Measure What Matters
Someone has said that what you measure is what becomes important.
You start to focus only on what you have clear and ready numbers on.
Are you focusing on what is most important or just what is
easiest to count?
When serving people we need to focus on—and measure—only what is important.
Service agencies and other community ministries almost always count "numbers": number of attendees, number of graduates, number served by services type, number at summer camp, and on and on.
But what is most important?
Is attendance more important than personal growth? Organizations always know attendance, but do they know how well their clients are growing? If clients return, is the agency serving a need … or failing? If clients do not return is that because their needs were met … or because they were not met?
Since we focus on what we measure, we focus more on getting people
in the door than preparing them to go out into the world.
Christian ministries and other service agencies need accurate ways to measure an assortment of important indicators.
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