Measure what matters – align KPIs with your values

I recently helped a pharmaceutical company sell a new eye drug to combat macular degeneration. Their sales team was struggling against the larger established companies. Every month the members of the sales team had to report how many units they had sold. One of the changes I suggested was to ask each sales rep to report on how many people’s sight they’d restored, instead. A simple change in terminology turned an ‘extrinsic’ KPI into an ‘intrinsic’ one, which along with other initiatives, had a huge impact on sales.

Making KPIs a driver for sales success

The best KPIs align with our values. They are fulfilling because they trigger the ventral stratum and the dopamine reward system. Reaching or beating targets make us feel good!

By contrast, extrinsic targets can decrease well-being and performance because they lead to conditional self-worth: “If I fail to meet my targets that means I’m not good enough”. 

This often leads to comparison with others and, invariably, we find ourselves falling short. Another problem with extrinsic motivators, such as money, salary, sales figures, or corporate growth, is that however much you have, it’s never enough!

So often, even if we had a good year, instead of cause for celebration, the feeling is more a sense of relief. Good year, bad year, it doesn’t seem to matter - there’s no real joy - good means we need to do better next year; bad speaks for itself.

Aligning KPIs with values – leading with the heart not the head

For a business coach, a values-based KPI might be: “how many people’s lives have I improved?”. KPIs drive our goals. By aligning tasks and goals with your core values, you’ll make the things you have to do, in to things you want to do. Turning “have-to goals” into “want-to goals” requires far less mental effort and is intrinsically rewarding.

How can you turn your team’s extrinsic KPIs into intrinsic ones?

Whether it is using different terminology (e.g. revenue vs people helped) or focussing on goals that mean something, it is important that you and your team ‘buy in’ to KPIs. Consider what will truly motivate them rather than simply measure or judge them?

I’d love to hear if you try this or have used different kinds of indicators with your team. Comment below, message me or email [email protected]

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