Measure What Matters

Over this past weekend, I was talking with Jenny, the Executive Director of the Rosewood Initiative.

We were talking about how foundations were always looking for tangible ways to measure the impact of their grants.

Most of the measurements they sought were, for the most part, superficial - the number of people who attended this event or were involved in that program.

But what was the impact of an event or a program on peoples lives? How did they empower them as members of a community?

We started talking about the importance of measuring what matters. What matters?

The foundation of any community is trust. Without trust, there cannot be safety and authentic relationship. Trust is as important for a community as it is for a classroom. It is the key pillar of Agile.

But how might you measure trust? Can you measure the building of patterns of trust? How might those patterns of trust transform someone's understanding of their own potential?

These are questions worth asking.