Peter Drucker is often misquoted as saying: “What gets measured gets managed.”
But the actual quote is: “What gets measured gets managed – even when it’s pointless to measure and manage it, and even if it harms the purpose of the organisation.”
Wells Fargo unintentionally focused on measuring individuals being “active” on their computers.
And the result is that their people focused on their computers being active – even when this offered no benefit to the organisation.
It’s a great example of a well-intentioned focus that introduces behaviours that harm.
We’ve seen this numerous times before.
Past corporate scandals, such as those at Boeing, Enron and Sears, illustrate how ill-considered focuses and targets pressured employees into fraudulent activities and unethical practices.
But not all measures result in serious issues and business collapse.
Many just make things harder, slower and more expensive to complete.
They make our processes move like molasses.
Purposeful culture is not only the lubricant to your strategy – it helps to determine what should be measured and managed purposefully, too.
