Meaningful Motivation Principle 2: Measure what matters

As we continue our tour through the key design principles of Meaningful Motivation, our next stop is Meaningful Measurement. There are many elements that come to play in meaningful measurement, but for today, we’ll focus on one of the most important and often overlooked elements.

From KPIs to OKRs plenty has been written on measurement, but from a Meaningful Motivation perspective, we have to understand that as important as process is, humans are motivated by results. If you’re in the Motivation business, your customer is going to measure the value of their time spent with you and invested in your products and services, based on results.

Most companies focus on quantitative measurements, like pounds lost, dollars saved, or blood pressure lowered. Compared to qualitative measures, they are easier to measure, and therefore, demonstrate results. Unfortunately, these results usually aren’t compelling or consistent enough to maintain sustained engagement. To keep your customer focused throughout a process that will inevitably have ups and downs, you need to also be able to measure progress toward the benefits of these metrics. That’s where a compelling “why” comes in.