5 Key HR Leading

Indicators You Should Know

About (and How to Improve
Them)

Hacking HR

Hacking HR

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Published Jul 26, 2023
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An indicator is a quantitative or qualitative factor or variable that
offers a direct, simple, unique and reliable signal or means to
measure achievements; reflect changes connected to an
intervention, project, activity or task; or help assess the
performance.
In the context of business or human resources (HR), indicators are
an extraordinarily useful way to measure all important elements of
an organization's performance. Indicators provide information that
leaders, managers, teams, people and those who support them can
use to make decisions and take actions to improve them.
Generally speaking, in the context of business operations, indicators
can be classified into two broad categories: leading and lagging
indicators.
Leading indicators are proactive, predictive measures that can signal
future events. They give an organization an idea of what might
happen in the future based on current conditions. For example,
employee satisfaction surveys are useful as a leading indicator for
employee turnover rates.
Lagging indicators are reactive (ex-post) and occur after the fact.
They provide information about past events and performance, often
used to evaluate the success or failure of a project or a strategy. In
HR, lagging indicators include metrics such as the total number of
employees who left the company in a given period.
Both types of indicators are valuable. They offer data-informed
insights that can be used to drive improvements and make
evidence-based, data-backed informed decisions.
In this post, we will focus on five relevant, valuable, and useful
leading indicators.

Leading Indicators

Leading indicators in HR are proactive measurements that predict

the future health of an organization's workforce and the impact in
the business strategy and the achievement of business goals and
priorities.
These kinds of indicators in HR offer critical, forward-looking
insights that have the potential to shape future performance in two
ways: preparing the organization for existing trends (both internal
and external to the organization) and, hopefully, also by giving
them information to act swiftly when confronted by data that tells a
story that may negatively impact the business.
By evaluating these key performance leading indicators, HR
professionals and business leaders can manage issues and
opportunities even before they significantly impact the
organization.
The truth is that the impact of leading indicators goes far beyond
HR. They are touching every corner of the organization: strategy,
performance, culture, leadership and more. Equipped with the
insights offered by leading indicators, decision-makers across an
organization can craft data-informed strategies, enhance
operational efficiency, improve employee engagement, and, overall,
focus on improving both people and business operations by
addressing issues with culture and performance.
Ultimately, leading indicators are essential to drive sustainable
organizational growth and competitiveness through both culture
and performance. Understanding, embracing and acting on the
information provided by HR leading indicators in real-time allow the
strategic redirection of efforts, mitigating risks, and maximizing
opportunities in a timely and effective manner.

HR Leading Indicators

There are many relevant HR leading indicators. They include:

Employee Satisfaction Survey Scores, Workload Capacity, Training
Participation Rate, Internal Mobility Rate, Employee Pulse Surveys,
Early Turnover Rate, Employee Feedback Frequency, Career
Development Plans Completion Rate, Number of Employee
Referrals, Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), Candidate
Experience Score, Pre-Onboarding Engagement Rate, Diversity in
Leadership Pipeline, Skills Gap Analysis, High-Performance
Succession Rate, Percentage of Open Positions Filled Internally,
Leadership Satisfaction Score, Employee Wellbeing Index, Frequency
of Performance Check-ins, Talent Acquisition Cost Ratio, Upward
Feedback Scores, Employee Empowerment Index, Cross-Training
Participation Rate, Employee Innovation Contributions, Percentage
of Performance Goals Achieved, Frequency of 1:1 Manager-
Employee Meetings, Level of Job Postings per Open Position,
Workplace Safety Incident Rate, Mentorship Program Participation
Rate, and Employee Volunteer Program Participation Rate.

Five HR Leading Indicators

Among the comprehensive list above, five commonly used leading

indicators stand out: Employee Satisfaction Survey Scores, Early
Turnover Rate, Training Participation Rate, Employee Net Promoter
Score (eNPS), and Percentage of Open Positions to be Filled. Each of
these provides a wealth of information on employee satisfaction,
engagement, attrition, and advocacy. Understanding and acting on
these leading indicators allows organizations to create a positive
and productive work environment, fostering organizational success
in the long term.

