Use of Metrics - GPA

by Don Harkey

People love to quantify things. Business is up 20%. Sales are down 8.3%. Spending is up 3.4% versus this time last year. Consumer confidence is down 1.5%. Sometimes this is taken to another level.

Allow me to share a real example. Schools frequently utilize a single metric to determine performance in school known as a Grade Point Average (GPA). The way a school calculates the GPA varies from school to school. The traditional way is to award 4 points for an A, 3 points for a B, 2 points for a C, 1 point for a D, and 0 points for an F. Each class is then weighted using “credits”. If a student earns an A in a class worth 4 credits, the student earns 20 grade points (4 x 5). The GPA is calculated by dividing the total number of grade points by the number of credits. Traditionally, a 4.0 GPA signifies that the student received all A’s.

The GPA of a student is a critical measurement. It often serves as a key metric for determining scholarships, awards, and admissions to advanced education opportunities. To complicate it further, the GPA is often used to determine the class ranking. The ranking itself is also frequently used for scholarships and admissions.

However, there are problems with using averages. Is it fair to compare Sally who takes Latin, Advanced Physics, and Calculus with John who takes Art, Basic Algebra and Study Hall? Some schools have decided to modify the GPA system in order to account for this by giving “bonus” points for certain classes. An honors class, for example, might be worth an extra point (ex: an A earns 5 points instead of 4). That seems fairer, right?

Imagine 2 students who can take 8 classes within a day. Both students enroll in 6 very challenging honors classes. The first student fills out their schedule with study hall (worth no grade points) while the second student decides to take Music and German because they have always been interested in those subjects. Both students get all A’s. Who deserves a higher GPA?

Both students did well in their honor’s classes, but the second student also took extra classes and still did very well. However, let’s calculate their GPA’s. The first student got all A’s in 6 honor classes and earned 30 grade points and got a 5.0 GPA. The second student got all A’s in 6 honor classes and 2 “regular” classes and earned 38 grade points (assuming 1 credit per class) and earned a 4.75 GPA. The second student was penalized for taking extra classes.

Is this really a big deal? Students who understand this quirk in the system and want to rank high in their class will often avoid non-honors classes or classes where they might risk getting a lower grade. They will avoid music, art, and any elective classes with instructors who are known to challenge the students. By the end of their high school career, these students will rank higher than the students who do take the non-honors classes in addition to their base honor class load. Class ranking is very frequently tied to scholarships. This approach can mean the difference between thousands of dollars in scholarships. The first student who took fewer classes might go to college all expenses paid. The second student may need to take out student loans and enter their career with a massive debt that will take many years to pay off. All of this is due to a fluke in a common metric.

Using metrics to measure performance is not just tricky. It is a bad idea. Numbers (data) are never always bad or always good. Numbers just give one picture of the way things are. Can you name a metric that is always good or always bad?

Sales are down 4% versus last year. That is bad, right? Not if the year is 2008 and you are selling cars like Toyota. The sales metric might suggest that performance has been poor while in reality Toyota outperformed most automakers.

Accounts receivable has increased 20%. That is bad, right? That depends on how you look at it. If there are customers aren’t paying bills as promptly as they used to, that is not good. What if the sales are up 100%? What if a big job was just billed out? Imagine if you are a manager of a division and this was a key metric on your scorecard. What decision might you make to control this metric? You might choose to hold back that big bill until next quarter.

What is the point of this discussion? Do not manage by metrics! Metrics (data) can be a powerful management tool that can lead to a better understanding of the organization. However, the context within which the metrics were collected is at least as important. Managers need to understand the processes they manage and they need to use data to deepen that understanding. Don’t drive by the numbers; drive the process that creates the numbers.

Fear

by Don Harkey

The news hasn’t exactly been uplifting lately. Government bailouts. Financial crises. Layoffs. It’s enough to make people want to crawl into a hole and wait until the sun comes out again. While it may be overcast and dark outside, it is a lot darker inside that hole.

What is the impact of fear on a person? To put it simply, fear clouds vision. When Allied troops landed in Normandy, their mission was clear. Storm the beaches and take out the German defenses. As the troops unloaded from their boats, many of them faced fierce resistance. Surrounded by noise, bullets, explosions and death, many of the troops found a small barricade or hole and hunkered down. The fear, albeit very real and understandable, clouded their vision. Fortunately, leaders emerged and through tremendous courage, the vision was regained and the beaches were taken. To paraphrase one famous quote from the beach, “if I’m going to die, I’m not going to die here”.

