This is a great quote to think about in regards to your business. We all want to control or manage the outcomes of our business. Now, I acknowledge that there are some outcomes that just are not in our hands to control. But, there is a lot we can do to really manage our business to success. A lot depends on the goals we are setting out to achieve and then the way we intend on measuring those goals. If we just set a goal and don’t have any way of measuring that success, we aren’t doing ourselves any good.

The vision, mission, and values of the organization are at the center of strategic planning and performance measurement activities. Here is a short, incomplete list of some of the measurements we use in business to measure our performance:

• Financial Statements (like the Profit & Loss statements,Balance Sheets, and Budget Reports).
• Departmental internal controls and risk management programs.
• Internal benchmarks from best practices and internal controls.
• Regular performance interviews with personnel.
• Surveys from employees.
• Customer surveys and input.

There are many other performance measures you can create for your business. The important thing is to learn from past performance and make the tweaks necessary to course correct and continue to improve.