The most important year-end metrics aren't on your balance sheet

"As the year winds down, many leaders find themselves in a familiar ritual: closing the books, reviewing revenue targets, and drafting ambitious financial goals for the year ahead. These practices are important. But after years of designing teams and advising organizations at different stages of growth, I've come to believe that the most valuable year-end ritual has little to do with money alone."

"Nonfinancial metrics tell you why and whether the success you're chasing is sustainable. They reveal the health of your organization from the inside out, often long before that health shows up on a balance sheet. The quiet stretch between Christmas and New Year's is an ideal time to step back and ask a different set of questions. Not just Did we hit our numbers? but What did it cost us to get there? And What kind of organization are we becoming in the process?"

"Financial metrics are essential, but they are lagging indicators. By the time revenue dips or margins tighten, the underlying issues such as burnout, disengagement, inefficient processes, or stalled innovation have often been present for months or even years. Nonfinancial metrics, on the other hand, act as early signals. They help leaders understand whether the systems, culture, and behaviors inside the organization are aligned with long-term success."

Leaders should set nonfinancial metrics alongside financial targets to understand the causes and sustainability of results. Nonfinancial metrics reveal organizational health—culture, systems, and behaviors—before financial signs appear. Employee engagement, client satisfaction, and similar measures function as early indicators of future performance, retention, and profitability. Financial metrics are lagging indicators; by the time revenues decline or margins compress, issues like burnout, disengagement, inefficient processes, or stalled innovation are often entrenched. The period between Christmas and New Year's is an opportunity to ask not only whether numbers were met, but what those results cost and what kind of organization is being built.

Read at Fast Company