Tom Amies-Cull
22 Aug 2025
Lurching from one metric to another creates confusion and hampers strategic clarity
UK GDP grew better than expected in Q2 – yay. Oh, but a slowdown compared to Q1 - crikey. It’s OK though, interest rates lowered – good times, sigh of relief. Hang on - inflation is up –damn. Wait, UK business activity is at a 12-month high and borrowing lower than expected – green shots and budget headroom?
Over the last three weeks, we’ve had various data points updated and released – each one typically done in isolation and reported on as its own event. Creating a ‘will they, won’t they’ challenge for the Government on policy and spending decisions.
Clearly all those metrics are important and tell part of a story, but there should be better and more connected reporting of these, linked to strategy.
The parallels are there in many businesses – too many fragmented and disjointed data points creating erratic and short-term decision making. Distracting effort and resources away from the central questions of (i) is our strategy working (ii) how to we continually optimise or course correct and (iii) how can we clearly communicate this to our core stakeholders.
📄 Set out a clear strategy, over an appropriate time frame
📊 Select the right metrics (leading & laggings) that evidence how well that strategy is being executed and bring together in some sort of balanced scored card
📣 Clearly communicate – be proactive, own the narrative and be consistent
If you fail to do these, you’ll be a slave to short-termism and drastically reduce the chances of your strategy being successful or creating any value