oing to help you in the coming months.
回顾过去，超越去年的数字并不是重点，绩效衡量系统需要告诉你，你现在做出的决定是否会在未来几个月对你有所帮助。
Putting your faith in numbers, metrics in your performance assessment package all comes as numbers. The problem is that number-driven managers often end up producing reams of low-quality data.
相信数字，绩效评估包中的指标都是数字。问题是，数字驱动型管理者最终往往会产生大量低质量的数据。
Gaming your metrics, you can’t prevent people from gaming numbers, no matter how outstanding your organisation. The moment you choose to manage by a metric you invite your managers to manipulate it. Someone who has learned how to optimise a metric without actually having to perform will often do just that. To create an effective performance measurement, you have to work with that fact rather than deny it.
本篇essay根据指标，无论你的组织有多出色，你都无法阻止人们对数字进行博弈。当你选择用一个指标来管理时，你会邀请你的经理来操纵它。那些学会了如何在不需要实际执行的情况下优化指标的人通常会这样做。要创建一个有效的绩效衡量标准，你必须处理这个事实，而不是否认它。
Sticking to your numbers too long, in the earliest stages, performance is all about survival, cash resources and growth. Comparisons are to last week, last month and last year. But as the business matures, the focus has to move to profit and the comparisons to competitors. You have to be very precise about what you want to asses, be explicit about what metrics are assessing it and make sure that everyone is clear about both.
在最初的阶段，长期坚持你的数字，表现就是生存、现金资源和增长。与上周、上月和去年进行比较。但随着业务的成熟，重点必须转移到利润和与竞争对手的比较上。你必须非常精确地评估你想要评估的内容，明确评估的指标，并确保每个人都清楚这两者。
To avoid the first trap, companies need to find out the information externally, such as from customers and not internally, where they look at numbers from the last quarter.
为了避免第一个陷阱，公司需要从外部了解信息，比如从客户那里了解信息，而不是从内部了解信息，因为他们会查看上一季度的数据。
One company who did this where, Rockwater, they implemented doing customer research into their strategy and hired an independent organisation to conduct annual surveys to rank customers’ perceptions of the company. This is one efficient way of avowing falling into the first of Likierman’s traps. Another way of avoiding this trap is to go to professionals outside your organisation and get them to judge the progress of your company. (HBR 1993)
Rockwater是一家这样做的公司，他们在战略中实施了客户调查，并聘请了一家独立组织进行年度调查，对客户对公司的看法进行排名。这是避免落入利克尔曼第一个陷阱的有效方法。避免这种陷阱的另一种方法是去找组织之外的专业人士，让他们来判断你公司的进展。
Anticipating changes in the market and then responding positively to the changes can be a good way to avoiding the second trap. As the years go by and new products and services are being created, the markets are always changing, so adapting to the change and offering a better service or product than your competition will give you an advantage. Because markets are changing, looking back at previous performances over the previous years would be pointless. Rockwater are also an example of how they responded to change in the construction and engineering market. They realised that their industry was changing and came up with a whole new vision and strategy to cope with this change and remain a top competitor within that industry, rather than analysing their previous performances and trying to expand on that. (HBR 1993)
预测市场变化，然后对变化做出积极回应，是避免第二个陷阱的好方法。随着时间的推移，新的产品和服务正在创造，市场总是在变化，因此适应变化并提供比竞争对手更好的服务或产品将给你带来优势。由于市场正在发生变化，回顾过去几年的表现将毫无意义。Rockwater也是他们如何应对建筑和工程市场变化的一个例子。他们意识到自己的行业正在发生变化，并提出了一个全新的愿景和战略来应对这一变化，并保持行业内的顶级竞争对手地位，而不是分析自己以前的表现并试图扩大这一点。
Rather than focusing on maximising revenues and profits, organisations also need to focus on customer satisfaction to avoid the third trap. This is said to be the biggest factor in making more profit, the better customer satisfaction you have the more likely you are to make more revenue and more profit. By focusing on customers, you’re giving them what they want and meeting their requirements, therefore you’re not only retaining the same customers but at the same time attracting new customers from your competitors who aren’t offering them the same as you and aren’t meeting their requirements. Rockwater realised this when it came to adapting to the changes in their industry. They set out a vision of providing the best safety and qu
