What gets measured, gets executed

Support strategy execution with a handful (not a long shopping list!) of high-quality SMARTER and FAST key performance indicators that stretch everyone’s performance towards achieving the corporate strategy, which are not generally business-as-usual. Motivate and reward employees to do more where their capacity and capabilities are constantly maximised with the allocation of appropriate resources, training, and coaching.

Unfortunately, when organisations do not know what to measure (or where they are going), they often measure too much (just-in-case mentality) in the hope that some measures will eventually hit the mark. This includes having business-as-usual measures that are operational in nature and have no strategic significance. 

By having too many so-called ‘strategic’ goals and ‘key’ performance indicators, it makes corporate strategy translation and cascading difficult and meaningless, especially for large and complex organisations.

Avoid ‘layering-on’ new measures onto existing (old) measures and failing to discard performance measures that reflect old priorities or out-of-date strategies and goals. This confuses performance priorities, diluting the performance impact and having a diverse set of measures that are not consistent, and are meaningless and counterproductive.

Organisations measure things to change those behaviours that are damaging to performance and reinforce behaviours that are positive contributors to performance. It follows that if organisations measure the wrong things, they are likely to motivate the wrong behaviours. For example, in the early 1990s, Sears set sales goals for its auto repair staff at $147/hour. This specific challenging goal prompted staff to overcharge for work and to complete unnecessary repairs on a companywide basis. (Dishneau, 1992)

Underperformers will most likely resist measurements or being performance managed. Counsel them to lift their level of performance.