How well does your organization translate qualitative measures into quantitative metrics?

Our reader poll today asks:  How well does your organization translate qualitative measures into quantitative metrics?

• Very — Every qualitative measure has hard metrics to support it.: 10.5%
• Somewhat — Some qualitative measures have metrics; others don’t.: 49.4%
• Not at all — We don’t translate qualitative measures to metrics.: 40.1%

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Often there’s a temptation to say, “Well, it’s a qualitative measure, so we don’t need a metric for it.” With that mindset, you’ll be hard-pressed to figure out if you’re having the impact you desire or if you have surprising problems lurking out of sight. The vast majority of qualitative measures can have quantitative metrics associated with them. Determine which metrics are indicators of the qualitative measure, and track those. While the correlation won’t be perfect, you’ll at least have a gauge of progress and early warning of possible issues before they occur.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 210,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.