, from to-do lists and Operations reviews to daily team huddles and meetings with CEO. One "follows up with" (read: scrutinizes) a team that is perpetually overwhelmed with urgent, need-a-solution-now issues (critical payments, audit enquiries, etc.) to keep a tab on their deliverables. The confidence of meeting the EBITDA and Cash targets slowly drifts, and the actual performance gap at the end of the period also requires its fair share of time.Prioritize measures your team can control, not just track

To achieve success, focus on measures your team can impact, not just those you can track.

When discussing my son’s exam preparation, he advised me to concentrate on the ultimate goal — securing a good exam score — rather than scrutinizing his daily routines.

This led me to reflect on my role as a manager, constantly monitoring my team’s tasks, meetings, and operational reviews. While tracking numerous metrics, unexpected results often occurred because delivery teams lack control over Lag measures like EBITDA and Cash.

Hence, it’s vital to emphasize Lead measures, those your team can influence and monitor in real-time during execution. For instance, in collections, a Lead indicator can guide teams better than corrective actions after missing targets. Focusing on the top 5 customers by mid-month proved successful.

Prioritizing Lead measures over corrective ones is effective as they can be influenced in real time, offering greater control and preventing unexpected outcomes.

I’ve even applied this concept in everyday life, like my son’s exam preparations. We agreed on clear goals he could actively monitor and influence, ensuring success.

Just because many businesses do it, doesn’t mean tracking Lag indicators is the most efficient approach

• Businesses often track LAG indicators, which are mostly academic outcomes over time.
• However, using LEAD measures has been more effective in various cases.
• For example, a telecom company’s Network team shifted their focus from customer satisfaction (C-SAT) to "Network Uptime %" as an actionable metric.
• This change led to higher C-SAT scores because Network Uptime % was a metric the entire team could understand and influence, whereas C-SAT scores provided no leverage.

Conclusion

It is not an easy process, but identifying a LEAD measure that reasonably predicts the outcome and is within the influence of the team, makes target predictable. This takes the responsibility and accountability back to the operating team, and not the CEO.