WEBVTT

1
00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:07.000
<v Speaker 1>Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of

2
00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:11.759
<v Speaker 1>performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajiving. This

3
00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:15.560
<v Speaker 1>is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul

4
00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:16.440
<v Speaker 1>Fello Aledo.

5
00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:25.280
<v Speaker 2>Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.

6
00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:30.280
<v Speaker 2>It's episode seven point thirty four. Today we're talking about dashboards,

7
00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:34.079
<v Speaker 2>those beautiful, color coded, number filled screens that sit at

8
00:00:34.119 --> 00:00:39.399
<v Speaker 2>the center of most leadership decisions today, green lights, upward arrows,

9
00:00:39.560 --> 00:00:43.479
<v Speaker 2>percentages that look great in a Monday morning meeting, and

10
00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:47.280
<v Speaker 2>the uncomfortable truth a lot of those dashboards are lying

11
00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:50.759
<v Speaker 2>to you, not on purpose. Nobody's sitting in a back

12
00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:54.119
<v Speaker 2>room cooking the numbers. But the data you're seeing, the

13
00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:57.840
<v Speaker 2>way it's presented, the metrics that got chosen, the things

14
00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:01.520
<v Speaker 2>that didn't make the cut, all of it is shaping

15
00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:04.560
<v Speaker 2>how you see your organization and sometimes what it's showing

16
00:01:04.599 --> 00:01:08.920
<v Speaker 2>you in what's actually happening, are two very different things.

17
00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:12.560
<v Speaker 2>Let me give you a simple example. A leader I

18
00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:16.959
<v Speaker 2>know was proud of his team's response time metrics. The

19
00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:21.200
<v Speaker 2>dashboard showed average response times were down, the numbers looked great.

20
00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:26.760
<v Speaker 2>Leadership was happy, bonuses were being discussed. But when a

21
00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:30.319
<v Speaker 2>few customers started leaving. Nobody could figure out why the

22
00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:36.040
<v Speaker 2>dashboard said everything was fine. It took one honest conversation

23
00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:40.040
<v Speaker 2>with a frontline employee to find out what was happening. Yes,

24
00:01:40.359 --> 00:01:43.439
<v Speaker 2>response times were down because the team had learned to

25
00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:48.959
<v Speaker 2>close tickets faster, not resolve problems better. The metric was

26
00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:55.159
<v Speaker 2>being gamed, not maliciously, just naturally, because people do what

27
00:01:55.319 --> 00:01:58.799
<v Speaker 2>gets measured. The dashboard was telling a true story, it

28
00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:02.120
<v Speaker 2>just wasn't telling the whole story. And that's the thing

29
00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:06.439
<v Speaker 2>about data. It doesn't lie outright. It just leaves things out,

30
00:02:06.519 --> 00:02:09.840
<v Speaker 2>and what gets left out is often the most important stuff.

31
00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:15.199
<v Speaker 2>Here's why this happens. When we build dashboards, we measure

32
00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:20.080
<v Speaker 2>what's easy to measure. Response times, revenue, units sold, headcount.

33
00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:23.080
<v Speaker 2>Those are all real numbers. They're legitimate, but they're also

34
00:02:23.319 --> 00:02:27.319
<v Speaker 2>just the surface. They don't capture morale. They don't capture

35
00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:29.800
<v Speaker 2>how close your best people are to quitting. They don't

36
00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:34.159
<v Speaker 2>capture whether your customers actually like doing business with you

37
00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:37.560
<v Speaker 2>or whether they're just stuck with you for now. The

38
00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:40.800
<v Speaker 2>things that really predict where your organization is going, those

39
00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:45.240
<v Speaker 2>are often harder to quantify, and because they're harder, they

40
00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:49.159
<v Speaker 2>get left off the dashboard entirely. So what does that

41
00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:53.680
<v Speaker 2>mean for you as a leader. It means your dashboard

42
00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:57.719
<v Speaker 2>should be a starting point for a conversation, not an

43
00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:01.599
<v Speaker 2>ending point. When the numbers look good, that's your cue

44
00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:05.599
<v Speaker 2>to ask why when they look bad, same thing. The

45
00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:08.560
<v Speaker 2>number tells you something happened, it doesn't tell you what's

46
00:03:08.599 --> 00:03:12.719
<v Speaker 2>actually going on beneath the surface. The best leaders i've

47
00:03:12.759 --> 00:03:17.759
<v Speaker 2>seen use data the way a doctor uses a thermometer.

48
00:03:18.039 --> 00:03:20.680
<v Speaker 2>A fever tells you something's wrong, it doesn't tell you

49
00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:24.199
<v Speaker 2>what's wrong. A good doctor doesn't just treat the fever.

