How Much vs. How Well

For a manager, it is good to know how much work is done. It is a gauge on whether the volume of completed work satisfies demand or a quota.

At the same time, it is just as importantly to know how well the work is done. If the work is done poorly, efforts would be required to make corrections. There likely would be ripple effects in other areas of the organization.

In monitoring how well work is done, there are 4 key things to look at.

1. Speed – how long does it take to complete a task? For example, the number of hours it takes to prepare a sales quote.
2. Quality of work through each step of a process – are there data entry errors leading to a bottleneck? For example, incomplete records picked up by an exception report generates another round of work.
3. Quality of output – output doesn’t need to be a product. It can be an electronic authorization for expense. A rejected expense request without a reason could lead to people going back-and-forth seeking explanation.
4. Productivity – this tends to be a sensitive area. Productivity reflects how much resources is needed to complete a task. It is a critical measure for determining how many people are needed to fulfill needs.

In evaluating performance, how well work is done needs to be monitored closely because doing more without doing well is counterproductive.