Hi there,
The start of a new year is the perfect time to identify baseline metrics.
Future you will thank you in six months.
And again at the end of the year.
And basically all year long.
Let’s make January all about that BASEline metric. 🎶
⚡ Supercharge of the Week
Remote Octopus recommends conducting a baseline quantitative survey with your team in January focused on their operational challenges.
What do we mean by quantitative survey? The majority of the survey statements are anchored in quantitative results. Rating metics will be your friend here.
To start, write 3-6 statements around operational excellence. Claude or ChatGPT can help with phrasing. The statements should be tied to key challenges or areas of opportunity for the team. Ensure each statement has the same rating metrics such as 1 to 5 with 5 always being completely agree. Drop them into a Google Form or survey tool.
EXAMPLE IN ACTION
Cross-functional collaboration feels streamlined.
1: Do Not Agree
5: Completely Agree
Identifying these baseline metrics will have two major impacts:
🚀 Measuring growth will be a snap.
🏆 Easily tailor your upcoming operational excellence initiatives to team needs.
🚀 First, let’s dive into measuring growth. Identifying quantitative improvements in operational excellence and cross-functional coordination can feel amorphous at best. This amorphous feeling can lead to challenges on everything from how we prioritize our time, how we evaluate our impact, and how we communicate progress to leadership.
In operational excellence, we often see lots of qualitative data (i.e. This feels more streamlined) but a lack of concrete quantitative data. Based on qualitative feedback, we might know we improved a process… but have no idea by how much. Or how much improvement might still be on the table to achieve.
If we share a quick baseline survey with 5 rating metrics statements then that gives us starting average ratings for 5 different operational processes. Then we administer this survey again mid-year and/or end-of-year with the same 5 statements and voilà… we can measure positive or negative growth over time.
Leverage that growth delta to guide your operational excellence strategy and to drive prioritization conversations with leadership. Or even in your annual review!
EXAMPLE IN ACTION
On the January survey, we state: Cross-functional collaboration feels streamlined with a rating of 1 to 5. 5 being completely agree. Across 15 responses, the average is 3.4.
In a mid-year survey, we ask the same statement. Across 15 responses, the average is 4.1.
From 3.4 to 4.1 indicates a 20.6% increase in agreement over six months with the phrase: Cross-functional collaboration feels streamlined.
🏆 Now, let’s circle back to our second survey impact of tailoring initiatives to team needs. Because January is all about anchoring in baseline metrics, we’ll quickly have insight into team needs to guide our strategy and prioritization for the year.
EXAMPLE IN ACTION
On the January survey, we state: Cross-functional collaboration feels streamlined with a rating of 1 to 5. Across 15 responses, the average is 3.4.
We also state: Our Jira process is efficient and allows me to work faster with a rating of 1 to 5. Across 15 responses, the average is 2.1.
This quickly tells us that we need to prioritize initiatives around improving the Jira process for teams. We can adjust OKRs accordingly and bring this data into conversations with leadership to discuss any re-prioritization needed.
By administering this same survey again mid-year, you’ll be able to evaluate your growth quantitatively heading into the second half of the year to ensure your team is growing in key areas of opportunity…
… All of that insight because of a few quick rating metrics you gathered from your team in January.
🐙 Remote Octopus Resources
Ready to level up operational excellence for your team? Check out our resources:
