Most are familiar with the adage, “What gets measured gets done”. Who has seen tasks fail because they were not clearly communicated to the employee?

KPIs are good but how do we help the employee successfully achieve them? Good PMSs have built-in scorecards (strategic goals of the organisation). Scorecards answer the question, “What?”. For example, “What are the goals of the organisation?” An answer could be, “Improving the Organisation’s Image.”

KPIs answer the questions, “How or What”. How/What does the organisation intend to do (so)? “Provide excellent customer service” is a reasonable KPI. But how do we know that excellent customer service has been given? When we measure, we answer the questions “How” and “When”. A reasonable measurement in this example might be, “(How) Responding to customers’ queries (when) within 24 hours.” This should be further linked to scores. So, an employee responding to the customer’s queries in more than 24 hours might get a lower score. Alternatively, if s/he responds within 12 hours they should get a higher score.

Expectations should be laid out in writing at the beginning of the year in a Plan as it minimises disagreements at appraisal time and reduces unnecessary confrontations with any Union.

Have a Blessed and Productive Week!