The Ultimate Guide To KPI Management

KPI Introduction

KPI stands for Key Performance Indicators. KPIs are metrics that you measure in order to show you how you are doing against a desired level of performance and outcomes. The only real difference between a KPI and a metric is the word ‘key’ implies these are ‘really’ important.

KPIs are not just financial, as these are typically lagging indicators. KPI planning needs to consider what the drivers of these indicators are across the organization, and in doing so, achieving clarity on what the faster moving leading indicators are.

Key Performance Indicators are used in numerous ways by most businesses and can be used in an agile working environment. Their brilliance and success comes from their simplicity.

Some Advice Before You Create KPIs

If KPIs are truly the metrics that matter most because they are most connected to performance, either in a leading or lagging way, then measuring them and focusing your efforts on improving them can only have one outcome. Performance improvement.

KISS

Fewer easy to understand the KPI examples are best. Sounds obvious but lots of KPIs that are not understood are not going to work. Try and distill the essence of performance at a company and team level down to a few simple to understand metrics.

Correlated

KPIs are selected because they correlate with business or team performance. If the desired outcomes are created KPIs will have a positive impact on performance. A bad KPI will mean that desired outcomes can be reached and there be no discernible impact on business performance.

Distributed

Distributed and transparent Company and Team KPIs are better than hidden, non-existent, or siloed KPIs. Consistency and transparency increases alignment, teamwork, trust and accountability.

Influenceable

Employees should know how they can influence the KPIs. How they influence them usually come in the form of To-dos and Tasks.If Churn is a KPI, then the Employees should be able to suggest, prioritize, run, and assess the impact or influence of what was done on the KPI.

Owned & Maintained

KPIs have an owner and the owner can be asked about the KPI at any moment. They are responsible for its definition, source, calculation method, and updating, whether from an automated source like software or manual updates.

Aligned

KPIs are aligned from the top down and bottom up and don’t contradict or undermine each other.

Front of Mind

Keeping KPIs front and reduce attention activities that may be less influential. We can all get distracted and have a bias towards what we like to do vs what we should rationally be doing, or simple a blindspot to what we should be looking at
because it’s not in-front of us on a daily basis. A form in in-attentional blindness.

Set and manage KPIs with ZOKRI

Inside ZOKRI you can create KPIs that allow you and your teams to follow the above guidelines in every way. You should try it out.

Measuring KPIs that matter, setting goals and aligning and optimizing your operations is the key to performance growth and is what ZOKRI is designed to do.