Calculating Impact

In businessThink: Rules for Getting It Right--Now, and No Matter What!, the Dave Marcum, Steve Smith, and Mahan Khalsa use five questions to convert hard evidence into impact.

The Five Golden Questions
According to Marcum, Smith, and Khalsa, you can use the following five golden questions to convert evidence into impact:

• How do you measure it?
• What is it now?
• What would you like it to be?
• What's the value of the difference?
• What's the value of the difference over time (months, years -- the appropriate management horizon)?

Key Take Aways
At work, I tend to ask the questions, "how big is the pie?" and "how big is our slice?" While they're a start, I think The Five Golden Questions above help add dimension and depth when you're trying to understand and articulate potential impact.