subject: The Eight Key Areas Every Executive Should Track for Organizational Leadership [print this page] The Eight Key Areas Every Executive Should Track for Organizational Leadership
It's true that every executive needs a dashboard to track progress.
One of the reasons I've helped business owners and executives set up an "Executive Dashboard" (which serves the same purpose that a car's dashboard does for its driver) is to help focus them on the key things that matter while leading the organization.
The following are descriptions of the eight key areas that every executive should track on a dashboard to improve overall leadership performance:
1. One-Year Vision for Organization. Where do you want to take the organization in the next year?
2. Three-Year Vision for Organization. What about in three years? (Note: Five years has become a bit too long given today's pace of change, but if you prefer a five or even ten year vision, that is fine).
3. Top Three Priorities to Achieve Vision vs. Current State. Challenge yourself to list only three priorities to take the organization where you want it to go. Examples: Penetrate the European marketplace by the end of the year; hire five new seasoned leaders to run profitable units; launch a new line of lower-end products to market to box stores; focus on decreasing the defect rate to less than 1% by end of the year.
4. Top Three Metrics to Track, Including Goals for those Metrics with Time Frame. These will be the most important goals that the executive must achieve to be successful. Consider setting standard and "stretch" goals for each.
5. Key Performance Indicators I Expect My Employees to Achieve (list the top three indicators for each employee). You should specify what you expect from each employee, listed as specific performance indicators that can be measured. Now you have an accountability chain that starts with you and progresses down the organization.
6. Key Relationships to Be Successful. You should list the relationships in your network that will be most important to nurture and build (or develop). That way, you can focus on improving those relationships.
7. Values That Define How I Will Lead. These are the values that you defined earlier. Now you can refer to them again and again to support leading by example and creating an organizational culture that embodies your most important traits.
8. Top Three Goals for Professional Development. List up to three goals you will to continue to develop. These can include new skills, knowledge, attitudes, talents to build on, and/or behaviors to increase or decrease.
