Literature - Essays
Immeasurable Factors in the Success of a Company
February, 2006
Some of the contributions people make to the success of a company are measurable; some are not. Many management theories teach that “What gets measured gets done.” I believe that this is true. I also believe that unless someone recognizes and encourages extremely important immeasurable contributions, a company will suffer if not fail entirely. While it is important to reward people for measurable acts, it is equally important to recognize the importance of unmeasured acts that are valuable to company growth. A real difficulty comes, of course, in determining which immeasurable acts are valuable contributions. It is easy to reward measurable acts, while it rewarding immeasurable acts is, at best, a guessing game.
My experience with MetroLaser has given me freedom to appreciate and spend more time on the immeasurable, unquantifiable part of MetroLaser that I consider critical to the success of any company. I experience it as a kind of magic that happens almost every day in the company. For example, our brainstorming sessions provide a first hand experience of the fundamental process of the creation of new knowledge, which is truly magical to me. These can be as simple as an unplanned conversation that begins in the coffee room or the planned events where we gather a group in the conference room to attack a problem. The problem is stated, and everyone involved is invited to throw out any idea, no matter how crazy, to address the problem.
These sessions usually move through a state of ridiculous, unthinkable ideas, frustration, and despair, and the temptation is to abandon the whole quest. This is classical brainstorming. And then, almost without fail, something magical happens. Someone says something, a word, an experience, a negative or positive opinion, and the entire process takes on a new life, with people scratching out pictures on the board, and everyone moving in kind of a rhythm, and we all know that the answer has arrived in the room.
An amazing thing about this is that every single person in the room feels that he was the real key to the solution. This used to frustrate me because I was always one of those who knew that the critical idea was mine. Eventually, I discovered that all of us were right. The solution belonged to all of us.
On further thought I came to realize that the process actually extends far beyond even the people conference room. Our ideas come from our wives, kids, relatives, friends and associates. Everyone of them are part of every solution we create in MetroLaser. Pauline is one of my greatest motivators, and I know that other wives and friends contribute to our team, as do our families. When we hire an individual, we are getting all of these resources.
When one looks at the big picture of what leads to success, measuring all of the critical ingredients can never be achieved.