50
00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:28.319
<v Speaker 2>They go looking for the cause. Your metrics should work

51
00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:32.400
<v Speaker 2>the same way. There's another problem worth naming here, and

52
00:03:32.439 --> 00:03:36.159
<v Speaker 2>it's a cultural one, and a lot of organizations dashboards

53
00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:40.759
<v Speaker 2>become political. People know what numbers leadership is watching, and

54
00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:44.319
<v Speaker 2>they focus their energy on those numbers, whether that's the

55
00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:47.719
<v Speaker 2>right use of their energy or not. When that happens,

56
00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:51.479
<v Speaker 2>you stop getting an accurate picture of reality. You get

57
00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:54.319
<v Speaker 2>a picture of what people think you want to see.

58
00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:58.199
<v Speaker 2>So if you've created an environment where bad news is unwelcome,

59
00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:03.080
<v Speaker 2>your dashboard will reflect that. People will find ways, sometimes

60
00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:07.159
<v Speaker 2>very creative ways to make the numbers look acceptable. And

61
00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:10.800
<v Speaker 2>you'll be making decisions based on a version of reality

62
00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:15.639
<v Speaker 2>that doesn't quite exist. The fix isn't complicated, but it

63
00:04:15.719 --> 00:04:19.240
<v Speaker 2>takes courage. You have to make it safe to bring

64
00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:21.439
<v Speaker 2>you the real picture. You have to be the kind

65
00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:24.959
<v Speaker 2>of leader who doesn't shoot the messenger, who thanks people

66
00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:30.120
<v Speaker 2>for hard conversations, who says I'd rather know now than later.

67
00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:32.639
<v Speaker 2>And you have to get off the dashboard and into

68
00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:36.199
<v Speaker 2>the room. Sometimes walk the floor, have lunch with someone

69
00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:40.199
<v Speaker 2>who's close to the customer. Ask your frontline people what's

70
00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:46.199
<v Speaker 2>actually happening. No filter, no polish, just the truth. Numbers

71
00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:50.399
<v Speaker 2>can hide things people usually can't not if you give

72
00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:53.000
<v Speaker 2>them the space to be honest. So here are three

73
00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:56.600
<v Speaker 2>things you can do this week. First, pick one metric

74
00:04:57.079 --> 00:04:59.720
<v Speaker 2>on your dashboard that your team has control over and

75
00:04:59.720 --> 00:05:03.079
<v Speaker 2>ask someone close to the work what they think is

76
00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:07.800
<v Speaker 2>really driving that number. You might be surprised by that answer. Second,

77
00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:11.079
<v Speaker 2>look for a number that's missing. What important thing in

78
00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:15.399
<v Speaker 2>your organization are you not measuring? Ask yourself why and

79
00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:19.800
<v Speaker 2>whether that needs to change. And Third, create a moment

80
00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:22.120
<v Speaker 2>this week where someone on your team can tell you

81
00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:26.959
<v Speaker 2>something uncomfortable without consequences. You don't have to announce it

82
00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:32.519
<v Speaker 2>as a policy, just be receptive when it happens. Dashboards

83
00:05:32.839 --> 00:05:36.199
<v Speaker 2>are tools, good ones, but a tool is only as

84
00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:38.959
<v Speaker 2>useful as the person using it, and the best leaders

85
00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:44.079
<v Speaker 2>know that data is just one input, not the whole picture.

86
00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:48.199
<v Speaker 2>So the next time you're sitting in front of your

87
00:05:48.279 --> 00:05:51.560
<v Speaker 2>dashboard and everything looks fine, let that be the moment

88
00:05:51.639 --> 00:05:55.279
<v Speaker 2>you lean forward and ask, what's this not showing me?

89
00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:59.360
<v Speaker 2>That question alone will make you a better leader than

90
00:05:59.399 --> 00:06:03.480
<v Speaker 2>a thousand perfect metrics ever could. And if you want

91
00:06:03.560 --> 00:06:08.079
<v Speaker 2>more free leadership resources, head over to Paulfalovalito dot com

92
00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:11.600
<v Speaker 2>and click on free Stuff. I have over twenty five

93
00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:16.160
<v Speaker 2>free leadership documents that you can download and start using today.

94
00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:20.040
<v Speaker 2>This has been the seven minute leadership podcast and I

95
00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:21.120
<v Speaker 2>thank you for listening.

96
00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:26.519
<v Speaker 1>For more Paul Fello Alito podcasts, visit Paulfellowalito dot com