--- description: Three manufacturing sites counted three different ways. Forty leadership indicators, one methodology, and the gaps surfaced rather than papered over. title: "Leadership KPIs: three sites, one baseline" --- [Skip to content](https://sterlingnorth.partners/cases/leadership-kpis#main) [STERLING NORTH PARTNERS](https://sterlingnorth.partners/?hsLang=en) Menu [Start](https://sterlingnorth.partners/start?hsLang=en) [Keep up](https://sterlingnorth.partners/keep-up?hsLang=en) [Go faster](https://sterlingnorth.partners/go-faster?hsLang=en) [Stay in control](https://sterlingnorth.partners/stay-in-control?hsLang=en) [How we work](https://sterlingnorth.partners/how-we-work?hsLang=en) [Cases](https://sterlingnorth.partners/cases?hsLang=en) [Book a strategy call](https://sterlingnorth.partners/talk?hsLang=en) [FR](https://sterlingnorth.partners/fr/?hsLang=en) Case study · High-growth manufacturer · Leadership reporting # Three sites, three ways of counting, one baseline. Forty leadership measures across seven departments and three plants. Each site calculated them differently, or not at all, so there was nothing consistent for leadership to manage from. 40 Leadership measures standardized 7 Departments covered 3 Manufacturing sites aligned 3 weeks From kickoff to a documented single method The situation The company had grown quickly across three plants. Leadership wanted a monthly view of how the business was performing and discovered that the same measure meant three different things depending on which site reported it. Some measures were not being calculated anywhere. Others were calculated from data nobody could point to. This is the ordinary condition of a company that has grown faster than its reporting, and it is not a failing. It is what happens when every site solves the problem locally because there was never time to solve it centrally. What solved looked like One definition per measure, agreed by the people who produce the number and the people who use it. A written method for each. An honest list of the measures the company cannot yet produce, and what is missing for each one. And a view that refreshes without anyone assembling it by hand. How it ran 1. #### Collect what exists Every measure already in use at every site, with the calculation actually being applied rather than the one on the slide. 2. #### Surface the disagreements Where two sites calculated the same measure differently, both versions were put in front of the people who use the number. Most disagreements resolved in one conversation once they were visible. 3. #### Write the single method One definition, one source, one calculation, one owner per measure, documented so a new controller can reproduce it. 4. #### Name the gaps Measures the company wanted but could not yet produce were listed with the specific data that was missing, rather than quietly dropped. Why this belongs to Stay in control An integration office cannot report the return on anything until the numbers underneath it mean one thing. Standardizing the measures is not glamorous work and it is almost always the step that has been skipped. It is also what makes every later claim about value defensible rather than arguable. #### Where this leads Once the measures hold, initiatives can be gated, tracked and closed against them. See [the Stay in control situation](https://sterlingnorth.partners/stay-in-control?hsLang=en). ## Can you say what the program has returned? If the answer takes more than a sentence, the measures are usually the place to start. [Book a strategy call](https://sterlingnorth.partners/talk?situation=stay-in-control&hsLang=en)[All case studies](https://sterlingnorth.partners/cases?hsLang=en) The Future of Work Newsletter ## One sharp observation. Every two weeks. No noise. No product updates. Just Philippe's read on where work is heading and what it means for how organizations need to operate. Email Subscribe Bi-weekly. Unsubscribe anytime. We integrate AI into how departments actually work, then prove it on your own numbers. #### Situations - [Start](https://sterlingnorth.partners/start?hsLang=en) - [Keep up](https://sterlingnorth.partners/keep-up?hsLang=en) - [Go faster](https://sterlingnorth.partners/go-faster?hsLang=en) - [Stay in control](https://sterlingnorth.partners/stay-in-control?hsLang=en) #### How we work - [Sizes and ways](https://sterlingnorth.partners/how-we-work#how-we-work-sizes) - [How we build](https://sterlingnorth.partners/how-we-work#how-we-work-method) - [How pricing works](https://sterlingnorth.partners/how-we-work#how-we-work-pay) - [How we operate](https://sterlingnorth.partners/how-we-work#how-we-work-ourselves) #### Tools - [Scope it yourself](https://sterlingnorth.partners/scope?hsLang=en) - [The case for your department](https://sterlingnorth.partners/keep-up#keep-up-case) - [Size the firepower](https://sterlingnorth.partners/go-faster#go-faster-firepower) - [Define your ambition](https://sterlingnorth.partners/stay-in-control#stay-in-control-ambition) #### Company - [The firm](https://sterlingnorth.partners/firm?hsLang=en) - [Contact](https://sterlingnorth.partners/contact?hsLang=en) - [Careers](https://sterlingnorth.partners/careers?hsLang=en) - [Privacy policy](https://sterlingnorth.partners/privacy-policy?hsLang=en) [Book a strategy call](https://sterlingnorth.partners/talk?hsLang=en)[All case studies](https://sterlingnorth.partners/cases?hsLang=en)[All resources](https://sterlingnorth.partners/resources?hsLang=en) [+1 (438) 808-6929](tel:+14388086929)[info@sterlingnorth.partners](mailto:info@sterlingnorth.partners)[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/sterling-north-partners) © 2026 Sterling North Partners Inc. 360-03, 55 rue de Louvain Ouest, Montreal, Quebec H2N 1A4. We use a few cookies to keep the site working and to see which pages get read. Analytics only if you agree. Accept Essential only