Employee Satisfaction Survey Scores

These surveys provide HR departments with insight into overall

employee experience, engagement, satisfaction, and morale. They
can be instrumental in identifying areas that need improvement.
Employee satisfaction is typically measured through confidential
surveys conducted on a regular basis (annually, bi-annually, or
quarterly, or even pulse surveys). These surveys usually contain a set
of questions that help understand how satisfied employees are with
various aspects of their job - their role, work environment,
management, compensation, benefits, work-life balance, etc. The
scores are typically averaged to create an overall employee
satisfaction score.
High scores can result in increased employee engagement, higher
productivity, better retention, and a positive company culture. Low
scores can indicate disengagement, dissatisfaction, and potential
turnover. This can lead to reduced productivity, a negative work
environment, and potentially high recruitment and training costs.
A list of potential actions to improve negative scores, include:
From HR:

 Regularly conduct employee satisfaction surveys and

ensure the feedback is acted upon.

 Implement programs for employee recognition and

rewards.
  Develop initiatives to improve work-life balance.

 Foster a positive and inclusive company culture.

From senior leaders:

 Develop a clear vision for the company and communicate

it effectively to all staff.

 Ensure that managers are well-trained in people

management skills.

 Support and encourage initiatives to improve the

workplace environment.

 Be open to receiving feedback and act on it to show

employees their opinions are valued.

From direct managers:

 Provide clear communication and direction to employees.

 Address any issues or feedback provided through the

surveys promptly and effectively.

 Foster a positive work environment that encourages

engagement and satisfaction.

 Recognize employees' efforts and contributions to

motivate and boost morale.

Early Turnover Rate

Keeping an eye on the early turnover rate can help HR identify

issues with the onboarding process or overall job fit. This is typically
calculated by dividing the number of employees who leave the
organization within a specified short period (for example, one year)
from their date of joining by the total number of employees who
left during that same period. The result is then multiplied by 100 to
get a percentage.
A low early turnover rate suggests successful onboarding and initial
job fit, contributing to long-term retention and reduced hiring
costs. A high early turnover rate is a strong indicator of issues with
the hiring process, onboarding, or job alignment, which can lead to
high hiring and training costs, as well as decreased productivity.
A list of potential actions to improve negative scores, include:
From HR:

 Review and improve the onboarding process to ensure

new hires have the support they need.

 Implement a mentorship program for new employees.

 Regularly review job descriptions to ensure they accurately

reflect the role.

 Gather exit interview data from early leavers and

implement necessary changes.

From senior leaders:

 Get involved in the onboarding process, such as

welcoming new hires or being part of orientation sessions.

 Encourage a culture of mentorship and peer support.

 Show empathy and understanding if an employee decides

to leave early, ensuring the exit process is handled
smoothly.

 Review job roles to ensure that they align with business

needs and employee skills.
From direct managers:

 Ensure new hires receive comprehensive onboarding and

initial training.

 Regularly check-in with new hires to address any early

issues or concerns.

 Foster a supportive and inclusive team environment.

 Recognize the efforts of new hires to make them feel

valued and reduce the likelihood of early departure.

Training Participation Rate

This is a key measure of how engaged and committed employees

are to their personal development and learning new skills, both of
which are crucial for business growth. This is calculated by dividing
the number of employees who participate in non-mandatory and
mandatory (separate measurements) training programs by the total
number of employees in the organization. This can be done for
specific training programs or for all training initiatives over a certain
period. In addition, this can be analyzed further by weighing the
quality of the programs measured in a rated scale and the impact it
had on the behaviors and actions of training participants.
High participation rates can indicate an engaged workforce with a
strong commitment to skills development and continuous learning.
This can lead to improved productivity and innovation. Low
participation rates can signify a lack of engagement or potential
issues with the training offerings. This can result in skills gaps,
decreased productivity, and low innovation.
A list of potential actions to improve negative scores, include:
From HR:

 Offer a variety of training opportunities to cater to

different learning styles and interests.
  Schedule training sessions at convenient times and make
them accessible remotely.

