The Frequently Overlooked Growth Driver

Written by Rob Highett-Smith, Head of Performance Measurement at Fiftyfive5, part of Accenture Song

What if I told you that there was a way you can significantly improve your team and business performance?

What if I told you that it could help you improve the quality of decision-making, what you choose to do (and not do), how well you do those things (effectiveness and efficiency), and – even more importantly – team morale and culture?

You are most likely already doing some of this, but by focusing on improving how you do it, you could unlock significant performance gains. Many organisations have already unlocked these benefits – including Amazon, Microsoft and Coca-Cola.

So, what if I told you implementing proper Performance Measurement programs and processes can TRANSFORM your operational capabilities and deliver significant performance benefits?

Well, it can.

(Almost) every team and organisation uses Measurement to some extent. But unless it’s being done properly, chances are it is adding little value, and in some cases might even be reducing performance as teams become more conservative and risk averse: beholden to processes rather than focused on outcomes.

It’s not just business that is taking advantage of the power of Measurement. Elite sports have used Measurement for many years. In fact, measuring performance can be one of the most motivating aspects of sport… even for those just watching!

The 2011 movie Moneyball told the story of how Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane revolutionised baseball by using data analytics to assemble a competitive team on a limited budget. Fast forward to today and these approaches play a key role in a range of team sports from the NBA to the English Premier League as well as individual sports like Cycling and Golf.

But ultimately, my point isn’t just that Measurement (& Analytics) are important. I think most readers would readily agree with this.

My point is that Measurement often isn’t done properly. It’s not always set up optimally or strategically. And there is a critical difference between just Measurement and true Performance Measurement.

So, what do I mean by Performance Measurement?

Measurement is ubiquitous and becoming ever more prevalent in our digitised world. Performance Measurement, I’ve found, means different things to different people, and is sometimes conflated with Performance Marketing.

But here I’m using the term in the broader sense to talk about Measurement as a key part of the Strategy Execution process.

At Fiftyfive5, we think about this process in terms of three stages:

Stage 1: Identify Growth Strategies: decide where to play and how to win.

Stage 2: Execute Strategies: deploy campaigns, implement Customer Experience (CX) initiatives, optimise pricing, product & packaging etc.

Stage 3: Performance Measurement: the process and tools associated with evaluating and optimising performance in the first two stages.

Typically, Performance Measurement involves Brand & Campaign tracking programs, advertising pre-testing, CX and Voice of Customer (VOC) measurement programs, Marketing Analytics (MMM, Attribution, Incrementality etc.) as well as Experimentation / Test & Learn programs.

Good Performance Measurement programs are also integrated and hybrid:

• They align with strategy and are implemented in an integrated way across associated activities (like Marketing and CX for example).
• They are hybrid in the sense that they incorporate a range of different datasets to represent the full dimensionality of performance – customer (experience & behavioural), operational and financial etc.

You’ll also note that the process above is circular and ongoing. Measurement provides feedback on performance for optimisation; and as strategies, tactics and activities evolve, Measurement programs and Metrics should also evolve.

Without proper feedback there is little basis for evolution or improvement.

The benefits of improving Performance Measurement

Well design and executed Measurement should be a key focus for teams. It is a powerful way of continuously improving performance, unlocking growth and delivering real value.

Done well, it can deliver a range of benefits:

• Better alignment between teams, their activities, strategies and objectives
• A shared understanding of what success looks like (in specific, measurable terms)
• Common understanding of how objectives will be achieved
• A clearer, simpler set of Metrics (a focus on ‘The Metrics that Matter’)
• Improved decision-making and outcomes
• A more performance-focused culture
• Improved motivation and engagement
• Ability to more clearly identify and mitigate risks
• The tools and processes to gain more insightful, meaningful feedback
• More inspiration and more creativity
• Improved resource allocation & initiative prioritisation
• Increased accountability

So, what if I told you that improving your existing Measurement programs is an often overlooked but powerful Growth Driver?

As you can see, it is.

In future articles, we’ll explore more about the nature of Performance Measurement and what it actually takes to do it well.