Enterprise Alignment: Metrics Only Work When *We Do* (5 of 5)
Flywheel & Ubuntu. A framework and a mindset that mobilizes boardroom metrics into frontline momentum.
Wrapping up our Metrics That Matter series! Specifically, “Metrics only matter if you can move them in the right direction.”. So far, we’ve unpacked:
Relativity (post 1): Knowing which metrics to care about moving, and by how much (Measurement Alone Is Not Enough)
Levers (posts 2-4): Definitions, Cheat Sheets and decision scenarios for: GAAP (post 2), SaaS-Specific Metrics (post 3), Unit Economics (post 4)
**Note for subscribers: to spare inboxes, post 4 wasn’t emailed but you can reference the link above.
This final post is focused on what I’ve found to be the greatest challenge of them all - Enterprise Alignment. Know-how doesn’t move the needle on its own. It requires a community of people, aligned, and rowing together in the same direction.
Having led sub-scale B2B SaaS & Services businesses (both VC and PE-backed companies), I’ve observed 2 dynamics occur
Vertical misalignment - executives spend far too much time reporting out on boardroom metrics while frontline teams’ laundry list of tasks can feel like a rat race, and disconnected from creating enterprise value.
Horizontal misalignment - departments each chase their own scorecards. Functional wins are celebrated even though ARR stalls. When plans change mid-quarter, departments fall back to “controlling what they can” within their siloes.
The challenge (and opportunity) is bridging those gaps so board-level metrics actually drive frontline action.
The Vertical Alignment Challenge: From the Boardroom to the Frontlines
Only a handful of leaders (often just the CEO and execs) truly understand how to move Metrics-that-Matter across the enterprise (ARR growth, GRR, NRR, Rule of 40, EBITDA). They can connect the dots across product, sales, marketing, CS, and finance. Why?
Vantage point: Most of the organization operates in narrower scopes. While capable of “getting it,” their line of sight to these metrics is abstract or fragmented. It’s hard to link daily decisions to GRR or pricing’s impact on CLTV. And they’re not expected to, nor would I argue it to be realistic for 100% of the team to have broad-level fluency and exposure.
Incentives also differ: What investors, CEOs, and team members prioritize and are rewarded for varies widely, creating dissonance between executives and those actually “turning the crank”. That’s not a bad thing. Incentive drives behavior and if set up appropriately, can empower the team to “turn the crank” really efficiently.
The Horizontal Alignment Challenge: From Department to Interdependence (“Ubuntu”)
Ok - now for horizontal alignment. Does this look familiar?
I’m not claiming every company runs the same org or metrics. Each business has nuances: sales-led vs. PLG motions, SMB vs. enterprise focus, heavier implementation vs. self-serve, software vs. payments vs. services, etc.
The point is that company level objectives are translated into departmental scorecards that in turn, drive daily focus for team members. But, enterprise value isn’t created by siloed departments hitting their own goals, it comes from company-wide performance: ARR, GRR, NRR, EBITDA, Rule of 40. As the South African phrase Ubuntu says, “I am because we are.” Departments succeed only when others do.
If marketing exceeds lead gen targets but sales misses bookings, the company misses. If bugs or scope creep delay implementation, backlog grows and deal conversion suffers. If product prioritizes closed-lost reasons, cross-sell may stall and NRR lags.
The Flywheel: A Blueprint for Alignment
Jim Collins’ Flywheel concept is a powerful way to act as a blueprint for alignment. At its best, a company-level Flywheel shows:
The repeatable activities that generate customer value.
The reinforcing loops that drive sustainable, scalable growth.
The interdependencies across departments that make that growth possible.
Instead of treating metrics like isolated departmental scorecards, the Flywheel helps teams see how their actions contribute to enterprise momentum. For simplicity, a pure-play subscription B2B SaaS business, the Flywheel might look like this:
ARR Bookings & Rule of 40 → Excited, right-fit ICP customers.
ARR Enablement → Successful implementations and adoption.
NRR Growth → Delighted customers (GRR) that expand usage.
Reviews, Referrals, Upsells, and Innovation → Fuel for new ARR.
Now layering on departmental metrics creates a view that looks like this (departmental metrics in support of the company Flywheel):
And finally, “snapping” this to what investors care about (MOIC) and what team members care about (performance / promotion).
This is an oversimplified view of a fictitious B2B SaaS company but the structure can be adapted. Take the time and map out the Flywheel that tailors to your business (or segments of your business). For example
A payments add-on to an invoicing module might mean:
Northstar metric: Annualized MRR
Flywheel: Drive invoice module adoption/maximize GPV potential > convert and retain GPV through payments capability > maximize take rate > innovation & social proof that increases value of invoice module adoption.
A project-based services business (or embedded services org):
Northstar metric: Predictable EBITDA growth
Flywheel: Scope/book profitable projects > forecast & schedule accurately > deliver with quality and predictable utilization > drive repeat business > scale tech and delivery.
An Offsite Alignment Exercise
To translate to action, here’s a simple matrix I’ve used as a template, folded into leadership team off-sites as a working exercise. Across the top are departments, and along the Y axis are company objectives.
Print out a big poster or use a whiteboard without the detail in the middle filled in.
Assign cross-functional groups and assign each group a “row” company objective
Spend 30-45 minutes having team members write on post-its and place them into each column on what those departments must contribute in order to meet the company objective.
Ask a representative from each group to share.
Note that this may naturally surface some tension points or existing cross-functional challenges. Embrace it :). At the end you’ll have a helpful matrix that illustrates the “Ubuntu” / interdependence of the organization, and perhaps a list of cross-functional parking lot issues to takeaway as a follow-up.
Closing the Series: Where Metrics Meet Momentum
When we began Metrics That Matter, we said: metrics only matter if you can move them in the right direction. Along the way, we explored relativity (the importance of knowing what metrics to move and by how much), levers (the decisions that move numbers), and now alignment, the piece that ensures the whole company rows together.
The takeaway? Metrics aren’t just numbers on a slide. When orchestrated well together, they’re an operating system. Relativity sets context, levers guide decisions, and alignment turns those decisions into momentum. When done right, the Flywheel connects boardroom metrics to frontline execution, breaks silos, and compounds enterprise value over time.
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