 Promote the benefits of training to employees.

 Regularly review and update training materials to ensure

they are relevant and engaging.

From senior leaders:

 Advocate for a culture of continuous learning and

improvement.

 Encourage managers to promote and support training

among their teams.

 Allocate resources and time for employee training and

development.

 Validate and acknowledge the importance of skills and

knowledge gained from training sessions.

From direct managers:

 Encourage team members to take part in available training

and development opportunities.

 Allocate time within the work schedule for training.

 Discuss the benefits and relevance of training programs in

team meetings.

 Recognize and reward employees who actively participate

in training sessions.

Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)

The eNPS measures how likely employees are to recommend their
workplace to others, offering a snapshot of employee satisfaction
and loyalty. eNPS is calculated using responses to this sample
question, "On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend this
company as a place to work?" Respondents are grouped as follows:
Promoters (9-10), Passives (7-8), and Detractors (0-6). The eNPS is
then calculated by subtracting the percentage of Detractors from
the percentage of Promoters.
A high eNPS means employees are likely to recommend the
organization as a great place to work. This can enhance the
employer's brand and attract top talent. A low eNPS can harm the
employer's brand, making it more difficult to attract and retain
talent. It may also be an indicator of underlying issues that need to
be addressed.
A list of potential actions to improve negative scores, include:
From HR:

 Regularly conduct eNPS surveys and act on the feedback.

 Foster a positive work environment and culture.

 Regularly communicate with employees about their roles,

expectations, and the company's strategic direction.

 Offer competitive benefits and opportunities for career

advancement.

From senior leaders:

 Demonstrate leadership by living the company's values,

and encouraging employees to do the same.

 Show genuine interest in employee wellbeing and

happiness.
  Involve employees in decision-making processes where
appropriate.

 Regularly celebrate and acknowledge the achievements of

individuals and teams.

From direct managers:

 Foster a positive team culture that employees would

recommend to others.

 Regularly acknowledge and reward the efforts of your

team members.

 Address any concerns or feedback raised through the

eNPS survey.

 Strive to improve areas highlighted as needing

improvement in the eNPS survey.

Percentage of Open Positions Filled Internally

This metric can tell HR a lot about the effectiveness of their talent
development and retention strategies. High rates can indicate
successful internal growth and development programs. This is
measured by dividing the number of open positions filled by
internal candidates by the total number of positions filled during
the same period. The result is then multiplied by 100 to get a
percentage. This reflects the effectiveness of internal mobility, talent
development, and succession planning programs.
A high percentage signifies successful internal mobility and talent
development programs. It can lead to increased employee
satisfaction, improved retention, and reduced hiring costs. A low
percentage can indicate a lack of career development opportunities,
potentially leading to dissatisfaction and turnover, as well as
increased hiring costs.
A list of potential actions to improve negative scores, include:
From HR:

 Create clear career pathways within the organization.

 Implement a robust succession planning process.

 Foster a culture of continuous learning and development.

 Regularly communicate internal job opportunities to

employees.

From senior leaders:

 Champion internal mobility and succession planning as

part of the company's culture.

 Encourage managers to identify potential successors and

high-potential employees in their teams.

 Foster a culture where learning, upskilling, and internal

growth are valued.

 Show recognition for employees who advance their careers

within the organization.

