Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of performance through strong human relations, team building, and goalachieving. This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellovledo.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast. It's episode three ninety six, and let's talk numbers. Not the ones that look pretty in a report or the ones that get passed around just to fill slides in a meeting. I'm talking about the numbers that actually move the needle. This episode is called Metrics that Matter What you should be really tracking as a manager, because here's
the truth. Most managers are tracking the wrong things. They're obsessed with vanity metrics, stats that sound impressive but mean absolutely nothing when it comes to performance, progress or people. So let me tell you what I mean in these six areas. Area number one vanity metrics versus value metrics. Vanity metrics are those that look good but don't drive decisions, think social media likes, number of meetings held, or total hours worked. Where value metrics are those that tell you
something actionable. They indicate what's working, what's broken, and where to focus next. So if you're spending your time showing off charts, that no one acts on. You're managing for optics, not outcomes. Area number two, So what should you be tracking? Here are the six metrics that matter in any business or leadership role, regardless of history. Employee turnover rate and why they leave. If your team is turbulent, you have a culture or leadership issue. Exit interviews aren't a checkbox,
they're your roadmap for improvement. Time to resolution. How long does it take your team to solve a problem or close a ticket. If you lag here, it usually means either poor communication, unclear roles, or broken systems. In customer retention rate, if people come once and never return, your service might not be the problem. Your follow up in relationship building might be. In employee engagement score. This doesn't mean smiley faces on a survey. Engagement is about how involved, enthusiastic,
and committed your people feel. The deeper the buy in, the stronger the performance. In quality over quantity, are your outputs making impact or are your people just spinning their wheels trying to hit arbitrary numbers? Measure the success of projects, not just how many you've started. In forecast accuracy. If your team constantly misses project, the issue might not be the market, it might be how realistic or grounded your leadership expectations are Number three from the original list of
the areas, the dangerous trap of busy metrics. One of the most misleading stats is ours worked. If you have a team member logging sixty hours a week, don't automatically crown them a hero. Ask why is it inefficiency, poor time management, or a broken process. Busy doesn't always mean productive, and in leadership at your job to distinguish motion from progress. Number four track behavior, not just results. So let's go deeper. Great managers track behavioral metrics, the stuff under the surface.
How often does feedback flow up the chain or leaders following through on commitments? Is cross team collaboration improving or eroding? These aren't numbers that you all find in a spreadsheet, but they're the pulse of your team. And when the pulse flat lines, no monthly dashboard will save you. Number five. What you measure is what you multiply. Here's the leadership truth bomb. People do what they're measured by. If you
track only speed, they'll cut corners. If you track revenue, ethics might take a hit, But if you track ownership, communication, and impact, you'll get more of it, So be careful because what you choose to measure is what your culture will mirror. Number six, Build a three part metric dashboard. If you want a better system, use this model. People metrics, turnover, engagement and internal trust, score and process metrics, efficiency error rates,
project timelines, and performance metrics. Actual outcomes tied to mission, not just financials. If all three categories aren't getting equal attention, you're leading on one leg. So stop measuring for applause. Too many managers collect metrics just to look smart in quarterly meetings. That's not leadership, that's theater. Real leaders track what actually moves the team forward, the tough, gritty numbers, the ones that don't always look good, but tell the
truth because the truth is your starting point. And if you can't lead, if you're blind to where you really are, you have to stop chasing applause and start chasing accuracy. Trade the vanity metrics for vital simes because your team doesn't need to show they need strategy. This has been the seven minute Leadership podcast, and I thank you for listening.
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