I commented recently on a post in Compensation Force concerning "getting what you pay for" and I've post here and here on measurement. This post on Seth Godin's blog really brings it home when you think about how you measure performance. He comments on how the "preciseness" of a measurement communicates correctness. He also makes the case that just because you can measure it doesn't mean you should use that measure as evidence of success.
Many programs use sales figures as a measure of success. However, as most of us will quietly confess to, sales is the result of doing a lot of things right... it's not a binary thing. You can't do one thing right or wrong and judge the result. The measurement in sales should be the incremental activity that takes place before the result. Too many programs measure the result (sales) because it's easy and precise. To measure steps to the sale is harder (many companies don't even have them) and less precise (did you really "build a relationship over lunch?")
Keep in mind the difference between what you measure for performance and the results that come from the activities you've measured.
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