Dishonesty in metrics occurs where Team metrics have ambiguous goals, are used to achieve ends other than what they were introduced for, are arbitrarily applied or can not be traced to business outcomes/personnel growth
Dishonest metrics arouse frustration, instil fear or even worse, perpetuate dishonesty in staff ( e.g. when people start to game the metrics to position themselves for professional gain )
Good Leaders work hard on ensuring Psychological safety and transparency during introduction, collection and application of metrics
They usually have (or can facilitate) compelling answers to the following…
- Why are we using this metric ?
- What are we using this metric to inform….x) y) z) ?
- What are we using this metric to NOT inform….x) y) z) ?
- Who will view & use this data ? Who will not ?
- How will we measure effectiveness of the metric itself ?
- How will we measure ineffectiveness of this metric ?
- What is the business impact if we dont have this metric ?
- How will we look for better metrics (5,6,7 apply again here)?
- Can I propose a Team metric? (5,6,7 apply here again)?
- Which metrics are common across Teams or across the Org structure ? which ones are unique ? why ?
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