How do you use industry standards to evaluate executive metrics?

1 Why use industry standards?

Industry standards are the best practices, guidelines, or norms that are widely accepted and followed by professionals or organizations in a specific industry. They can help you evaluate your executive metrics by providing a reference point, a common language, and quality assurance. By utilizing industry standards, you can compare your executive metrics with peers, competitors, or leaders in your industry to identify strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, you can communicate your executive metrics to stakeholders such as the board, investors, customers, or employees to demonstrate credibility, transparency, and alignment with their expectations. Furthermore, industry standards can ensure your executive metrics are relevant, reliable, and valid and reflect the trends, challenges, and opportunities of the industry.

2 How to identify industry standards?

Identifying the most appropriate and relevant standards for your industry, role, and goals is the first step to use industry standards to evaluate your executive metrics. Researching industry associations, publications, reports, or surveys that publish or endorse standards for executive metrics is one way to do this. Consulting with mentors, peers, or experts in your industry or network who have experience or insight into the industry standards is another. Additionally, reviewing your own historical data, performance reviews, or feedback can help you identify the industry standards you have used or encountered in the past. Doing these things will enable you to measure your performance against industry standards.

3 How to apply industry standards?

To use industry standards to evaluate your executive metrics, the second step is to apply them to your current situation and context. You can do this by aligning your executive metrics with those that match your vision, mission, strategy, and objectives. For example, if you are a COO in the logistics industry, you may align your operational metrics with customer satisfaction, delivery time, cost efficiency, or safety. Furthermore, you should set realistic and attainable targets or benchmarks for your executive metrics based on the industry standards and your own capabilities, resources, and constraints. Additionally, tracking and reporting your executive metrics regularly and consistently using the industry standards as a framework, format, or template is important. For example, if you are a CHRO in the hospitality industry, you may track and report your human resources metrics using employee engagement, retention, or diversity.

4 How to adapt industry standards?

The third step to use industry standards to evaluate your executive metrics is to adapt them to your changing needs and environment. You can review and update your executive metrics and industry standards periodically and proactively to reflect your progress, achievements, or challenges. Additionally, you can customize and supplement your executive metrics and industry standards with your own criteria, indicators, or measures. Lastly, you can learn and improve from your executive metrics and industry standards by analyzing, evaluating, or benchmarking your performance, results, or outcomes against them. By doing so, you can leverage the industry standards as a tool to measure and improve your executive effectiveness and success. Using industry standards can help enhance your performance, credibility, and value as an executive.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?