Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 39d7d9db6b407204b5e805e6edcd328647945371995bbf8478fd399e214b48b4

# Manage What You Measure

Teams map high-level corporate objectives down to mid-tier KPIs and observable customer behaviors. Participants cluster notes, vote on high-impact behaviors, and set baseline and target metrics.

**Time:** 60 minutes. Source suggests 30 minutes to 3 hours; UWT structures this standard session at 60 minutes for up to 15 participants.
**People:** 5 to 15. Individual silent generation followed by whole-room clustering, plenary dot voting, and whole-room debrief

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Map how specific customer behaviors drive organizational metrics to select and set measurable targets for priority behaviors.
**Use it when:** Cross-functional teams need to align strategic leadership goals with front-line product or service metrics.
**Skip it when:** Teams do not have a defined high-level objective yet, or the team's work does not involve observable customer or user actions.

## Materials and tools

- Whiteboard or large wall space
- Sticky notes in 3 distinct colors (Color A for KPIs, Color B for customer behaviors, Color C for baseline and target data cards)
- Fine-tip dry-erase markers or felt pens (1 per person)
- Dot voting stickers (5 dots per participant)
- Camera or smartphone to document results

## Before participants arrive

1. Write one confirmed corporate-wide strategic goal across the top of the whiteboard.
2. Distribute sticky notes and markers to tables for all participants.

## Say this to open

Today we are connecting high-level strategic goals to everyday user actions. We will map our overall objective to key performance indicators, trace the user behaviors that directly influence those indicators, and choose where to focus our measurement efforts.

## How to run it

### 1. Frame the goal and KPIs (10 minutes)

Read the opening script and point to the goal at the top of the board. Lead an 8-minute whole-room discussion to identify 2 to 4 primary key performance indicators (KPIs) that track progress toward that goal. Use the final 2 minutes to write each agreed KPI on a separate Color A sticky note and place them horizontally beneath the main goal as column headers.

### 2. Brainstorm customer behaviors (10 minutes)

Say: 'Write down specific customer or user actions that directly change these KPIs.' Give 5 minutes of silent writing. Each person writes observable user actions on Color B sticky notes, one action per note. Example: 'Complete self-serve checkout' or 'Add second item to cart'. For the remaining 5 minutes, participants walk up and post their notes under the relevant KPI columns.

### 3. Cluster and clarify (15 minutes)

Gather the group at the board. Review notes column by column. Read each sticky note aloud, merge clear duplicates, and cluster related actions. Ask authors to clarify vague notes. If an item describes an internal team task such as 'Ship new feature', ask the author to restate it as the user behavior that the feature creates.

### 4. Dot vote on high-impact behaviors (8 minutes)

Distribute 5 dot stickers to each participant. Say: 'Place your dots on the customer behaviors that most strongly influence our target KPIs. You may distribute dots across multiple items or place more than one dot on a single note.' Run silent voting for 4 minutes. Tally votes and shift the highest-voted items to the top of each column.

### 5. Establish baselines and targets (10 minutes)

Select the top 2 to 3 voted behaviors across the board. For each selected behavior, use a Color C sticky note to record two figures: the current baseline value (what the behavior measures right now) and the target goal with a target date. If a baseline is unknown, write 'Needs Data' and name an owner to look it up.

### 6. Debrief and assign next steps (7 minutes)

Lead a whole-room debrief using the prepared questions. Take 2 to 3 participant contributions per question. Confirm assigned data owners for any notes marked 'Needs Data', and photograph the finished board for the team record.


## Debrief questions

- Which identified customer behaviors surprised you the most in relation to our top-level goal?
- Where do we have the biggest measurement blind spots between what users do and what leadership tracks?
- What is the immediate next step to verify the baselines we could not measure today?

**Finished output:** A visual hierarchy mapping one corporate goal to supporting KPIs and specific customer behaviors, with baseline and target metrics recorded for the top 2 to 3 priority behaviors.

## Remote

Use an online whiteboard such as Miro or Mural. Set up three horizontal rows: Corporate Goal, KPIs, and Customer Behaviors. Participants generate digital notes in parallel, move them under corresponding KPI columns, and use built-in dot voting tools or circular icons for the 5-dot prioritization.

## Hybrid

Provide an online whiteboard as the single source of truth. In-person participants use laptops or assign an in-room scribe to transcribe physical notes immediately into the digital board so remote and in-room participants view and vote on identical items simultaneously.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may dictate sticky notes to the facilitator or a peer scribe instead of writing physically.
- Participants can choose to contribute notes or observe the mapping silently without being required to speak aloud during plenary rounds.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants write internal organizational outputs instead of customer behaviors (for example, 'Launch redesign').**

Ask the writer: 'If that project succeeds, what is the exact physical or digital action the customer performs as a result?' Rewrite the note based on the customer action.

**The group gets stuck arguing about exact numerical baseline data that nobody has in the room.**

Flag the baseline as 'Needs Data' on the sticky note, assign one person to retrieve the figure after the session, and move on.


## Terms used here

- KPI: Key Performance Indicator; a quantifiable metric used to gauge performance toward a specific objective.
- Customer Behavior: An observable action taken by a user or client, distinct from internal team tasks or features.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Gamestorming and SessionLab; Gamestorming attributes the concept to Jeff Gothelf's article on aligning executive outcomes with behavioral measures.

Retained the core hierarchy mechanic from Gamestorming (linking a corporate goal to KPIs, mapping customer behaviors, dot voting, and establishing baseline/target metrics). UWT standardized the process into a strict 60-minute agenda with defined per-step scripts and time allotments including a dedicated closing debrief step, clarified sticky note color allocation by level, and added hybrid facilitation guidelines.

[Gamestorming](https://gamestorming.com/manage-what-you-measure)

[Gamestorming](https://gamestorming.com/manage-what-you-measure/)

[SessionLab](https://www.sessionlab.com/methods/manage-what-you-measure)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/manage-what-you-measure/