System Cues

A global financial institution wanted growth.

The strategy was built around deepening customer relationships. Employees were expected to sell more products, open more accounts, and increase the number of services each customer used.

On paper, that could sound reasonable.

The formal message was probably: serve the customer, build relationships, grow the business, and meet your goals.

But the system was sending a much louder message:

Hit the number.

Open the account.

Meet the target.

That is where System Cues become powerful.

A metric is not neutral. An incentive is not neutral. A target is not neutral. Each one tells people what matters, what gets noticed, and what will be rewarded or punished.

In this case, employees were under intense pressure to meet aggressive sales goals. Over time, the system rewarded account volume more clearly than customer value.

And organizations often get more of the behavior they measure, even when that behavior damages the outcome they actually want.

Have you ever experienced the unintended consequences of a metric?

Maybe a team was measured on speed, so quality dropped.

Maybe people were measured on volume, so the work became shallow.

Maybe customer calls were measured by handle time, so employees rushed conversations that needed more care.

Maybe a bonus, dashboard, scorecard, or deadline pushed people toward behavior no one would have chosen on purpose.

That is System Cues.

System Cues are the signals created by metrics, incentives, processes, dashboards, deadlines, approvals, and leadership attention.

They tell people what the organization is really asking for.

And people often follow the cue faster than they follow the stated value.

In this case, the cost was massive.

The institution ultimately agreed to pay $3 billion to resolve criminal and civil investigations tied to its sales practices. That does not capture the full reputational damage, customer trust damage, regulatory scrutiny, leadership turnover, and years of remediation that followed.

That is the cost of missing System Cues.

And that’s why this lever matters. It helps leaders see when the organization is unintentionally telling people to do something different from what leaders say they want.

When System Cues are shaping a performance issue, the problem often looks like people are making poor choices.

But sometimes people are responding exactly to the signals the organization is sending.

You may see people hitting the metric while missing the purpose.

For example, the number looks good, but the customer experience gets worse. The task is completed, but the quality is thin. The activity is happening, but the result is not improving.

You may also see people prioritizing what is measured over what matters.

That happens when the dashboard, deadline, bonus, or approval process points people toward one behavior while the actual goal requires something different.

Another outcome is short-term behavior that creates long-term cost.

People may rush, skip steps, avoid escalation, delay bad news, or make the work look better than it is because the system rewards the appearance of progress.

System Cues can also create confusion.

Leaders may say one thing, but the process, metric, or incentive tells people something else. When that happens, people usually follow the cue with the clearest consequence.

So when you see these outcomes, don’t only ask, “Why are people making that choice?”

Ask the better question:

What is the system signaling them to do?

If System Cues may be affecting your performance issue, start with the signals people receive every day.

What gets measured? What gets rewarded? What gets punished? What gets reported? What gets attention from leadership?

Those cues tell people what matters in practice.

Next, look for conflict between the stated goal and the operating signal.

Maybe leaders say quality matters, but speed is the only thing measured. Maybe leaders say collaboration matters, but each department is rewarded for protecting its own numbers. Maybe leaders say customer experience matters, but the process rewards short calls, quick closure, or low escalation.

Then look at the dashboards, scorecards, deadlines, approvals, and incentives connected to the issue.

Ask whether they are pushing people toward the result you actually want or toward a behavior that only looks productive.

Also examine what people have learned to optimize.

That word matters. People naturally adjust to the system. If the system rewards volume, they may optimize for volume. If it rewards speed, they may optimize for speed. If it rewards avoiding mistakes, they may stop taking useful risks.

Finally, look at what behavior is unintentionally encouraged.

Are people avoiding hard conversations? Rushing work? Holding back bad news? Passing problems downstream? Protecting the metric instead of solving the issue?

System Cues are not solved by telling people to “use better judgment” while the system keeps rewarding the opposite behavior.

They are addressed by aligning the metrics, incentives, processes, and leadership attention with the outcome you actually want.

That’s the lens I want you to use when you move into the System Cues section of the estimator.

What is being measured? What is being rewarded? What gets attention? What creates pressure? What does the process make easier or harder?

This is where I want you to look past the stated goal and examine what the system may actually be encouraging.

For example, leaders may say quality matters, but the timeline rewards speed. Leaders may say collaboration matters, but the scorecard rewards individual results. Leaders may say customer experience matters, but the process rewards closing tickets quickly.

As you answer, don’t think only about what leaders intended. Think about what people are likely to do based on the cues around them.

Take a few minutes to complete only the System Cues section. Answer based on what is actually happening in your situation, not what the policy, value statement, or strategic plan says should be happening.

When you’re done, stay on that section. We’ll come back together before moving on.