What are leading vs. lagging operations KPIs?

Lagging KPIs measure results after they have already happened: on-time delivery rate, cost per unit, monthly throughput, customer complaints. They are accurate and hard to argue with, but by the time they move, the event that caused it is over — you are reading the scoreboard, not changing the game. Leading KPIs measure the inputs and early signals that predict those results: coverage versus demand for the next shift, backlog aging, first-pass quality on the line, pipeline of scheduled work. They are less precise but far more actionable, because they give you a window to intervene before the lagging number turns bad. A strong operations dashboard deliberately pairs the two. The lagging metric tells you whether you are winning; the leading metric tells you what to do about it today. For example, on-time rate (lagging) may still look healthy while coverage-versus-demand (leading) shows tomorrow's shift is understaffed — and only the leading signal gives you time to fix it before delivery slips. If your dashboard is all lagging metrics, you will always be reacting; adding a few leading indicators is what lets an ops team get ahead of problems instead of explaining them after the fact.