Right on target

How to use lead and lag indicators to achieve your business goals.

- Claire Storm

Do you often fail to follow through when it comes to setting and achieving your goals? You could be focusing on the wrong thing. You are focused on the lag measure rather than the lead measure.

So what are these measures? According to Claire Storm, a Co-Founder and Director at Airshot, they are performance metrics you can use to measure your goals and your success in achieving them. “These are not just the latest buzz in business speak. Lag and lead indicators are really useful tools that will help you to think more clearly and critically to assess, analyse and set business goals,” Claire explains.

In a nutshell, a lead indicator is an input as it measures future outcomes and events. A lag measure is an output and looks back at whether the intended result was achieved. Claire believes that the principle of lead and lag measures is powerful as it ensures you are asking the right questions.