Show Me the Metrics! 5 Ways to Keep Employees On Target

In an interview, Jebbett offered tips on how to keep people focused on the numbers-based approach.

Adopt a simple slogan. Walk into Rowmark’s offices, and you’ll see William Edward Deming’s famous saying, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” stenciled on the walls.

Reinforce metrics in every meeting. “Every morning at 8:00 we have a 10-minute stand up meeting, for every department in the company, to find out where we were from the day before, and what’s happening today. What’s running on our lines, and what customers do we need to give special attention to?” At weekly meetings, Jebbett says, the leadership team reviews key performance indicators to ask themselves, ‘Where are we falling down? What should we celebrate?”

Use lots and lots of visuals. “We do crazy things like have plasma screens throughout our business — they show financials and constantly repeat what the goals are and how we measure up against those goals.”

Solicit employees’ ideas. “As we brought new folks in, we tried to engage them on that, and they brought in great ideas on how to help us improve our metrics and use them for managing. It’s continuous improvement.”

Offer rewards. Rowmark doesn’t just talk about the value of metrics. It pays profit-sharing based on metrics. So management and employees are equally committed to transparency.

Understand the limits to metrics. “People are what makes the difference in a business,” he says. “They’re the most important asset you can have, and yet they’re not on the balance sheet, so the accountants don’t pick them up.” Jebbett’s recruiting reflects this mentality. “We hire first for attitude, and then we teach the skill. There’s a lot of successful people out there with wonderful degrees, but I’d rather have a person with a great attitude, because we can teach them what they need to know for our business.”