Moving Forward
The ultimate value of HR leading indicators lies in their ability to
provide comprehensive insights into the current pulse of the
organization. These measurements signal a wide span and range of
critical areas that need attention, allowing organizations to
recognize patterns, identify strengths and weaknesses, predict
future trends, and direct impactful interventions.
However, it is fundamental to say that indicators of any kind mean
nothing when leaders aren’t willing to act on the information and
insights that those indicators are providing.
The real power of all leading indicators (and even lagging
indicators) becomes apparent when organizations act upon the
information they provide. If organizations, business and HR leaders
proactively address issues identified by these signals, they can
prevent problems from escalating or even occurring in the first
place. Conversely, ignoring these early warning signs can lead to
reduced employee satisfaction, increased turnover, lower
productivity, and ultimately, a negative impact on the organization's
bottom line.

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 What are leading indicators and lagging indicators?
First, let’s define our terms: what are these indicators, and how do they
differ?
A leading indicator is an input measure of survey responses, real-time
data, or ad hoc metrics that point to predictions about potential future
outcomes and current trends.
A lagging indicator is an output measure of past occurrences, showing
what has already happened or was previously reported.
Put them together, and we discover that lagging indicators can tell you
what happened while leading indicators help explain why it happened.
Examples of leading indicators in HR and workforce
management
Now that we have definitions, let’s apply them to metrics we might see in
our day-to-day PeopleOps activities. Here are just a few examples below.

 Employee engagement surveys. These surveys are leading indicators

because they take a “pulse” on how employees are feeling now, before you
encounter turnover or detractors. Based on these measures, you can take
a proactive approach to improving employee experience or expanding
your employee engagement strategies.
 Promotion rates. How often are people moving on up in your
organization? Having long tenures — especially for technology or remote
jobs — shows a stickiness to your company.
 Employee referrals. If people hate their jobs, they won’t tell their friends to
come to work alongside them. A referral is a good leading indicator of job
satisfaction and happiness.

It’s important to remember that these indicators are not “proof” or

causational metrics; they are only correlations. You have to connect the
input measurements to a conclusion about what may occur, but you could
misinterpret the facts if you don’t follow best practices.
For instance, just because you’re getting a lot of gold stars on an employee
survey doesn’t mean that all is right with the world. Some people may just
be clicking “10 out of 10” on a survey not because they really believe this,
but because they might believe that they’ll be retaliated against if they
provide negative feedback.
This example shows why it’s important to make sure that you remove third
variables and measure representative samples.
Examples of lagging indicators in HR and workforce
management
Unlike leading indicators, lagging indicators can tell you exactly what an
outcome is — you don’t have to guess about the output or conclusion.
 While this is a stable indicator of previous performance or metrics, it
doesn’t exactly tell you why it happened.
Here are some examples of these after-the-fact indicators.

 Attrition and turnover rate. Leaving a job is voting with one’s feet. You
know something has caused employees to head for the door.
 Burnout metrics. Teams can show signs of a lack of engagement or a
negative employee experience in many ways. These metrics can include
attendance issues, missed meetings, or late and incomplete tasks.
 Customer satisfaction rates. Customers have been on a long journey —
from the first time they saw your ad or social media post all the way to the
point they’ve purchased a product or service. Therefore, a customer score
summarizes the highlights of their interactions with your organization.

