Why Your Metrics Aren’t Moving the Needle
Andrea Belk Olson, OBM, MSC
Expert in Operationalizing Strategic Change. HBR Contributor and Masterclass instructor, Behavioral Scientist, Author of 3 Best-Selling Business Books.
“The first step is to measure whatever can be easily measured. This is OK as far as it goes. The second step is to disregard that which can’t be easily measured or to give it an arbitrary quantitative value. This is artificial and misleading. The third step is to presume that what can’t be measured easily really isn’t important. This is blindness. The fourth step is to say that what can’t be easily measured really doesn’t exist. This is suicide.” – Daniel Yankelovich
We use metrics to ensure we're tracking the critical things making our organization tick. We use them so everyone in the company knows what's most important to success. And as long as the needle moves, even slightly, we assume progress is being made.
But metrics, like KPIs and OKRs, the business equivalent of Fitbits. Great at tracking activity, terrible at ensuring impact. There’s often a Grand Canyon-sized gap between what an organization says it wants to achieve (the goal or objective) and what people are actually doing every day (the action).
Some metrics are totally fine, and of course super useful. But when employees don't know why a number is being tracked, how it ties to actual results, or worse, if the metric is incomplete or doesn't connect to the right goal, it can be more damaging than beneficial.
The McNamara fallacy involves making a decision based solely on quantitative observations or metrics and ignoring all others. The core of the fallacy is the belief that if a factor cannot be easily measured, it should not be considered in decision-making. It's like choosing a restaurant on the basis of online votes rather than also considering qualitative commentary.
For instance, employee performance is usually measured by quantitative metrics like sales numbers or tasks completed. But the important information is buried in the details. Let’s imagine two people, Jane and Jack, whose job it is to land new clients. Last year, Jack secured 20 and Jane 15. Good job, team! But, behind the numbers, there’s more to be seen.
Jack’s clients really didn’t like him. He had and insensitive manner that was off-putting. Within a year, most of his clients had left. Jane, on the other hand, won her clients with a genuinely caring personality. Her clients all stayed around. So, who is the better employee?
Arguably, measuring success by solely an acquisition metric isn't all that it's cracked up to be. But organizations rely on customer satisfaction scores (CSAT) or Net Promoter Scores (NPS) to gauge their success. But if you focus exclusively on the numbers, you can often overlook the underlying reasons behind them.
So what do you do? Start by asking these 10 questions:
If your KPIs aren’t prompting reflection, conversation, and course correction, they’re not key. And they’re certainly not indicators of performance. And unless your metrics are helping you navigate, you’re just staring at the dashboard while the road disappears beneath you.
👉 QUESTION: What’s one KPI your organization tracks that you secretly question? What’s a metric you wish leadership paid more attention to?
More insights on strategic change:
NEW BOOK COMING SOON!
📚 COMING SOON: Flavor of the Month Why your company keeps starting and stopping—and what it’s costing you.
From sexy new strategies to the latest management fad, organizations are addicted to chasing change. But behind the buzzwords lies a culture of chaos, half-finished ideas, and employees who’ve stopped believing anything will stick.
This book unpacks how leaders confuse motion with progress—and how to build real momentum instead.
🔥 Ready to break the cycle? 👉 Comment on how your company’s been caught in the loop.
IN THE MEANTIME...
Pick up my previous book in the meantime - "What To Ask: How to Learn what Customers Need but Don't Tell You" (An Amazon #1 Bestseller in Business Research & Development!)
Eager to learn how to fix the strategy-execution gap? Here are ways we can work directly together:
I’d be honored to chat and see what might be the best fit for you. Feel free to reach out to me directly here 💚
Until next time,
ABO
Enabling Executives to Plan with Confidence | Real-Time Foresight & Scenario Planning | Managing Director – Continuous Software | aangine.com | Board Member Skys The Limit Fund
5dAndrea, you’ve identified one of the quiet killers of execution: KPIs that are easy to track but disconnected from decision-making. I often see dashboards full of what I call comfort metrics—numbers that confirm we’re busy, not that we’re making the right trade-offs. The deeper issue is that many KPIs are defined without first modeling the capacity, dependencies, and constraints that will influence outcomes. When leaders start with that “math” first, they can pinpoint the few metrics that truly influence decisions—and discard those that only create noise. Without that connection, we risk optimizing for activity while moving further away from the goal. What has been your most effective method for separating the comfort metrics from the critical few? https://youtu.be/RYNSdQoKDtI
Former hospital CEO / Husband / Dad of several 4 legged furry kids
2w😆 So true ......... both the cartoon about company politics, and your writing about dashboards and KPIs 😆 The sad part is the same dashboard and KPIs are presented month after month, year after year at board meetings or other management meetings without any discussions about what exactly are these numbers measuring, whether those KPIs are at all relevant! It requires a brain to understand and challenge the status quo. It requires a spine to stand up straight, and not be part of the company politics and cover ups. Thank you Andrea Belk Olson, MSC