If you are serious, get serious.
Serious analysis requires serious tools. The process has to be programmatic, reproducible without guesswork, and have the ability to be validated. Many meetings I have participated in the last few weeks have centered on our clients desire to achieve a level of intelligence that will help improve company profitability. Various stakeholders question the credibility of the data being provided, the frequency in which it is provided, how it is being provided, and the what the information is telling them.
Many organizations are great at tracking lagging indicators. Wikipedia defines a lagging indicator as an economic indicator that summarizes past events rather than explicitly predicting future events. For example, in an academic medical group, Work RVU's is a lagging indicator that reflect physician productivity.
Most organizations struggle with developing leading indicators. Wikipedia states that leading indicators are generally used to predict a new phase of the business cycle. A leading indicator is one that changes before your economy does; a lagging indicator is one that changes after the economy has changed. An example of a leading indicator could be the number of new patients see during clinic activity, which will often improve or worsen before a similar change in the economy.
Too many times we ask ourselves, "What happened?" We all spend time and money on tools that help us to analyze lagging indicators and past performance. I would love to hear from anyone out there who have created leading indicators. This seems to be a concept we have yet to actualize.
Chris George, CEO, Think First
http://www.thinkfirst.us
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Think Before I Do
"Think First... Well - that's good advice," observed the main greeter at a hospital in central Maine as he read my business card. This comment stuck with me as I proceeded to meet with the executives of this very rural hospital system.
More often than not in our daily busy lives, the majority of us spend days staying ahead of the things we know we need to get done in both our work and personal lives. I typically measure my day by the difference between the tasks I had on my list at the start of the day compared to what remains there when the day is through. Again and again, it seems that my list has grown larger at the end of every day.
When I reflect on the day, I find myself spending a lot of time "doing" and not necessarily "thinking" about how to be more effiecient in my everyday life. These could be such things as making a list of priorities for the day, outlining my priorities for the week, etc...
In this day of information overload, there are many resources available that can help us make informed decisions about almost every aspect of our lives. There are websites striclty dedicated to the quality of data at hospitals, where our governments spends its money and even the most popular iPhone applications. However we all seem so busy that we very rarely take advantage of the data available that could drive better decision making. We typically make decisions about not waht is available statistically, but rather who referred us in the first place.
I frequently recall my conversation in Maine and now strive everyday to take the time to think before I do. After all, the data is usually available and I do work at a company named Think First.
Chris George, CEO, Think First
http://www.thinkfirst.us
More often than not in our daily busy lives, the majority of us spend days staying ahead of the things we know we need to get done in both our work and personal lives. I typically measure my day by the difference between the tasks I had on my list at the start of the day compared to what remains there when the day is through. Again and again, it seems that my list has grown larger at the end of every day.
When I reflect on the day, I find myself spending a lot of time "doing" and not necessarily "thinking" about how to be more effiecient in my everyday life. These could be such things as making a list of priorities for the day, outlining my priorities for the week, etc...
In this day of information overload, there are many resources available that can help us make informed decisions about almost every aspect of our lives. There are websites striclty dedicated to the quality of data at hospitals, where our governments spends its money and even the most popular iPhone applications. However we all seem so busy that we very rarely take advantage of the data available that could drive better decision making. We typically make decisions about not waht is available statistically, but rather who referred us in the first place.
I frequently recall my conversation in Maine and now strive everyday to take the time to think before I do. After all, the data is usually available and I do work at a company named Think First.
Chris George, CEO, Think First
http://www.thinkfirst.us
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