When you create a dashboard do you include the performance metric you are measured by?
We create dashboards for a variety of reasons. Often so we can highlight actionable insights, learn something from the data, and respond accordingly. We also create dashboards to publish and tell a data story.
A CEO is often measured by Company Valuation. Easily tracked by following the stock market. Sales teams prominently measure not only by revenue but regional leader tables, Win/Loss ratios, CLV. Tangible and represented easily in CRM systems.
Marketing performance is often measured by things not easily measured. Like Brand Awareness, Customer Satisfaction and Return on Marketing Investment. And when we do measure them, changes are small and slow. So, we leave them off the dashboard because it feels like watching for a pot to boil.
Instead, we pull them out periodically when we do reports. Or when its time for our performance reviews. Dusting them off. And trying to create enthusiasm over our stability.
If we gave our performance metric some real estate on our most prominent dashboards, then it could tell a different data story. It counter balances other things on the dashboard that change more often. For example, we might show trends in acquiring new marketing leads, underpinned by the fact that we kept RoMI per lead steady.
It can help us tell the story that we are proud of our accomplishments. Not just keeping a watchful eye on what might go wrong. And do it everyday.
So, are you effectively telling the data story of your successes? If not, how might you do it differently?