Don’t lie to yourself!

Don’t lie to yourself!

You may be surprised to learn that human nature often prompts people to lie to themselves and to others. Have you ever caught a child doing something wrong, confronted them, and their immediate response is something like, “I didn’t do it!”? When pressure comes down from the big bosses, people can get quite creative in how they measure and count progress, lying to themselves and management. I was listening to a good podcast from Endeavor Media where a retired, former plant manager talks real facts in running a manufacturing operation. The title of the episode from July 6 is “Why Everyone Is Faking Their KPIs (But Shouldn’t Be) [Ask a Plant Manager]” and is available at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-everyone-is-faking-their-kpis-but-shouldnt-be-ask/id1450520772?i=1000661323367 and other places on the web.

It comes down to providing and agreeing on exceptionally clear information and directions regarding how to measure KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). Remember to “trust, but verify.” This goes as well for supervisors and managers, as well as up and into the board room. In the board room we use the phrase, “Nose IN; Fingers OUT.” CPA audits are another version of verifying the numbers to create a level of trust of the financials. A quality audit by an outside organization is another example of verifying details to create trust in the process.

Yet, I find something is missing when it comes to strategy for the future and forecasting. A colleague of mine, Carl J. Cox, is very big on leading indicators that can forecast what the results will be. It can be as simple as counting and measuring the number of outbound calls to prospects to learn early on that you have little chance of meeting your sales order quota, a lagging indicator. Anyone involved with production scheduling in a plant or transportation logistics knows that you need leading indicators since it takes time to ramp up and down as needed. It is better to have a measure you can trust than to use only past experience and gut instincts. What worked in the past for scheduling is not working today with all the issues related to supply and logistics.

My early education at MIT taught me to question my assumptions, check my work, check my answer, and look outside the box. Often, I was asked to focus on the Most Important Thing. This approach tells me that KPI as defined today is not the most important thing to consider. Since I doubt we can get people to change that definition, I suggest we move to a new, four-letter acronym, KPPI. KPPI stands for Key Predictive and Performance Indicators.?

It is not as hard as it seems. Everyone knows that if heavy boxes are not picked up using the legs rather than the back, there will be injuries. Some plants will measure the number of lost days due to accidents. That’s good. Better yet is to provide training and assistive devices for proper lifting. Even better is to track the number of times people are reminded and trained on the subject.

It may be good to track the decreasing number of cyber attacks that succeed. Better to track the number of cyber attacks automatically thwarted. Yet, the cause of many successful attacks is a human somewhere in the loop. Even better to track the training of everyone and run cyber attack drills. I have had two clients do this with me, even as an outside consultant.

Nose around in your own business and its procedures. Figure out what the Most Important Thing is. Check to see if anything smells a bit off. Make sure the fingers are clean that are measuring the KPPIs.

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Paul Menig的更多文章

  • He Who Has . . . Wins

    He Who Has . . . Wins

    Many may be familiar with the phrase, “He who has the most toys wins!” Some may substitute a number of different things…

  • Constant Change—Constant Risk of Disruption

    Constant Change—Constant Risk of Disruption

    Change management is a discipline all its own. Generally, people in charge of change recommend going slowly to give…

    1 条评论
  • Advertising Reigns Supreme

    Advertising Reigns Supreme

    Do I now have YOUR attention? Advertising must be among the most common business models and methods of marketing. I am…

  • Rocks in a Stream

    Rocks in a Stream

    What rocks are impeding the flow of water (cash) in your business? If you have travelled on an airplane, you've heard…

  • Think Like a Banker

    Think Like a Banker

    While at Daimler Truck North America, I had a group that spent in excess of $10 million a year (back then). I was not a…

    1 条评论
  • 7 Essential Documents When Buying or Selling a Business

    7 Essential Documents When Buying or Selling a Business

    Many people are looking to buy or exit from a business with revenue from $2 million to $20 million. These are at the…

  • Happy THIS Year!

    Happy THIS Year!

    I hope that this year has been good for you, your family, your career, your business. So much to do and so little time…

  • 7 Reasons for CEO to Communicate Effectively

    7 Reasons for CEO to Communicate Effectively

    p.p1 {margin: 0.

  • The GAME is UP. Or is it?

    The GAME is UP. Or is it?

    The GAMEs are over! At least The Games of the XXXIII (33rd) Olympiad are over. But your GAME never ends.

  • 7 Pricing Options

    7 Pricing Options

    There are three ways to improve your business. Increase revenue, decrease costs, and/or make it easier to run.

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了