Nick Gray's Linkedin Analytics

"What gets measured gets managed." This has led companies to develop complex measurement systems. Dashboards track everything from financial performance to operational metrics to employee engagement. Yet despite this, I've observed a persistent problem across organizations: Not all metrics are treated equally. In practice, there's an unspoken hierarchy of metrics that drives actual decision-making: 1. Financial Metrics: Revenue, profit, margins 2. Operational Metrics: Efficiency, productivity, output 3. Customer Metrics: Satisfaction, retention, lifetime value 4. Employee Metrics: Engagement, development, wellbeing 5. Societal Metrics: Environmental impact, community contribution The higher metrics are on this hierarchy, the more likely they are to influence decisions when trade-offs arise. This creates a disconnect between stated and actual priorities. Companies declare "customers are our top priority" while consistently sacrificing customer experience for operational efficiency or short-term financial gains. The solution isn't adding more metrics - it's consciously reshaping the hierarchy. Before developing your next strategic measurement framework, honestly assess your metric hierarchy: - When metrics conflict in decision-making, which level consistently prevails? - Does this revealed hierarchy align with your strategic priorities? - What would need to change in your processes to elevate currently subordinated metrics? The metrics that drive your decisions reveal your actual strategy, regardless of what your strategy documents say.