Differences between leading indicators and lagging

indicators
Now that we’ve defined our terms and given some examples, it’ll be
important to further emphasize how these indicators differ.
Leading indicators are prospective; lagging indicators are
retrospective. Leading indicators allow your team to think ahead of the
curve. This means that your team has an early warning to adjust course or
continue driving towards upward trends. On the other hand, you won’t
always know what’s causing growth. You won’t have this problem with
lagging indicators if you take a historical look at where the trends ended up.
Leading indicators tell you what trends are happening now (inferential);
lagging indicators tell you what’s already happened (descriptive). As with all
metrics, there’s a time and a place for both inferential and descriptive
statistics. To be as effective as possible, you’ll want to have the right mix of
both systems in tandem.
Advantages of emphasizing leading indicators
While lagging indicators are generally easier to measure, taking your
organization and HR to the next level requires you to implement leading
indicators and interpret your workforce analytics. Why is that?
Say you go to your business’s Glassdoor page and see a string of negative
employee reviews — a very clear lagging indicator. Wouldn’t you want to
know how to prevent a sea of turnover? That’s what leading indicators are
for.
Leading indicators help you put together the whole story of your reporting.
To find them, ensure you implement the right surveys and analytics to
preempt negative outcomes and promote good ones. Take the lagging
indicators in your workforce data and infuse them with context to develop
predictive and prospective metrics.
Also, Hubstaff Insights can be one part of a leading indicator-focused
employee experience strategy. Use Insights to help your team cut down on
unneeded meetings, protect focus time, or uncover technology and
software needs before they interrupt your team’s work.
Think of lagging indicators like the rearview mirror in your car. It’s a helpful
tool for backing into a parking space or checking your surroundings.
However, the main tool you’re using while driving is the giant windshield in
front of you, letting you see where you’re going and what’s ahead.
Imagine how hard a road trip would be if you reversed the windshield and
rearview mirror. If you only had a tiny sliver to see what’s ahead, how
successful (or safe) would your traveling be?
Therefore, start with and emphasize those leading indicators to direct your
resources towards what will lead to more growth or prevent
problems before they become lost causes.

Leading and lagging Indicators

VIJAIARASAN P.A(MIIRSM)(Tech IOSH)

VIJAIARASAN P.A(MIIRSM)(Tech IOSH)

Environment, Health and Safety Manager at Danieli Group

Published Sep 21, 2021
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Introduction:
Safety performance has traditionally been monitored by ‘after the
loss’ measures to assess outcomes such as accident and injury rates,
incidents, and dollar costs. These are known as lagging indicators.
For the last two decades, there has been a growing recognition
across various sectors that data from lagging indicators is limited. It
comes too late to allow for preventative action to be taken, and all
too often offers little insight into how to prevent further losses.

Why measure safety performance?

Safety Management System (SMS) standards and recommended

practices promote the development and maintenance of means to
verify the safety performance of your organization and to validate
the effectiveness of safety risk controls.
The analysis and assessment of how your company ‘functions’ to
deliver its activities should form the basis for defining your safety
policy, the related safety objectives, and the corresponding safety
performance indicators and targets.
SMS requires a systemic approach as with any other element of
business management (e.g., quality, finance), and in this respect
safety performance measurement provides an element that is
essential for management and effective control: 'feedback.'
-Feedback will allow management to validate the analysis and
assessment of how well your organization functions in terms of
safety and to make adjustments as required (Plan-Do-Check-
Act).
-Feedback to your management will guide decision-making and
resource allocation.
 -Feedback to all staff will ensure that everyone is informed on
your company’s safety achievements. This will help to create
commitment and contribute to fostering your company’s safety
culture.

Effective safety performance measurement will support the

identification of opportunities for improvement not only related to
safety, but also to efficiency and capacity.
The management of safety relies on the capabilities of your
organization to systematically anticipate, monitor, and further
develop your organizational performance to ensure safe outcomes
of your activities. Effective safety management requires a thorough
understanding and sound management of your system and
processes. This cannot be achieved without some form of
measurement. Rather than randomly selecting outcomes that are
easy to measure, you should select safety performance indicators
that consider the type of feedback needed to ensure your
company’s capabilities for safety management can be properly
evaluated and improved. This implies that you will need to measure
performance at all levels of your organization by adopting a broad
set of indicators involving key aspects of your system, and
operations and allowing to measure those key aspects in different
ways.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are values that measure your
organization’s success at meeting its objectives. KPIs provide insight
into business conditions like:

 Predictability

 Early return on investment (ROI)

  Product quality

 And more

In practice, KPIs measure how a company will strategically grow.

However, behind every KPI is the implication that current conditions
influence trends and inform predictions for future growth. Leading
and lagging indicators are qualifiers that assess a business’s current
state (lagging indicator) and predict future conditions (leading
indicator).

