What are your metrics?

My 12-year-old plays a lot of basketball, and often we’ll talk about the games and how he played. What is so interesting is that he (like many others) defines success by points. How did you think you played I’d ask? In the games he would hardly score, he would say badly, but in the games he would score more than average points, he would say well.

Often though in the games he would profess to say that he didn’t play well, I noticed he had some great assists, passes, steals and played great defense. I would share that with him and how all those important actions all contributed towards the team doing well. Points on their own do little to win. He is rarely convinced and will still lean on points as a factor.?

Clearly you need points but without great defense or more importantly a cohesive team performance, it will result in a loss.

I know the scoreboard is very basic, so to have up there, each players assists, steels, rebounds are unrealistic. However, I would love to have the coach after the game or better still between the quarters call out the players that have been contributing outside of the points. That way the kids that do the “background” work can feel recognized and also attach value to that part of the game. Don’t get me wrong, having an outstanding scoring performance should be recognized also of course. Just saying that points aren’t the only barometer for success.

How can we get our society to consider rewarding and recognizing the background metrics that are vital to contributing to outstanding performance?

I can’t help but feel that often society is defined by the points and the people making the points.

Whether it's other sports or even business. Often when speaking to other business leaders, revenue is often asked for a barometer of success. Is that the right one? I know of several businesses that had a lot of revenue but still failed. It's like we don’t have time nor headspace to learn so we need a quick blunt metric to size things up. Context matters and so do the “other metrics”.

Average deal size? No of customers? NPS? App Store rating, etc…

These are all leading indicators that are critical to deliver great outcome metrics.

How about personally? Minutes exercised? Friends spoken to? Minutes meditated? Times a week unpacking the dishwasher :) ?

Or is it just your weight? Job? Etc…?

Perhaps we should be further be doubling down on recognizing the behaviors and not the outcomes or results?

What are your leading indicators? How about with your kids?