We need to talk about KPIs; Key Performance Indicators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When deciding on the metrics to track your organization’s positioning and growth performance, there are a couple of questions you should ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But first, bear with me for a short story…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year, a fast growing scale-up in the energy sector asked me to help them bring their Academy to market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They had already successfully marketed and sold some of their open and on-site courses, but wanted to structure and scale their operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Insights in the effectiveness of their marketing and sales efforts were not available. So, one of the first things I did – after we had agreed on our objectives, was set up a dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dashboard contained 72 metrics we could track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I presented the dashboard to the team, the Academy director said: “These are way too many KPIs. We need less.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He then explained that he once ran a refinery for a major oil and gas company on only 10 KPIs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A KPI should be a meaningful metric,” he said, “One that – on it’s own – indicates where we are and<\/em> what to do next.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I very much agreed with him. We ended up tracking 72 metrics each month. But, only reported on the 10 most meaningful ones in our quarterly management reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or, as sociologist William Bruce Cameron said in his 1963 book Informal Sociology<\/a>: “Not everything that can be counted, counts.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n