KPI's Measuring what Matters
I am looking for my next adventure, and given my personality that likely means either a job within an organization looking to navigate the changing landscape more effectively or a consulting gig doing similar work from outside.
I have spent my entire career so far helping organizations improve whether as an employee, executive or on the outside as a consultant. We endlessly talk about having appropriate KPI's and using them to steer organizational excellence. I particularly and fond of the the three En's I don't know if I have seen it elsewhere if you invented it apologies for not giving credit although I have been using it for a while.
If you have read this far thank you, I have developed a new persuasion assessment it is aimed at folks who are buying a goods or service although equally applicable elsewhere. If you make it to the end I will send a link so you can take the assessment and see how you do? To be clear though wrote all the code yesterday so if it glitches your report may take a few days to arrive. I also purposely built it not to save any history. Upside you arrive do your thing and no possibility of annoying follow up, downside have to recreate if "glitchiness" happens.
I feel my brother who is a brilliant programmer wincing.
Key areas to focus on in writing appropriate KPI's for yourself or your organization
Maintain Transparency ensure everyone impact by and responsible for the specific performance indicator understands both the metric and it's importance. Also the spirit of the metric why and what it means in the broader context. Unless you are involved in an organization where every conceivable outcome is understood and reflected in the metrics, empower people to make the right decision.
Balance Short and Long Term Measures both organizationally our organization has to simultaneously balance the books this year and invest in creating a better future. Also for the "Encourage" piece above it is tough to remain motivated when your targets are in the distant future.
Leading and Lagging I do understand we need to track each time we fail to deliver as a metric of performance however it is way more powerful to track indicators that indicate a problem early enough that we can still succeed. For training a simple Start, Stop, Continue review on the first day is way more impactful than a feedback form completed a week later.
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Feedback, Reporting and Improvement establish clear feedback channels and reporting and use these to create opportunities to celebrate successes and identify areas for improvement. I am not a huge fan of on the field sports analogies to organizational situations however most organizations fail miserably in celebrating the well intentioned pass that goes astray.
I am not going to take your time breaking out all the pieces of SMART yes I know we all learned it in school. However I routinely trip over senior folk who want training on the latest AI enabled big data modelling tool and routinely set goals that are not Simple, Measurable or Achievable. I once had a CEO, when I was in a sales role who said "Your 15% uplift in sales is the best global number, and it is 3 times what was achieved last year. However, I told the board you would do 30% so you are off by 50%".
You can't invent this stuff and no I did not get my bonus based on a number he had in his head.
So in closing if I can help you or your organization improve in any way do let me know. I do also need to make a living though :).
If you would like to reach out please do, if you would like to try the Persuasion Profile it only has 5 questions that require thought. Please do
Have a truly wonder full 2025 and beyond and best wishes from my family to yours.