In the last post, Execute, Execute, Execute, we got down to the engine room of achievement and success; that being that you have to take action and make things happen. Now that you are doing that, it is time to measure and review your progress.

Why measure and review?

There is a saying that is used regularly that goes “You can only control what you measure”. You have set off on your journey to achieve the goals that will take you towards your vision. At any time you will be in one of three positions against your goals, you will be ahead of plan, on plan or behind plan. How will you know if you are on track if you are not measuring how you are progressing and reviewing where you are against your plan? How will you know what action you need to take to get back on track, if you do not know you are off-track?

What to measure?

What you measure, largely depends on what you want the outcome of your goals to be. If your goal is about weight management, you may consider tracking your weight and your calorie intake. Perhaps your goal is about improved sales, then you may want to track numbers of leads, conversion rates and order values. Whatever it is, the measure needs to be relevant and you need to measure and monitor it.

How to review?

To conduct your review, you need to refer to your goals, know where you planned to be at this time and then compare your actual position against where you planned to be. A process you can use to conduct your reviews is called the AAR, After Action Review. In the AAR you consider the following:

  • What did you set out to achieve?
  • What are your results to date against the goal?
  • What has gone right & why? – you use this to identify strengths and behaviours/actions to replicate
  • What has not gone to plan & why? – here you identify problems and approaches that have not worked and look at how to avoid them happening again.
  • What countermeasures or corrective actions are required? – to get you back on track with the goal
  • Plan what you are going to do over the next week/month to achieve the outcome you want?

How often to review?

You should plan reviews into your calendar regularly, perhaps to coincide with target dates for goals or sub-goals. However, I think a regular review such as on a weekly basis is more useful, this allows you to get into a routine and gives sufficient time between reviews to make progress.

Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success – Pablo Picasso

Eye eye captain
Creative Commons License photo credit: PlaitsandBows