Measuring results

- How will you know if you've been successful…once you've implemented your idea?…Your stakeholders will want to know the measure of success.…Lay out what those key metrics are,…how frequently you're going to measure them,…what the sources of data are,…and how you're going to update your stakeholders.…With that good monitoring plan,…you're going to be able to share with your stakeholders…how things are going and manage their expectations…that things are either on-track or off-track.…

When you lay out these metrics,…also specify triggers for when you'll take action…if a metric is not hitting your expectations.…In addition to sharing those triggers,…explain what actions you can take…if the metric isn't living up to what you expected.…We had a business case where we launched…a new compensation plan for our call center associates.…We predicted it would reduce average handle time,…the amount of time that the agent…is on the phone with a customer.…

We believed that the new compensation plan would get them…to be more efficient on the phone.…