It's incredible how many organizations and leaders are still trying to define the perfect set of metrics, rules, and rewards to produce next-level performance.
What's even more incredible is how many times this continues to fail, yet we try and try again.
Yet, it is well-documented that this rarely works, particularly in the type of complex work many of us do today.
I have seen plenty of examples over the years of how this approach can degrade culture, reduce motivation, and drive behaviors that hurt the business. Yet, we still return to it. Why?
Because people are complicated, and leading by posting that red, yellow, green scorecard is easier. But, the hard truth is this:
The employee dashboard often reflects the quality of leadership, not the quality of the team.
Positively guiding the direction of the company and coaching individuals on how to best deliver to that guidance is the responsibility of leadership.
Working around that model might make results look good for a quarter, even two, but watch it over time... the truth has always and will always show up... it will fail.
When I work with leaders on this, what is most interesting, is that they all WANT to be stronger coaches for their teams, not the metrics manager.
So why isn't this the way they DO lead?
Time. Leaders consistently speak of needing more time to connect with (earn the right) and coach (exemplify and teach) each individual on their team.
Executive Expectations. Many leaders feel pressure to prove they are managing people to the numbers (and numbers = winning). Coaching is harder to track and feels like it takes longer to get results.
Capability. Many leaders need to be taught how to lead differently than they were led.
Connecting data to a person's capabilities, and guiding them to improve without having a psychology degree is a real leadership skill. It needs taught, practiced, and refined before becoming innate.
This is now the calling of organizations that want to be considered the greats. To do so they will need to solve for:
Leader bandwidth. In increasingly competitive landscapes, providing critical coaching time.
Organizational culture. With finance teams more and more in the driver's seat, CEOs and COOs have to work harder to separate financial performance from individual aptitude.
Training (everyone's favorite). Resources being scarce, smartly investing in the leadership capability of diagnosing metrics and shifting their own behaviors to improve individual and collective performance of the team.
In a world enabled by automation, the uniquely human work of leadership is all the more critical.
Consider how you are leading or being led in your work today.
Are we truly using data and skill to coach people to be at their best, or are we just adding more metrics? The choice defines leadership.
I'm excited to see who will take the lead.