I went out for a run with my wife the other day. Her ‘go to’ watch is one that has GPS in it. After our run, I realized she was wearing the watch. So, I instantly asked how far we went…what was our pace, what was the split? I justified some of the data with “well, we started out walking…” and then I just stopped.
We went out for a lovely run. The weather was perfect. I ran the milage non-stop. And I felt good. I enjoyed the run.
Letting the metrics seep in to the conversation and my cool-down started to rob me of the joy of the run.
Eff the metrics.
Look, we live in a society in which we feel the need…or pressure…to measure everything. We even have devices now that measure our sleep! What happened to waking up and “feeling” good or bad? You need metrics to tell you that?
I understand we should spend time improving ourselves…but we’ve become addicted to it. Whether it’s “every day be 1% better” or finding every second of productivity in a day possible so I can be “better” by some measure or metric.
What happened to going for a run…just for fun? Just because I can. Just because it’s nice out? Shooting hoops without keeping track of how many go in? Writing a content piece without constantly looking to see how many views I have?
Worse, we do this across our professional lives as well. We push ourselves to try new things and the minute the new thing is done…we’re critiquing it. Finding ways to improve it (which is really just an exercise in self-doubt and criticism, but I digress). Instead of just taking a moment to enjoy the fact that we did something. We did something new. We learned something new.
I see it on Linked In across many content creators…they come out blazing hot with a few posts and then vanish. And I guarantee it’s because they looked at the metrics and saw very little engagement. Felt defeated. And quit.
Eff the metrics.
There is a time and place for measuring and improving. But we need to do a far better job of identifying when those times are and more importantly when those times aren’t.
If you manage or lead someone, let me tell you when the wrong time is – right after someone accomplishes something net-new; especially if it’s net-new to the organization.
You’ve asked your folks to experiment. Try new things. Push the boundaries and so, they’ve gone through the struggle. They’ve had the roller-coaster of figuring something new out. They present it to you and your response is: well…here are all the ways you need to improve it.
Crash. Defeated. "Thanks for the feedback," they'll say as the slump away. I can hear all you metric/KPI addicted “crushing-bros” say “but how can people get better?”
Sigh.
It’s not a matter of never measuring. It’s not a matter of never course-correcting nor ignoring ways to enhance and improve. This isn't about participation trophies or whatever other non-sense you want to use as an excuse to be a shitty manager.
It’s a matter of cadence and sequencing.
Let folks enjoy their success for a moment. Let them process it. Chances are? Once they’ve processed it…they will come up with the improvement(s)…but you’re robbing them of that opportunity as well. You rob them of the joy of completing something new…and the opportunity to identify and improve. And we wonder why people are disengaged at work? It's shocking (insert all the sarcasm).
Eff the metrics for a minute. Celebrate the win. Let the thing settle. Then coach.
Otherwise, you’re going to be left with a team that doesn’t want to try new things or experiment…and you’ll be wondering “why doesn’t anyone want to try new things anymore?”
Three guesses why. And the answer is looking at you in the mirror.
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