Know How Well You're Doing

Imagine a sports game without a scoreboard. No one, players, coaches, officials, spectators would know how the game was progressing. Players and coaches wouldn't know whether to try harder, slacken off or intensify their efforts or change the game plan. They wouldn't know how to deploy players for best results or match up opposition players for maximum advantage.

And How Well They're Doing

Without a scoreboard you could rely only on voice contacts to receive information about the state of the game. You wouldn't know how the opposition was doing either. And you'd have no real idea whether the information from the voice contacts was worthwhile or useless.

The Sports Arena and The Workplace

Why we cannot conceive of a sports arena without a scoreboard. But we don't demand a scoreboard telling us about workplace performance.

We set work goals routinely but don't set standards to tell us how well we're progressing towards them. In the sports arena this would be seen as just plain stupid.

Benefits of Performance Standards

Performance Standards measure how well you're progressing towards your goals. They also enable you to measure goal achievement precisely. But they do more

• they provide intermediate goals to motivate employees
• they reinforce the importance of measurement of progress towards goals
• they allow revision of tactics for goal achievement
• they force managers to be precise and specific about what they're trying to achieve
• they improve clarity of purpose for all concerned
• they facilitate evaluation of performance in a consistent manner
• they highlight circumstances that enhance or inhibit goal achievement

Conclusion

Without professional Performance Standards you'll not only be unable to work out whether you're successfully or your way to achieving your goals. You'll have no precise way of knowing whether you've arrived either.