Checking the Gauges

Problems, of course, are unavoidable. But if you have a way to tell if things are heading in a bad direction - before it's too late to do anything about them - the problems you do experience will likely be less problematic.

A great way to do that is to develop a set of 'gauges' to monitor on an ongoing basis. When driving, you routinely monitor the gas gauge, the speedometer, the trip-o-meter (if, as example, you're following mapquest directions), warning lights for seat belts, engine repair, etc., blinker lights - there are all sorts of gauges available to insure your safe transit from here to wherever.

So too, at work ... and in life, for that matter.

The operative question is this: What's likely to indicate a problem? Once you know that, you can then build a process to track exactly that so you can find out sooner, rather than later, if things are going awry.

Example 1:

• Potential Problem - Not enough gas in the car.
• Gauge to Monitor - Gas gauge.
• Key Adjustment - Instead of waiting for the gauge to reach "E" refill at the 1/4 marker.

Example 2:

• Potential Problem - No milk for the kids' breakfast.
• Gauge to Monitor - Milk carton.
• Key Adjustment - Instead of waiting for the last carton to empty before buying more, always keep an extra carton on hand

Example 3:

• Potential Problem - Staff's not completing certain work items on time.
• Gauge to Monitor - Items that are "on hold," waiting for additional information.
• Key Adjustment - Instead of assuming "on hold" items cannot be worked, look for inherent bottlenecks to address.

The assumption here is that IF you know about a problem that's building, you'll be far better able to do something about it than if you never know there even is a problem ... until it's too late. In other words, it's probably not that you don't know what Key Adjustment TO make, it's more that you don't know that a Key Adjustment has to BE made ... until it's too late.

So take a look at the things that tend to go wrong for you. What gauges would be helpful to start monitoring so that you can get in front of whatever issues you're currently facing?