What Information Do You Value?
A Survey for Theatre Leaders
Dear Managing Director,
No one has to tell you what an extraordinary time this is for the American not-for-profit theatre. The clarion call for racial and social justice, an ongoing pandemic and a national economic heart attack is a combination of unprecedented challenges to our art form.
I know therefore that this is a difficult time to focus on anything but the immediate pressing issues in front of you. However, when not-for-profit theatres reopen, as they eventually will, I think the need for better management information will be even more acute than it was in 2019.
Forty years ago, I first encountered the term “Key Data” in my work in the private sector. It was a term used by companies to describe information that succinctly summarized the vital signs of current organizational performance. I have relied on the Key Data concept in every organization in which I have worked ever since. This valuable framework is certainly applicable to the not-for-profit theatre.
I hope you will participate in a Theatre Management Key Data survey. Its premises are:
Theatre managers need useful information, not mere data.
What gets measured gets done.
Every theatre will have a unique list of Key Data metrics based on its mission, its strategy and its current circumstances.
Some items of Key Data may be of interest to many theatre managers.
This survey contains a comprehensive list of possible Key Data metrics, only a limited number of which will be appropriate for any given theatre. Please complete the survey and tell me which metrics you currently monitor and which you would like to monitor. Also, please be sure to suggest additional measures in the space provided. Finally, I request your responses reflect your personal need for Key Data as you define it, while understanding that you may also distribute some or all of that data to your board and staff.
I will assemble all responses and if a consensus on current practice or current needs is discovered, I will send you a summary and then publish my analysis without revealing the name or responses of any individual survey participant. This survey is being sent by email and mail to approximately 100 not-for-profit theatre management leaders.
Just click on the printer icon; the print range is already set. The spreadsheet prints out in landscape mode on 8 1/2” x 11” paper. Please return the survey as soon as you can. I hope to distribute my summary conclusions late this year. If you have any questions, please call me.
Thank you very much in advance for your participation.
Sincerely,
Arthur Nacht
Principal