Dashboard - Part 1

Dashboards have been on my mind a lot lately. I just finished up a big project at work, building a new web dashboard for team leads. The idea was to give TLs the tools and information they need to make it easier for them to do the right thing - staying on top of their management responsibilities and growing/engaging their team members. It was a really fun project and I received a lot of positive feedback.

Although different in many ways, there are some parallels between being a parent and a team leader. Both need to respect the viewpoints and decisions of their team members while encouraging them to grow. Both provide guidance and correction while working toward a goal. Both establish expectations and delegate responsibilities. If a dashboard can help TLs, can it help dads?

What would a dad dashboard look like? What are my key performance indicators? What can I do to grow and engage my team members (children)? Can I measure and track my own progress and the progress of my kids? Maybe, maybe not. Collecting and maintaining the data will be the hardest part (putting a SQL backend on my dad dashboard might be a little overkill), but there are simple things I can do.

For my own stats, what are the behaviors I want to engage in? Playtime, teaching (spiritual, character development, education, etc), serving/loving Sadie, constructive discipline/correction, having fun.

What do I need to know about each of my kids? What is unique about their personality? (pick your favorite personality test). What are their learning styles? Love languages? What are their current challenge/ struggles? Areas for growth? What makes them happy/sad/mad/excited?

Usually I like to post about ideas I've already tried, but this time I want to challenge myself (and YOU, imaginary reader) to come up with a dashboard by next week. Am I making this complicated? Potentially. The important thing is to just think through some of these ideas, and come up with one or two goals.

Why? President Monson said, "When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates." If setting goals is natural in other areas of life, it most certainly should be part of one of my most important roles - fatherhood.