Conventional wisdom says that hitting your targets is good, but beating your targets is even better.

Recently, I’ve come across two examples that counter such wisdom and provide a good reminder that targets and metrics have to be understood within a broader context.

The first example is personal. I recently joined a health club. I took a test that measured the amount of fat calories that I was burning at different heart rates. It turns out that my heart is most efficient at burning fat at a lower level. Exceeding my “target” heart rate would actually cause me to lose less fat. Of course, exceeding my target heart rate isn’t a bad thing. It would help improve my heart’s overall efficiency. But, that wasn’t my goal. As a leader, knowing your goals is key.

The second example came from a client. The client was considering a new self-service offering. The purpose of the offering was to shift customer behavior away from the call center thus reducing costs. Customers who opted for the self-service option would be offered a discount. The company modeled the benefit and found that their operating metrics would all improve. Call center calls would decrease resulting in lower costs. The idea seemed like a no brainer except for one issue. While the shift to self service reduced operating expenses, those savings didn’t offset the reduced revenue due to the discount.

In both cases, it was easy to get distracted by the metrics and miss the overall goal. It was also tempting to follow that conventional wisdom and try to exceed those metrics. But, that wouldn’t produce the desired result.

It’s important to differentiate those metrics that help you see how the pieces of our business are working and those that are true indicators of business success.