Have you ever noticed that your car's dashboard contains about a dozen indicators, some of which are more important than others. The green, yellow and red colors of some indicators are also representative of the situation.

All of this quickly provides the driver with essential information that allows him to avoid unfortunate events or to adjust when the time comes.

The dashboard is effective because it is visual and can be understood at a glance!

The same principle applies to organizations. Their leaders need to be informed of what is happening in order to make decisions before a situation deteriorates or to adjust certain elements of the business strategy. To do this, they need a visual dashboard, which allows them to quickly have an overview.

We must choose indicators that allow us to know if we are going in the right direction and if we are moving towards achieving our vision. The indicators must allow us to follow our game plan or our strategic plan.

What is a management dashboard?

A management dashboard is a visual representation of a group of key indicators needed to evaluate performance and make decisions. Just like in a car, this dashboard must contain past information (distance traveled), present information (speed) and future information (remaining fuel) while allowing us to predict future events in advance. It must allow a quick understanding of the organization's situation in order to provoke a reaction and a business decision.

A multi-purpose tool

The dashboard also allows us to plan, measure, evaluate and correct (PMEC) situations, not to mention that it is also a multi-use management tool:

• Performance management and evaluation

The dashboard is a tool for managing and evaluating the performance of an organization, a business unit, a department, a project, production, an individual, an activity, equipment, etc. The results obtained could thus be part of the calculation of incentive compensation.

• Business Navigation

The dashboard is a bit like a compass: it allows you to take the right direction, to detect trends and major deviations. You can see the trajectory, the current positioning, the problematic or abnormal situations, the results achieved in relation to your strategy, your standards and your objectives or in relation to reference points such as industry standards.

• Decision support

By illustrating past, present and future information, the dashboard allows the manager to react quickly and make informed decisions in order to make the necessary adjustments to avoid significant costs and unwanted situations and thus reduce business risk.

• Communication tool

The dashboard is a common and unifying communication tool that helps ensure that everyone is moving in the same direction and is aligned with the organizational strategy and common goals. It can thus ensure consistency and synergy among team members and promote team mobilization.

So we can say that the dashboard is essential to sound management. Try to imagine driving a car without a dashboard… It would be a disaster! The same goes for your organization.