I was recently auditing an organization for ISO 9001. This organization had identified their quality objectives and when asked to show evidence of progress, they spoke very highly of achieving their objectives.

But then we started diving in to the very scattered data. The data, once collected, told a different story. It became clear that the organization didn’t have a great grasp on how they were ACTUALLY progressing toward their objectives. 

Sometimes perceived progress does not align with actual progress. Your perception of your progress can sometimes cloud the reality of how you’re actually performing toward your goal.

 That’s why it is so important to establish SMART goals, with measurable targets and mechanisms for tracking data against those targets, and to set up systems to regularly analyze how you are progressing toward those goals. 

Remember, data tells a story. Don’t let perceptions hinder your progress!