Collecting the Right Data

Today, many businesses want to make data driven decisions. And, believe me, it totally makes sense to want to make decisions based on more than a gut reaction to what we see in our world. But making decisions based on the wrong data can be even less productive than making a decision based on “instinct!” Knowing what data to collect, so that you can make quality data driven decisions, begins with knowing what areas of your business need to be improved. Unfortunately, too many businesses don’t know what needs to be improved. This is too often because many businesses only have financial data. They know their P & L, but have no clue about critical, non-financial key performance indicators.

Here are 5 non-financial key performance indicators (NFKPIs) we measure with our clients: Culture, Operations, Leadership, Training, and Service. By asking employees to rate several statements as being extremely true, very true, somewhat true, not very true, or not true about specific aspects of your business regarding those 5 NFKPIs, we can acquire data about these critical areas of a business. But this is not enough. We need to not only know what’s true about your business, we need to know what’s important to your business and how well your business executes it’s strategies and tactics in these 5 NFKPI areas. At Culture By Choice, we use the Performance Gap Indicator, or PGI, to help many of our clients acquire critical data in these 5 NFKPI areas.

The PGI makes 21 statements that employees rate as either being extremely true, very true, somewhat true, not very true, or not true. It then makes 12 statements that employees rate as being either extremely important, very important, somewhat important, not very important, or not important. Finally, it makes 12 statements that employees rate as being either extremely effective, very effective, somewhat effective, not very effective, or not effective. As a result of this survey, a business acquires data regarding these 5 NFKPIs and can make decisions about where it wants to start making improvements. We always recommend working on only one or two strategies at any one time. Working on more than that dilutes efforts and focus and as a result the chances of success are diminished.

You can achieve data driven improvements in your business and we can help. Let us give you an idea as to what it would take to get that data. We can help you get the data and develop specific strategies that can drive significant improvements in your business and we can do it at a cost that your business can afford. Consider it, I really believe we can help!