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I wrote in my last blog post Vision, Goals, and Actions about how critical it is to take a time out, create a vision for your company, and then plan the five year, one year, and next quarter plans, complete with measurable key productivity indicators. This post is about those key productivity indicators.

All too often we are flooded with information when we run our business. Financial reports. Action plans. Email messages until we cannot stand it any more. It is critical that we rise about this noise and keep ourselves and our entire organization focused on a small number (no more than five or six) forward looking indicators that drive our business.

For example, if we know from experience that we average forty leads a month, of which ten are highly qualified, and five close, we should focus on the number of leads each week. If you keep focused on ten leads every week, you will know whether you are on track or not.

Rather than look at seventy different numbers, identifying and focusing on those few critical ones keeps everyone paying attention to the right thing. Coloring those numbers provides instant visual feedback for what is on track and what is not. Green for everything is okay, amber for things that are about to become a problem, and red for when everyone needs to stop what they are doing and focus on the underperforming area.

As I wrote in By the Numbers, Provident Security has taken this to the next level. They display their handful of critical numbers on display screens throughout the company. This provides real time feedback to everyone on the organization as to whether they are on track or not.

How do you keep your organization on track?