Data-Driven Coaching to Develop Problem Solvers

Not everything that is measured matters. Not everything that matters can be measured.

"I beat my ghost!"

Pumping my fist into the air as I shouted, I crossed the imaginary finish line to victory. There was no medal waiting for me, no one clapping — but still, I knew I had achieved a stationary bike victory at the gym this week.

In case you, like the others at the gym who stared at me in confusion, are wondering what "I beat my ghost" means, let me explain: My gym has a set of stationary bikes that have courses of varying difficulty that span 1 to 20 miles. I can ride through California wine country, cruise under the sea, and glide across outer space. The dashboard has no fewer than eight different metrics, including, time, distance, elevation, speed, calories burned, heart rate, RPM, and course leaders. You also can compete with a "ghost rider" that represents your prior best time on the course. Over time, as you continue to beat your ghost, it gets more and more difficult to do exactly that.

Let's face it: Some days, beating my ghost is simply unattainable. But let's look at the dashboard. Did I keep my heart rate elevated for 45 minutes? Did I ride over 13 miles per hour? Measurement error aside, I love it when it shows I've burned 500 calories. These metrics inform my progress and keep me engaged much more than an ordinary stationary bike would.

Metrics matter. They keep you engaged and help you set targets, motivate associates, and create alignment. That's why I'm pleased to tell you that MoreSteam has a new course admin dashboard for coaches and deployment leaders. (Students have a detailed personal dashboard available within their courses.) The admin dashboard provides a snapshot of students' engagement and progress. It also identifies additional resources available, e.g. practice exercises that they may not have completed, videos that they may not have watched, etc.

The best path for the student to follow is learn, practice, apply, master and teach. Our courses, combined with the associates' projects, are designed to put them on the path to becoming a problem solver, our ultimate goal here at MoreSteam. Practice exercises are important to the learning — and now, it is easy to track not only lesson completion, but also completion of vital practice work.

Below is an example of our new dashboard. Our developers are continuing to work on a consolidated dashboard to help you better understand the progress students are making in their coursework.

Are there metrics we have not given you that you think would be valuable to improving course progress? Please email me at peg@moresteam.com

—Peg Pennington