Business

Wednesday July 29, 2009

Tailor KPIs to suit different levels of ability

Plain Speaking - by Yap Leng Kue


HAVING key performance indicators (KPIs) is an excellent idea which is not exactly new.

Many companies and government departments are already well into its implementation.

The theme has resurfaced with many crucial areas such as security, education and transportation coming under KPIs. Apart from that, key result areas (KRAs) such as corruption are also being emphasised.

We should strive to hit our KPIs as this will certainly give us a great sense of achievement besides enabling us to qualify well for yearly remuneration and promotion exercises.

Milestones enable us to chart our progress and to see where we can further improve.

It is easier to plan our work with a map ahead of us.

But the trouble starts when we become very inflexible and adhere strictly to all this black-and-white bureaucratic claptrap.

Unlike machines, human beings have different behaviour and abilities.

Standard benchmarks cannot, therefore, be applied strictly to everybody as there will always be nuances and complexities that crop up.

The challenge is always to look out for these seemingly insignificant moments that can cause a lot of damage.

Those at the top must always be prepared to find out and weigh the implications before subjecting everything to KPIs.

Different levels of abilities and pace of learning cannot be subjected to the same vigorous standards that may be applied to the most capable ones.

Those in the middle segment should be given opportunities to climb while being evaluated on a different set of KPIs. The ones at the “bottom of the class,’’ so to speak, may not always be drifters.

Given positive reinforcement, they may emerge as future stars.

It is easy to come up with set rules and benchmarks but getting people genuinely interested to strive for them is difficult.

Often, it is fear of punishment or love of reward that motivates people to reach for these KPIs.

It is only when genuine interest prevails that we are able to see the true progress of the piece of work.

Otherwise, it will be mostly a robotic process to hit the target.

For leaders, it is a constant challenge to encourage interest, a sense of excitement and a liking for the task at hand.

However, that should not be a one-way street.

People have to seriously evaluate their perspective and get on with their priorities.

To be convincing, the same standards should be applied throughout as any hint of special preferences or manipulation will pose as a dampener to the whole exercise.

More areas in the economy such as improving foreign and private investment may also be proposed for further KPIs.

● Senior business editor Yap Leng Kuen advocates a flexible and yet firm approach towards benchmarking as the human element should be always be evaluated and it is also quality that counts, not just numbers.

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