Time Horizon and Goals

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I was thinking about themes and accomplishments today. Companies do this in many different ways. Scorecards are popular showing multitudes of data types. Monthly revenue. User adoption. Active usage. Inactive usage. Customer satisfaction scores. Cost reduction goals. Cycle-time improvements. Downtime. Uptime. Starts. Wins. Pipeline data. Stops. Units produced. Widgets on hand. One understands the challenge.

Depending on the industry, there are many different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). They all have a common thread.

The Great Demon Time

Yes, your time horizon matters. Publicly traded companies have to file quarterly. Pomp and circumstance builds around earnings time. Will the stock jump? And to meet quarterly objectives, it’s not uncommon for managers to shrink their success window. Quarterly becomes monthly. Some sales teams track revenue performance on a weekly or even daily basis.

Thinking back to my own personal New Year’s Resolutions, it is a time to reflect. What do we want to change or fix about ourselves in the coming year? But I’ve been thinking lately, how would my goals change if my New Year’s Resolutions changed to my New Decade’s Resolutions? Would my day-to-day tasks look different? An idea worth pondering.

Notes:

  • The picture was snapped on the Big Island of Hawaii. What better place to ponder one’s life goals.