kpi
Managing KPIs with Excel?
Are you managing KPIs with Excel? I often hear that Excel is not capable of managing KPIs but in reality that is rare. Consider this, your PC, laptop or tablet has more than a million times the computing power of the Apollo moon missions. Excel is an extraordinarily powerful, flexible and widely used application. So…
The wrong KPI. Dangers of the ‘obvious’ measure
A powerful example of wrong KPI is a measure used in call centres. Many of us have experienced a call centre agent who is clearly dying to get us off the line (even if they are scripted to hurriedly ask you ‘Is there anything else I can help you with today, Mr Smith?’). The…
Putting the Key into Key Performance Indicators
How many “top level” KPIs do you have? If you have more than 10 top-level measures then you probably have too many. Building a measurement hierarchy (using a KPI Tree) can help show which ones are crucial. Remember to focus on the indicators that support your strategy. If you want to find out how to…
Do not shoot the messenger
I have witnessed more debates about KPIs and measures than any human really should. They normally settle into a few clear families. We shouldn’t measure -insert controversial topic- because: It’s too hard/expensive to measure We tried that before and it didn’t work It doesn’t have a causal link with the thing that we are interested…
Building KPI Engagement
KPIs are like gym memberships… KPIs and measures are like scales and gym membership. They are great, but only if you use them (and regularly). No matter how good your management information system is, you must make sure that the team are engaged with it. This means The team use the system regularly to help…
Setting up your meetings well – 10 point checklist
I’ve sat through a lot of meetings. Many of them were terrible and ineffective. There are a lot of different aspects to a good meeting, some are easier to fix than others. Fortunately one of the most common failings is relatively easy to fix with some careful thought and discussion, namely “What is the purpose…
Razor burn and pseudoscience
I tend to get sore skin if I shave with the wrong type of shaving gel. I’ve finally found a shaving gel that works (Nivea for Men, Sensitive, in case you are asking). What the hell has this got to do with KPIs? Well you can buy at least a dozen different brands of shaving…
Data Production – 10 Point Checklist
How good is your organisation a producing the data you need? (we aren’t talking about analysis, see this analysis checklist for that). Carefully answer these questions (you can use a 1-5 scale to improve the resolution of the checklist, where 1 is low/poor and 5 is high/strong). Does data arrive in a structured way, ready…
Are your KPI reports a mess? A half day report-design course.
Do you wish you could glance at a simple report or dashboard and instantly grasp the key opportunities for your business? Dashboards have become increasingly popular in recent years, but many don’t deliver their full potential. If they don’t deliver instantly what the user needs, then the chances are they will never be used again.…
Why some KPIs are like pasta makers
We keep things for lots of reasons. Understanding why we hang on to kitchen gadgets we never use can help us work out tactics for getting rid of unused KPIs.