Baseline Measurement - Driving Success On and Off the Ice

If you don’t know where you are, and you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know if you’ve arrived?

My fourteen year old daughter plays hockey at a competitive level so I spend a lot of time at the hockey rink. She’s had some great coaches over the years, but the approach of this year’s coach struck a chord with me – he began the season doing baseline measurement; a man after my own heart! He started by taking some pre-season metrics for each player, including off-ice strength and conditioning and on-ice measures such as skating agility and speed of shots. Each girl now has a very clear picture of where they sit on each skill with respect to the overall team average. For those areas where a player is on the lower end of the average, they have a benchmark to work towards. For those areas where they excel, they are challenged to discover “What’s possible?”

As I sat down to write this blog, (while enduring the latest 6 am practice) I saw some parallels to organizations we work with who are trying to release the potential and optimize the impact of their employees. Unfortunately, many of them do not take the time upfront to measure where they are and define where they want to go. They are just in a hurry to get “there”, wherever “there” is. However, those companies that conduct baseline measurement have a much greater chance of success as they can be very specific around the types of training that will optimize the impact of their efforts.

Keys to Successfully Using Baseline Measurement

To set your organization up for success, consider the following:

1. Upfront evaluation of individual and team skills and behaviors will offer a baseline measurement and a guide for development – a 360 degree feedback tool  is one of the most effective for providing this information.
2. Before making decisions around where to focus development efforts, identify your team’s areas of strength and relative weaknesses.
3. Provide individual team members with personal feedback and present opportunities for them to develop their skills in those areas.
4. Help them set goals and then make available the support, coaching and training necessary to reach those goals.
5. Measure progress along the way and be prepared to course correct where required.

As for my daughter’s team, it is early in the season, the team has already improved immensely, primarily because the coach has a very clear picture of what the team and the individual players need to develop in order to be successful.

Can you say the same for your business?