As companies get bigger, it is inevitable that managers get further away from the customer. Often, they also manage people and processes remotely. They do not want to or cannot walk around among their 'own' people; simply because they are often hundreds or thousands of kilometres away, or else have to enter the dusty or noisy factory.
The ideal image of many (and increasingly more managers) is a dashboard displaying all kinds of performance indicators. Such a dashboard should give them the feeling of being fully 'in control', i.e. having a grip on the situation.
Measuring is knowing
To have a good picture of how processes are running remotely, all kinds of things are measured. "Measuring is knowing" may be a cliché, but it is a truth that cannot be ignored. Especially as the distance to the customer (and sometimes to the processes to be controlled) increases, it becomes increasingly important to measure the right things.
Know what you measure
In all kinds of roles, I come across situations where things are not measured at all, or the right things are not measured. Think of customers who are not satisfied with delivery reliability while all indicators are green, or an insurance company that says on the phone it can see that the report has been open for more than a year. No doubt the manager in question will measure how much time the phone is answered, how many new policies are taken out and how productivity is doing, but apparently the length of time open calls are not measured.
Data
Another question to ask is what is the source of the (measurement) data? If we measure customer satisfaction, we miss the customers who have already given up and left for a competitor.
Glasses
If you want to measure better, it is good to look at the process and measurement points through the customer's glasses (internal or external customer). What is important to the customer, what does the customer experience as good or less goodthe service. Try to link the measurement to that. It is not about how much we measure, but how well we measure. Because measuring better is knowing more!
Frits de Wind - Logistics consultant
