Measure What Really Matters
November 9, 2023 | By David M. Wagner
Are your stakeholders reading your annual reports or quarterly updates and thinking, “So what?”
“We had 100 participants…we met with 25 elected representatives…we hired 3 new team members…”
So what?
I do not mean to disparage these data points. They may be incredibly important to your mission.
But how are they important to your mission? Are you communicating how have they contributed to your impact?
What’s Easy vs. What’s Important
One of the biggest challenges in the nonprofit and government sectors is measuring – and conveying – the social impact of programs.
I was reminded of this difficulty during a recent conversation with a group of cybersecurity policy experts. When the topic of metrics came up, participants exchanged ideas for measuring how well their organizations perform key activities, like managing software patches.
But initially missing from that conversation was how to describe the value of these activities: why should business or government leaders care about those metrics?
Participants noted that we report on activities because (1) they are easy to measure and (2) we know what to do when performance drops.
But what’s easy to measure is not the only thing that’s important to track.
Focusing on Outcomes
In the social sector, the most valuable thing we can assess is our mission outcomes.
Unfortunately, outcomes are often hard to measure. They can be nebulous to define, data may be limited, and changes may occur over months, years, or longer.
But even when they are hard to measure, focusing on outcomes is tremendously valuable:
Intended outcomes clarify decision making. As a key part of your strategic vision, knowing your intended mission outcomes makes it easier to decide what programs to pursue or drop. “Will this advance our desired outcomes?” is an essential litmus test.
Anticipated outcomes activate support. Build your theory of change to project how you expect activities to translate into outcomes. Use that prediction to ask for support: “hiring these three staff members will enable us to reduce unreported domestic violence by 25% in our community in the next two years.”
Shared outcomes facilitate partnerships. A clear desired outcome, like increasing graduation rates at the local high school, makes it easier for organizations that share that goal but have different missions (like after school tutoring and social support services) to work together.
Tracking outcomes builds momentum. There is nothing more powerful for accelerating additional support – advocacy, staffing, volunteers, funding – than having data that shows that your work has made a real difference.
Cybersecurity policy leaders are learning to focus on outcomes like reducing risk (even when that’s hard to measure), and not just tracking key activities. What are your critical outcomes, and how do you measure (and talk about) them?
For a more complete measurement framework, check out my white paper on metrics that matter. And when you’re ready to measure what matters, set a free consult to discuss how we can work together to make metrics a strategic tool to drive your mission impact.