A lot of time and effort go into developing goals and metrics. That’s a good thing. Metrics should be taken seriously. They should help leaders know when to take action.

Yet, some metrics are hard to apply on a day-to-day basis. That’s why in addition to my formal metrics, I always include one informal one: BTY.

BTY stands for Better Than Yesterday. It’s a simple yet powerful metric. Assessing my daily actions against BTY ensures that I am making a positive contribution.

Another benefit is that BTY is also scalable. This one metric can ensure that you are thinking through all of your key responsiblities as a leader:

• Is each person on my team better than yesterday – are their skills increasing, are they able to make a greater contribution, are they more engaged, motivated, etc?
• Is my team better than yesterday – is there better communication and collaboration, do we have smooth hand-offs and interfaces, are we all on the same page?
• Is my department/function better than yesterday – Are we improving our results, finding better ways to execute our processes?
• Are the people across the overall organization better than yesterday – Have I contributed to other people’s success, is my team making other teams successful, am I sharing relevant information?
• Are our customers better than yesterday – Have I made it easier for them to do business with us, have we found new ways to meet their needs?
• Is my organization better than yesterday – Financially, operationally, employee engagement, brand position, customer satisfaction, etc.?

There are a lot of ways to formally measure BTY. Your individual goals and performance targets are probably already aligned. However, keep it simple. Review your actions each day to see how they impacted BTY. If you find that on most days you have a positive BTY, chances are that your formal metrics will take care of themselves.