Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so.
I’ve written previously about my view of the three most important metrics to measure a business’s health. They are employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow. While each of these is important, the latter two are difficult for an individual to change quickly. Employee engagement, however, is something that is in the hands of every leader, every day -- whether you're managing one, ten, a thousand, or ten thousand.
In a commercial enterprise, owners and customers create natural accountability. Organizations that don’t serve them well suffer—sooner or later. Hence, commercial enterprises are generally observant of measuring how they perform for owners and customers.
If you want to create awareness and motivation for change—change the language. Create credible measures that align with the fundamental mission of the organization and people will have a hard time resisting their effect.
The days of the 'intuitive' manager are numbered.
When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.