Characteristics of good indicators:

For any performance indicator to be effective, it is important

that it is:
a) Objective and easy to measure and collect,
b) Relevant to the organization or workgroup whose performance is
being measured,
c) Providing immediate and reliable indications of the level of
performance,
d) Cost-efficient in terms of the equipment, personnel, and
additional technology required to gather the information,
e) Understood and owned by the workgroup whose performance is
being measured.

What is leading & lagging indicators?

Leading and lagging indicators help enterprise leaders understand

business conditions and trends. They are metrics that inform
managers that they are on track to meet their enterprise goals and
objectives.

Lagging indicator

‘Metrics that measure safety events that have already occurred

including those unwanted safety events you are trying to prevent’
Lagging indicators are typical “output” oriented. They are easy to
measure but hard to improve or influence. A lagging indicator is
one that usually follows an event. The importance of a lagging
indicator is its ability to confirm that a pattern is occurring.

Lagging indicators are measures of safety occurrences, in particular

the negative outcomes that the organization is aiming to prevent.
Lagging indicators are mainly used for aggregate, long-term
trending, either at a high level or for specific occurrence types or
locations. Because they measure safety outcomes, they can be used
to assess the effectiveness of safety measures, actions, or initiatives
and are a way of validating the safety performance of the system.
Also, trends in these indicators can be analyzed to determine if
latent conditions exist in present systems that should be addressed.
Two types of lagging indicators are generally defined as:

1. Indicators for high severity negative outcomes, such as

accidents or serious incidents.

2. The low frequency of high severity negative outcomes

means that aggregation (e.g., at industry segment level or
regional level) may produce more meaningful analyzes.

3. Indicators for lower-level system failures and safety events

that did not manifest themselves in serious incidents or
accidents (including system failures and procedural
deviations); however, safety analysis indicates there is the
potential for them to lead to a serious incident or accident
when combined with other safety events or conditions.
Such indicators are sometimes referred to as ‘precursor
event’ indicators.

Indicators for lower-level system failures and safety events are

primarily used to monitor specific safety issues and measure the
effectiveness of safety controls or barriers put in place for
mitigating the risk associated with these hazards.

Lagging indicators characteristically:

a. identify trends in past performance

b. assess outcomes and occurrences
c. have a long history of use, and so are an accepted standard
d. are relatively easy to identify and analyze

Examples of lagging indicators?

The number or location of OSHA recordable incidents; incident

rates, including Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR), Days
Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) Rate, and Lost Time
Incident Rates (LTIR); are all examples of lagging indicators.
While it’s necessary to track lagging indicators, unfortunately, they
provide little direction or insight into the behaviors and conditions
that precede incidents. That’s why they should not be the only
metrics that you examine. Lagging indicators are most useful when
they are reviewed together with leading indicators.

Benefits of lagging indicators

 A clear indicator of success: In many cases, the metric

that best assesses the impact of your efforts is going to be
a lagging indicator because it takes time for your changes
to take effect.

Weaknesses of lagging indicators

 They take time to measure: By definition, lagging

indicators measure long-term trends, so they take weeks
or months (or even longer) to change.
  You can’t see why: Lagging indicators show an outcome,
but it can be unclear what variables impacted that
outcome. You may know that your churn rate is high—
your lagging indicator—but you don’t know which of the
actions you took as a company impacted that rate.

 Difficult to change: Because lagging indicators are often

high-level metrics like revenue, impacted by a lot of
different departments within the company, small projects
may not make a measurable impact. It can sometimes be
difficult to tell whether minor changes in the metric are
because of your actions or if they are just chance.

