In a disruptive era we have to be measuring how our organizations are doing in a lot of different ways. The traditional “vital signs” about sales and profits are no longer enough. We have to develop fresh metrics derived from what the other players are up to, right now.
Even established companies like Kraft, which Blooomberg Business Week reports, had a 4% boost in sales, has to look beyond itself. Today after its North America Grocery split off from its snack division it is listed as a separate company. In that space it has to anticipate the myriad moves which the competition will make. The fundamental of game theory is not to make decisions in isolation but only in reference to what other players are doing or might do. The resilient chief executive officer of News Corp Rupert Murdoch studied game theory when he was at Oxford.
Here are 3 tips from Image Marketing Consultants on how to review your performance:
Listen. The marketplace will let you know in detail what’s okay and not okay. Use your special events, social networking sites, and surveys to be your ear-extenders.
Form partnerships. Together you have more insight on what metrics count and which have become irrelevant.
Hire employees and consultants who aren’t a hand-and-glove fit with your organizational culture. Then ask them daily how they rate your strategies and tactics.
In his management classic “How The Mighty Fall,” Jim Collins cites smugness born of success as the reason why an enterprise begins to decline. Prevent that by developing multiple perspectives for tracking success.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations for marketing, partnerships, public relations, special events, and social media kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.