I guess we have all been there: your weather app says no rain for the next 30 minutes, but as soon you step outside you get a full shower. Or your navigation says to take a right turn in 100m but there is no exit in sight for the next few miles.
Sometimes an indicator you rely on is off. It happens. So, a wise individual looks out of the window before she leaves and checks the roads before she takes a turn because navigation says so.
In business we need to do the same.
E.g., NPS is down this quarter. Is that a real signal or perhaps just sample noise? Check some other indicators as well that you know move simultaneously. Is your first-time fix down to? Waiting times? Planning issues? Talk with call centre agents, store staff or—wild idea—customers to check if anything unusual is going on. If it is just your NPS and the rest is steady, there is probably nothing to worry about.
Or, the research said your new product performed far better than the benchmark. But the product doesn’t sell. Bad research! Or maybe not. Did you test the packaging? Do people know about the product? Is it available & visible? Perhaps your research was just fine, but the execution was sloppy.
No matter what indicator you are looking at, always try to understand the bigger picture. A single indicator will not help you with that by definition.