Leading indicator:

‘Metrics that provide information on the current situation that may

affect future performance.
These indicators are easier to influence but hard(er) to measure. I
say harder because you have to put processes and tools in place in
order to measure them. When you start building a product, a lot of
what you will understand and build will emerge over time. You
don’t know exactly what the level of effort is until you finish. And if
you are like me, given shifting priorities and dependencies, your
lagging indicator is a moving target. If you use leading indicators,
you can see if you’re tracking in the right direction. You can use the
leading indicators to make changes to your behavior or
environment while there is still time.
Leading indicators give early indications of performance. These
indicators “lead” to results by showing the progress you’re making
toward your goal. Typically, leading indicators are metrics that will
help keep you on track so that you hit your strategic objectives.
Leading indicators, which are particularly relevant from a
management perspective, may be used to influence safety
management priorities and the determination of actions for safety
improvement. You may use this type of indicator to proactively
develop (‘drive’) your company’s safety management capabilities, in
particular during the initial implementation of SMS. This may entail
the setting of performance targets

Example: The percentage of changes to Standard Operating

Procedures that have been subject to hazard identification and
safety risk management
Safety performance measurement should ideally consider a
combination of leading and lagging indicators. The main focus
should be to measure and act upon the presence of those systemic
and operational attributes that enable effective safety management
within your company and meanwhile, use lagging indicators to
ensure that this safety management is effective. Lagging indicators,
particularly indicators for lower-level system failures, are useful to
validate the effectiveness of specific safety actions and risk barriers
or to support the analysis of information derived from your leading
indicators.

Leading indicators can:

 reveal areas of weakness in advance of adverse events

  be associated with proactive activities that identify hazards

 aid risk assessment and management

 complement the use of lagging indicators by

compensating for their shortcomings

For leading indicators to play an effective role in the improvement

process, there must be an association between the inputs that the
leading indicators are measuring and the desired lagging output,
and leading indicators should indicate the direction of future
lagging results. Examples of metrics that could be leading indicators
are the size of the safety budget,

What are some examples of leading indicators?

The root causes of near misses, the percent of inspections or

behavior-based safety observations completed at a location, and
training attendance and pass rates are all examples of leading
indicators. By analyzing these metrics, you can get an idea of what is
working, and what might be in danger of causing an incident.
Characteristics of Effective Leading Indicators:

Good leading indicators are based on SMART principles, meaning

they are Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Reasonable, and Timely:
Specific: Does your leading indicator provide specifics for the
action that you will take to minimize risk from a hazard or improve a
program area?
Measurable: Is your leading indicator presented as a number, rate,
or percentage that allows you to track and evaluate clear trends
over time?
Accountable: Does your leading indicator track an item that is
relevant to your goal?
Reasonable: Can you reasonably achieve the goal that you set for
your leading indicator?
Timely: Are you tracking your leading indicator regularly enough to
spot meaningful trends from your data within your desired
timeframe?
Benefits of using leading indicators

 Faster feedback: By tracking leading indicators, your team

can get feedback on their efforts more quickly and
determine what actions they might need to take to achieve
their overarching objectives.

 Team involvement: Because there are often many facets

to broad goals, there are typically many leading indicators
to track. Different team members and departments can
own different metrics, so everyone contributes to meeting
the company’s larger objectives.

Weaknesses of leading indicators

 Just a proxy: If you’re using a leading indicator as a proxy

for a lagging indicator, keep in mind that while the leading
metric should affect the lagging indicator, it might not
have the impact you expect. It’s important to track both so
you can monitor ongoing progress as well as the actual
outcome of your changes.

Characteristics of good indicators:

For any performance indicator to be effective, it is important

that it is:
a) Objective and easy to measure and collect,
b) Relevant to the organization or workgroup whose performance is
being measured,
c) Providing immediate and reliable indications of the level of
performance,
d) Cost-efficient in terms of the equipment, personnel, and
additional technology required to gather the information,
e) Understood and owned by the workgroup whose performance is
being measured.

In addition to these general requirements, the examples used in

the introduction demonstrate some additional characteristics
that leading performance indicators must have if they are to be
useful:

 There must be a connection between the leading

information and the outcomes that are of interest.

 The reasons behind the indicators and their benefit must

be understood by line management and the workforce
affected.

 The indicators must provide information that can guide

future actions to either improve desired outcomes or
provide a warning of potential weaknesses and allow
action to avoid undesirable outcomes.

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