The pendulum swings one way: you measure everything. One call center measured more than 100 different metrics per agent per day, and still managed to win a prestigious quality award. The pendulum swings the other way: you measure practically nothing. When we asked company managers what they measure currently, they told us, “Now we are down to measuring only two things.”

I interviewed another best-practice company, well known for its incredible service. I asked, “What do you measure?” The company representative said, “We measure one thing.” I thought, “Oh good. You know the answer.” I asked, “What is that measure?” He said “How much time during a person’s shift are they available to take calls.” My next question was, “Do you think that is the one right metric?” He said, “Kay we don’t have a clue but we were measuring everything and we got tired of measuring everything. So, now we only measure one thing. Now we’re going to figure out what metrics truly tell us, in a balanced way, how we’re doing.”

We need to measure what matters and stop the pendulum swing.