When trying to
impress or surprise, or sometimes appal, I mention that I hold a Joint Honours
degree in Maths and Physics.
Undertaken following
a series of perfectly avoidable mistakes, I was entirely unsuited to the
course, and it subsequently hasn’t afforded me much advantage in life.
But it entrenched my
passion for number, I won’t accept anything but a fair test, and, well, I love
the process of science.
That’s beautifully
expressed by Lord Kelvin; “…when you
cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of
a meagre and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you
have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science, whatever the matter may be.”
(Or rather more
drearily by Peter Drucker: “If you can’t
measure it, you can’t improve it”.)
Observing engagement
and communication strategy, there is a consistent lack of measurement.
There may be lack of
capability. There may be a lack of curiosity. There may not be the clout to get
the budget or time to make the measurement. There’s perhaps an unwillingness to
lift the lid.
But this I know. Lift
that lid. Take a look. Measure effects. See what you find. Draw conclusions. And
apply what you’ve learnt. Your clout-o-meter will rise, fast.
Look at what’s most
important to your employees.
See how is best to
reach them
Assess if what you
propose to do will make an impact
Find out if you are
cutting through.
All of this – and
much more in your interactions with your people - is observable, quantifiable
and therefore improvable.
Do more measurement.
But… you can go too
far.
Hold in mind Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle
“the
more precisely the position of some particle is determined, the less precisely
its momentum can be known, and vice versa”:
(Or, more mundanely, as
Goodhart’s Law: When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good
measure)
Don’t get bogged down
in the number. The number is there to justify the means, to target the message,
to precisely focus the efforts.
Always remember that
it is the powerful word, the galvanising mission and the human interaction that
wins.
That’s what changes behaviour,
generates ideas and unites people to a cause. That builds momentum.
Do more measurement (but always know your
place).
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