“You get what you measure. Measure the wrong thing and you get the wrong behaviors.”
― John H. Lingle

Modern managers often seem to be confused about how to measure performance. I like to say, they’re measuring attendance when they should be measuring results. Of course, everyone who wants their business to be successful wants to measure performance, so I’m going try try to clear up this confusion.

If you’re worried about how long it takes to get a response to your email, you’re measuring attendance.

If you make your salaried employees clock in and clock out, you’re measuring attendance.

If you care about what time of day your team members are working, you’re measuring attendance.

If you track computer usage, you’re measuring attendance.

However…

If you track sales, if you track retention, if you track customer satisfaction, you’re measuring results. These are metrics that truly reflect the success and productivity of your team.

It’s important to shift your focus from babysitting your employees to leading them. That’s how you drive overall performance and success in your organization.

Remember, it’s never about “butts in seats”.