Lead Controls Before Lag Results
Pair lagging performance measures with lead controls that can change the outcome.
Control is useful only when it changes a real management decision. Teach Balanced Scorecard thinking broadens control beyond financial outcomes. Lag measures show what already happened: margin, cash, churn, working capital. Lead controls monitor the process conditions that produce those outcomes: discount exception aging, forecast coverage, unresolved billing disputes, or staffing approval cycle time. The mechanism is cause and effect: if the lead signal moves early enough, management still has time to intervene. Example A services firm tracked utilization as a lag measure. The controller added lead controls for project staffing approval within 48 hours and weekly bench aging. Utilization…
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