The Measure of Readiness: One Facet of Organizational Performance

Measuring Readiness gives you confidence... measuring Performance gives you control.

During a recent webcast about measuring organizational progress, a participant asked a question that spotlights why being intentional about how we discuss and use measures matters.

“My organization is considering adopting readiness measures in place of performance measures.  What are the differences between a readiness and a performance measure?  Are they interchangeable?”   

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front)

Readiness is just one facet of organizational performance. By themselves, measures of Readiness cannot provide all the information and insight needed to accomplish your organization's mission today and prepare for tomorrow.

You can't manage an organization with only measures of Readiness any more than you could with only measures of Quality, or Financial Health, or Customer Satisfaction.

Clarification

This question is a bit challenging to answer because of a common habit of calling every organizational metric a "performance measure." Without being more precise with measurement language, we lose sight of what each measure reveals, who needs it, and how it should inform decision-making.

In our webcast, “Four Ways Leaders Can Measure & Monitor Progress” [link] with Stacey Barr and Kathy Letendre , we presented four types of measures for monitoring progress and managing organizational performance.

• Quota Measures: quantify how many tasks were completed by a point in time.

• Activity Measures: quantify the volume of activity or output produced over time.

• Status Measures: quantify results-to-date at a point in time.

• Performance Measures: quantify how results change over time.

Each measure type serves a distinct purpose. Together, they provide a more complete picture connecting what we do with what we achieve.

You can think of it like your car.

• It's your turn to drive the carpool taking the kids to school. You need to know if your car is ready. Will it start? Does it have enough gas? Are the tires safe?  Status Measures show your car's current condition and readiness right now for your needs and purpose.

• Is your car getting less reliable over time? Is it breaking down more frequently? Are repair costs climbing? Is gas mileage getting worse? Performance Measures track those changes over time.

• Your car's reliability depends on maintenance activities, like oil changes, tire rotations, and brake inspections. Activity Measures tell you how much maintenance you're doing and how consistently.

• Doing the maintenance is great, but it needs to happen on schedule. Are oil changes done every 6,000 miles? Are tires rotated every 12,000 miles? Quota Measures track whether you've completed the required tasks by specific points in time or milestones.

Knowing your car is ready to drive today doesn't tell you if it'll be ready for a trip next month or next year. You need insight from all four measure types to keep your car reliable and ready.

Readiness in Organizations

The same principles apply to Readiness in organizations, especially mission-critical ones.

Status Measures of Readiness answer "are we ready right now?" and provide a snapshot critical for real-time operational judgment. They inform mission and operational decisions pertaining to deployment, risk, and contingency planning.

Performance Measures of Readiness reveal whether Readiness is improving, declining, or holding steady over time. They demonstrate if our activities are having the desired effect on the level of Readiness.

We can think of Performance Measures and Status Measures as complementary measures of effectiveness for Readiness. They tell us if our activities are achieving and sustaining the level of Readiness we want.

Likewise, Activity Measures and Quota Measures are complementary measures of performing tasks and activities for Readiness. They tell us if we are completing the activities and tasks needed to sustain and improve Readiness.

Measuring Readiness

Just like in the car example where readiness depends on multiple factors, Readiness in mission-critical organizations depends on contributing factors like those below, tailored to each organization's mission and role.

• Workforce - Availability, training, fitness, well-being, and competency of personnel essential to perform and sustain operations.

• Infrastructure and Equipment - Functionality and accessibility of facilities, vehicles, specialty devices, and supporting technologies.

• Resources and Logistics - Availability, maintenance, and distribution of materials, supplies, and systems ensuring continuity of operations.

• Planning and Coordination - Governance, policies, risk assessments, collaboration, and command structures guiding effective response.

• Resilience and Adaptability - Capacity to withstand disruption, maintain essential functions, and recover quickly from operational stress or crises.

Developing meaningful measures of Readiness requires the same approach you would use to measure any other organizational goal, condition, or outcome you want to manage and achieve.

Using PuMP's approach to developing meaningful measures, start by clarifying what Readiness means for your organization. Then identify the desired results and describe evidence of those results using sensory-specific language. Finally, design measures to quantify the most direct, relevant, and feasible evidence of those results.

Managing and Improving Readiness

To improve Readiness, you need to know more than the information provided by Status and Performance Measures.

You need to understand how the contributing factors drive Readiness and influence each other. That helps you identify where improvement efforts can have the largest impact and provide the greatest ROI. The best way to develop this understanding is to map these cause-and-effect relationships using a Results Map.

Sample Results Map for a Fire Department. To learn more about creating and using Results Maps, see Anatomy of the PuMP Results Map  and A Measurable Strategy on a Single Page.

Results Maps illustrate the cause-and-effect relationships among organizational drivers that directly contribute to achieving desired results, such as Readiness or other goals. It provides a tangible foundation for reviewing, managing, and improving outcomes.

By creating and using a Results Map you can:

• Illustrate how the contributing factors throughout the organization relate to each other and drive Readiness

• Identify what must be true for each contributing factor (the specific measurable results needed)

• Design the right mix of measures for each contributing factor, as well as overall Readiness

• Identify where improvement efforts will have the largest effect

• Demonstrate results of improvement efforts and justify the resources used

The Results Map becomes a shared reference and blueprint for aligning teams, allocating resources, and focusing improvement efforts where they'll have the greatest impact on Readiness.

Working through the Results Map, you'll find that some drivers of Readiness will be within your direct control and can be acted upon. Others may be within your influence, requiring coordination with partners and stakeholders. Either way, they're all measurable and provide valuable insight.

Pulling It All Together

So, can Readiness measures replace performance measures?  No, and they should not.

Readiness measures are essential, but they represent just one part of the broader system of measures providing information needed to understand, manage, and improve organizational performance.

Calling every metric a “performance measure” is a common but unhelpful habit that ignores important distinctions and makes meaningful insight harder to find.

Each measure type serves a unique and complementary purpose. When used together they provide a complete system of evidence for managing the work we do and the results we achieve.

• Status and Performance Measures tell you if you're achieving the Readiness you need.

• Activity and Quota Measures tell you if you're doing the work to sustain and improve it.

The Results Map ties it all together by providing the strategic context and illustrating how contributing factors drive Readiness and where to focus for greatest impact.

In my experience, the fundamental leadership and stakeholder questions about Readiness boil down to:

1. What is the current state of Readiness? (Status Measures)

2. Is Readiness being proactively managed and improved? (Performance Measures)

Substitute any strategic goal or facet of organizational performance for Readiness, and these two questions remain the same.

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To learn more about creating and using Results Maps developed by Stacey Barr, see Anatomy of the PuMP Results Map and  A Measurable Strategy on a Single Page on Sample Results Map for a Fire Department.

Brook Rolter is the Managing Director and Founder of Rolter Associates, a consultancy providing management, strategy, organization development consulting, and facilitation services to help organizations integrate strategy, performance, and management practices and improve organizational performance.

He is the Licensed U.S Partner for all things PuMP®

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Contact Brook by phone or text at 703-628-0340 or by email.