While not a matter of life and death, business leaders who face an uncertain future face a very real fear with very real outcomes. Compassionate leaders know that their decisions not only impact their future, but also the future of their employees, clients, suppliers, and even family members. While uncertainty is always present, turbulent times remind us that our best-laid plans do not always match the real future.

So what is a leader to do?

Crawl into the hole and wait until times get better. Ban negative discussions within the organization in an effort to control morale. Stop all training and strategic planning in an effort to “circle the wagons”. Wait and see what will happen next.

Maybe there is another approach.

Explore new markets. Develop new relationships with clients, suppliers, or potential partners. Communicate the situation with your employees and get their ideas. Take the extra time to develop new skills or new strategies for dealing with the future.


These are times where many good organizations fail. These are also times where many good organizations become great. As Jim Collins says, “good is the enemy of great”. Organizations who are succeeding and have a bright future have no reason to change, even when the world around them is silently and consistently changing. Darker times don’t change the reality of our future, just our perception of it. Perhaps these challenging times offer an opportunity.

Seize on this opportunity!

The greatest leaders during times of trial offer clarity to their people. That means facing the current situation with both eyes open and confronting the challenges ahead. People are a horribly underutilized resource in most organizations. Don’t attempt to carry the burden alone. Collect ideas and new perspectives of how your organization cannot just continue to exist, but actually thrive. Develop a clear organizational vision to help you navigate through an uncertain future.

At the end of the day, if the organization is not successful, the great leader knows that they have done the best they could. If the organization is successful, they will have succeeded in transforming their organization with a clear vision for handling an unclear world!

INTRODUCTION - Passion

Welcome to my new blog, GALT BLOG! Let's start with who I am and why I'm here...

I am an engineer who has worked for a couple of large manufacturing companies (ADM and 3M). While I enjoy engineering, I found that I have a passion for improving things. Have you ever worked on a project or made a change or participated in a team where things really just seemed to "click". The participants were energized, the ideas were new and exciting, and the reality bred new and even more exciting ideas? I have. In fact, I have decided to focus my career around that feeling, that energy, that passion!

A few years ago, I started Galt Consulting in Springfield, Missouri to work with clients to improve their processes and find that passion. Last year, I left my comfortable job with a great company (3M) to focus more of my time into helping organizations simply get better. Since that time, it has been an exciting ride.

I had the opportunity to work with a local manufacturer to improve their quality and reduce their waste. Working closely with the floor personnel, we virtually eliminated some of the major quality problems and eliminated a major source of waste that was costing the company $50,000 per year! The best part is that most of the work was done by the people in the shop. Simply by showing them that they could make a difference, they found ways to improve. One operator told his supervisor that he found purpose in his job that he had previously found to be pointless.

I worked with another local manufacturer to provide a seminar on the process of continuous improvement. Partnering with OTC's Center for Workforce Development, we showed the participants that "waste" can be looked at as "BAD" or it can be looked at as "OPPORTUNITY". We then spent time on the floor looking at real "opportunities". We also armed the team with tools to use to take advantage of these opportunities. The team had fun during the seminar and afterwards, they immediately and on their own began implementing some of the improvements we discussed. After a couple of weeks, the management began making plans to implement a similar seminar to other teams in the facility!

A University department consisted of various leaders with very different job duties and skill sets. The dean of the department struggled to find common ground for the leadership team and decided to hold a retreat. He engaged Galt to facilitate the retreat. I began with a simple survey that asked the question, "What are you passionate about at work?". The answers showed a simple and common thread... they all wanted students to get the "college experience". We opened the retreat with an activity that highlighted the importance of having a common vision and then pointed out the common passion. The rest of the retreat was spent talking about what a "college experience" was and for the first time, the leaders began to feel like they were working together under a common vision.

These are just a few examples of services provided by Galt Consulting. I like to think that Galt is not your typical consulting company. My desire is for people to find purpose in their jobs or in their organizations, and have fun along the way! I want to use this BLOG to share some of my basic philosophies that have been derived from many others who are smarter than I and from my own experiences. I want to hear your opinions on these topics as well. I want to challenge people to think differently and not accept the status quo. I want people to be passionate!

Thank you for your time! If you have any questions or want to learn more, you can visit us on the web at www.galtconsulting.com or you can email at info@galtconsulting.com.