3 Paths to a Better KPI Approach

Have you ever finished a workshop about?creating and using genuinely impactful KPIs feeling excited about using a better approach in the organization -- only to hit a wall of indifference and resistance when trying to apply it??

If so, you're not alone.??Most of us – executives, managers, strategy and performance professionals, and analysts – struggle with getting our organization to adopt a better approach to designing and using meaningful performance measures.

During PuMP Performance Measure Blueprint workshops,?participants share struggles they run into when adopting new approaches for developing and using truly meaningful KPIs. Although the details vary across organizations due to factors like culture, management style, and maturity level regarding strategy and organizational performance, the experiences described are common.

A recent workshop participant, Bella (not her real name), put it perfectly:

“This is all great, I can see how PuMP can help, and am excited to use the approach, but how can I implement this when:

• I don't have authority or permission to change the goals / strategy / priorities already developed that are filled with vague language.
• Our senior managers and leaders don't understand the time or effort needed to develop truly meaningful measures. Nor do they understand how they contribute to the existing challenge. ?They just want measures -- and want them yesterday.
• My colleagues and managers are already overloaded. They see this as extra work. No one has the bandwidth, or desire, to take on more for something they see as unproven in our organization.
• And frankly, as enthusiastic as I am about this, I am not yet fluent enough with the PuMP approach and concepts to discuss them in terms relevant to our organization rather than a series of steps and tools.

So… What should we do? ??How can I put this to use?”

If Bella’s experience sounds like yours, then it’s useful to realize three things:

1. You're not alone. Struggling to get buy-in for a new KPI approach is a common challenge.
2. A true measurement approach, like PuMP, includes multiple concepts and tools that can be utilized independently, providing substantial value even if the entire approach is not yet fully implemented.
3. We can learn from others who have encountered similar challenges. Their lessons shared have proven widely applicable and give us a head start.

Regarding the third point, here are three paths to a new KPI approach shared by PuMP workshop participants that have helped them adopt and install a new KPI approach. These examples focus on PuMP, but experience shows they are equally applicable to adopting other organizational, strategy, and management methodologies, approaches, and practices.

Path 1: Do a Pilot

Yup - a Pilot. If you have a team developing performance measures for your strategy, goals, objectives, or priorities then the eight-week team implementation approach we recommend in PuMP is perfect. We call it the PuMP Pilot.

The team can work through each step of PuMP, or just a few, focusing on one relevant goal or objective or measure. Team members will apply, practice, experiment, and learn together. Best of all, after a few weeks they will have meaningful performance measures and developed skills to do it again.

Pilots help us start small, experiment, and learn - remember that scale tends to introduce formality and additional complications.

Path 2: Introduce One Powerful Tool to Start

The second approach recognizes that PuMP includes multiple concepts and tools. Each one can be adopted individually, targeted for specific improvements, and get things started:

• Clarifying the results really desired from the strategic goals, objectives, and priorities (PuMP Measurability Tests)
• Create a visual map illustrating our cause-and-effect logic for executing strategy and applying organizational capabilities and resources. (PuMP Results Mapping)
• Using evidence as the basis for measuring results (PuMP Measure Design)
• Using performance charts that differentiate real change from random variation, so precious resources are not expended responding to normal variation mistaken for a real change. (PuMP Interpreting Signals - XmR Charts)
• Creating decision-ready performance reports that address 3 questions -- What is current performance? Why? and Now what? (PuMP Reporting Performance)

For example, one component of a public sector organization?was responsible for creating and revising essential safety-related informational products on a strict schedule. Management's focus on production and quality was so intense they?found it difficult to allocate?time on other things -- after all, production is about meeting delivery and ensuring quality.

A few managers, sensing room for improvement, sent a handful of people to attend PuMP workshops sponsored by the larger organization. Upon returning, the participants were eager to implement the new methods and tools but could not get approval for a pilot. Management didn’t see how PuMP could address their challenges. They showed little interest in starting from the beginning to clarify goals or objectives.

However, one gentleman who had attended the workshop, started sharing XmR charts in management meetings. Within weeks, management asked for more measures to be presented in XmR charts. Pretty soon discussions started to change, and the management team began questioning if they were asking for the “right” measures. That kicked off important discussions about goals, priorities, and desired results — exactly what PuMP Step 2 is designed to address as the foundation of meaningful measures. PuMP, like other approaches, has multiple steps for applying its concepts tools sequentially, but the place to start may be best determined by where opportunity, interest, and relevance overlap.

The place to start may be best determined by where opportunity, interest, and relevance overlap.

Path 3: Develop an Organizational Capability?

The third approach recognizes that performance measurement and strategy are important and necessary skills at many levels within organizations. They are not topics and skills for only the executive ranks and strategy offices.

In another example, Bianca (not her real name) was a manager in the strategy office of a public sector organization. For years, the broader organization struggled with strategy and organizational performance. Bianca's office created strategy documents and provided performance reports that met external requirements but provided little other value to internal management. Exploring ways to improve this, Bianca sponsored a handful of staff to attend PuMP workshops organized by a peer office. After hearing their reviews, Bianca attended one herself.

During the Measures Gallery portion of the workshop (Step 4 of PuMP), Bianca realized that a major challenge her organization had. Bianca thought out load:

“How can we have effective discussions around strategy and performance if we neither have nor develop common language, concepts, and practices within the organization?”

Bianca left the workshop eager to apply PuMP concepts but quickly noticed her office lacked a common foundation of language and understanding, too. She arranged for everyone in her office to attend the same two workshops in a span of 6 months. One was PuMP and the other was for Strategy Management. Bianca then reinforced the workshop learning by role modeling the methods and tools, and coaching her staff as they applied the logic, concepts, tools, templates, and practices from both workshops.

Over time, the office's capabilities grew robust and consistent. Bianca's colleagues took notice. Her office received more and more requests for assistance. Gradually, other parts of the organization made progress with strategy and performance utilizing a consistent set of concepts, language, and practices, which they then embraced.

Once a PuMP concept or tool has been used successfully on something that matters, broader discussions about results and meaningful performance measures get raised naturally. Then performance measurement maturity grows organically.

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Paths Need to be Crafted

Embracing and adopting new concepts, tools, and practices is a challenge for any organization. The three paths outlined here have proven successful in many organizations but each situation is unique and requires a path thoughtfully and deliberately crafted based on fundamental principles.

Four Principles for Crafting Your Approach

1. Go where opportunity, interest, and relevance overlap. Remember the last top down, big bang, org-wide, or mandated change - 'Nuff said!
2. Start small and experiment. Success draws attention, generates momentum, and opens the door. Scale introduces formality and additional complications.
3. Make it as easy as possible for others to succeed. Roll up your sleeves and work together - don't stand above it all and "levy a tax".
4. Get a better result and win for someone else ... then talk theory. Convincing rarely works - people adopt when they get a better result.

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What has worked for you when introducing a new KPI approach? Let’s share insights!

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This revised post "3 Paths to a Better KPI Approach" was first published by Brook Rolter on https://www.rolterassociates.com/blog

Revision February 25, 2025

This article was originally written for, and published, on Stacey Barr's Measureup Blog, December 13, 2022