Now don’t get me wrong. I love measurement. Heck, I measure everything, Everything! I am the epitome of measurement. Okay, perhaps that’s stretching it too far but you get the picture. I believe measurement is a critical step to bring about any change and improvement. Yet, I have been shying away from measurement lately. Well, I am still measuring but am generally becoming resistant to pushing the envelope too far on measurement. Which got me thinking.
When does measurement become a pain in the wrong part of our anatomy? When do we start resisting measurement? I think this happens when:
- we stop playing the game and become score keepers. When measurement becomes an end in itself.
- measurement starts to be more difficult and time consuming than the actual work that you are trying to measure.
- we look for absolute precision in measurement when accuracy is all that is required.
- it is just hard to measure softer parameters and kills the fun of actual work, like trying to measure creativity, innovation, culture, learning etc.
- we are afraid that measurement will be used against us in performance appraisals, or for comparing us with peers.
- one measure will lead to the requirement of measuring another, will lead to… …
When have you resisted measurement?
Pic by HeyThereSpaceman.
