You’re probably getting the results your processes are designed to deliver.

I see it every day, in all walks of life – good people giving their all but not producing the kind of outcomes they, or anyone else, wants. Are they happy in their work? Of course not, most carry on and do their best simply because they care; they achieve what they do in spite of, not because of “the system”.

Adding insult to injury are those who, when looking for changes, focus on people – often by adding more targets and measures and then castigating those who “fail” to achieve them. The system is sacrosanct, “we have always done it this way” or “that is the way it has been decided”. People, however, are not responsible for the system in which they work, if the system is not fit for purpose then they cannot succeed. Deming1 summed it up nicely;

“A bad system will beat a good person every time”

Are These 8 Excuses Holding You Back From Great KPIs?

If your KPIs suck, even though you’ve long wished for better ones, it’s likely that something is holding you back. That ‘something’ could be a very good reason, or it could simply be an excuse that you’re mistaking for a reason…

There are good reasons for not prioritising the development of a good performance measurement system.

One reason is if your organisation has a blame culture, where there’s very little trust and teamwork, and where measures are used to punish and reward, rather than to learn and improve. There’s no point having better measures if they’re just going to be ‘gamed’ and used to hit people over the head.

Another reason is that your organisation has no strategy at all, and people simply have no idea what results matter or what the organisation is trying to achieve. There’s no point having measures if you don’t know which results matter and need improving.

#4 in How do we create a High Performance Culture?

You have defined your few, but critical KPIs and got the right metric for each. Now what?

Well, of course, KPIs are only going to work if you actually use them – gather the data, record it and review on a timely basis that allows for timely action to rectify problems and improve results in a consistent manner.

KPIs only bring benefits when there use becomes part of the fabric of the organisation. This means taking the opportunity to review them on a regular basis and place the emphasis on solutions, not problems. 

#3 in How do we create a High Performance Culture?

So we agree that KPIs are important and they need to be used correctly. They need to be owned, but how ?

How often does a boss tell (or maybe ask!) someone to do something? How often does a boss ask someone, ”What do you actually do?”

Defining KPIs is very much about understanding what people do to achieve their objectives, targets etc. as required by the strategy communicated from above. Once this is understood a practical metric for the KPI can be defined and a source of reliable data is identified or created. Do this for the small number of activities critical to a person job and you are on the way to success!