Better/Worse Charts – We all track a lot of things in our businesses, but we usually compare to a certain measurement like the annual budget or industry benchmarks. So sales might be 40% over budget three months ago, then 30% over, then 20% over. Sounds great, right? Often you will only look at the data one month at a time. 20% better than budget is good. But what if you had “Better or Worse” charts? Just a simple up or down. Did things get better or did they get worse? That 20% would show up as “Worse.” And so would the 30%, by the way. Why would you make someone look bad if they were 20% or 30% better than budget? It’s not about looking good or bad, it’s about looking at things differently. Maybe the budget was too easy or maybe the person will have one blowout month and then coast for three months. And just maybe having a completely different type of measurement will give you a completely different insight!