StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures Best Practice Article

Documenting Performance Measure Drivers

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Organizational performance measures help leaders drive behaviors, trigger actions, and create alignment. In addition to providing timely decision-making information, performance measures serve as mechanisms to quickly communicate results-based performance information throughout the organization. To maximize these benefits, however, effected organization members must understand what drives performance measure outcomes in order to properly interpret indicated results and appropriately act on them. Common understanding and interpretation of performance indicators is most effectively achieved through precise documentation and broad communication of their drivers and results.

Fundamentally, individuals initiate appropriate, deliberate action when provided with sound information on which to base their decisions. Useful information, not simply data points, is derived from performance measures when those interpreting the indicators clearly understand the key drivers of a measure’s outcomes including:

  • what is the indicator’s purpose
  • what is the indicator specifically measuring; including the data source and collection mechanisms
  • what is the reliability/uncertainty associated with the data source and collection mechanisms
  • how is the collected data processed; including calculations, indexing, unit conversions, and instrument gain adjustments
  • how often is the indicator updated
  • what other parameters are related to or influence the indicator’s outcomes
  • how are the parameters indicated impacting other performance measures
  • what is the indicator’s performance trend
  • what was the indicator’s expected result
  • do redundant indicators provide comparable outcomes

While not intended to be an all inclusive list, recalling from memory the above drivers for one performance measure would be a formidable task; knowing them for all of an organization’s performance measures, highly improbable. Therefore, a performance measure’s drivers should be documented in such a way that they can be easily accessed by those expected to interpret and act upon the indicator’s output. Depending on the indicator, this documentation could be contained in a desktop guide, user’s manual, procedure, or on the indicator itself.

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Recommended Resource – Talent Management Magazine

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Talent Management Magazine
www.talentmgt.com

About the Reference

StrategyDriven contributors find Talent Management Magazine to be an invaluable source of information on effective talent management practices. Each month, Talent Management Magazine provides readers with the talent acquisition, management, and retention insights of successful executives and managers.

Talent Management Magazine is supported by an accompanying website (www.talentmgt.com). This website contains numerous articles and resources covering topics such as:

  • Recruitment and Retention
  • Assessment and Evaluation
  • Compensation and Benefits
  • Performance Management
  • Learning and Development
  • Succession Planning

Benefits of Using this Reference

Effective acquisition, management, and retention of talent is a critical success factor shared by all organizations. In today’s rapidly changing, hyper competitive marketplace, the loss or churn of key personnel resources can instantly cripple any business attempting to remain competitive.

Talent management is no longer the sole responsibility of the Human Resources Department. The expanding war for talent, brought on by increasing demand for knowledgeable, skilled personnel and a contracting labor pool, demands that executives and managers throughout the organization work together to create a work environment that attracts, retains, and motivates talented individuals.

The practical methods and actions presented in Talent Management Magazine can be implemented immediately to improve an organization’s talent management effectiveness. Additionally, Talent Management Magazine’s recommendations embody StrategyDriven ‘s organizational accountability and alignment philosophies; making it a StrategyDriven recommended read.

Subscribe to Talent Management Magazine for Free!

Sign up for your free subscription to Talent Management Magazine by clicking here.

StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 5 - An Interview with Michael Gurian, author of Leadership and the Sexes

StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 5 – An Interview with Michael Gurian, author of Leadership and the Sexes

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StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag posts on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 5 – An Interview with Michael Gurian, author of Leadership and the Sexes examines the equal but different intelligence of men and women. During our discussion, Michael Gurian, author of Leadership and the Sexes and co-founder of the Gurian Institute, shares with us his insights regarding:

  • the intellectual differences between men and women and the impact these differences have on how each gender leads
  • the quantifiable impact of an organization’s gender intelligence on the bottom line
  • how executives and managers can assess the gender intelligence of their organizations

Additional Information

Complimenting the tremendous insights Michael shares in Leadership and the Sexes and this special edition podcast, are the additional gender intelligence materials and resources found on his website, Gurian Institute (www.GurianInstitute.com). Michael’s book, Leadership and the Sexes, can be purchased by clicking here.

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Michael GurianMichael Gurian, New York Times best selling author of Leadership and the Sexes, is co-founder of the Gurian Institute, a training organization focused on helping corporations, educators, parents, and communities understand of how the male and female brain operate differently. He has spearheaded a national effort to provide communities and corporations with training in brain based gender issues. Michael’s pioneering theory has been featured in leading national media including The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Time, and Newsweek. To read Michael’s full biography, click here.
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Voting is the Hallmark of Freedom

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In the United States, we are privileged to have the right to elect those who represent us in our federal, state, and local governments. This hallmark of our freedom, however, is not without a price. To protect this right, we must give of ourselves and our time by voting in our free elections.

And so on this Election Day, the StrategyDriven contributors and staff encourage all those who can vote to vote. We believe the strength of our country rests with our commitment to freedom. By voting, we honor the sacrifices for freedom made by all those who came before us and pass along the gift of freedom to the next generation of Americans.

All the Best,

StrategyDriven Contributors and Staff

Leadership Inspirations – Incompetence Begets Incompetence

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“Incompetency begets incompetency. The last thing a guy who isn’t sure of himself wants is a guy backing him up who is sure of himself.”

Lee Iacocca
former President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board, Chrysler Corporation

The sad fact is that this situation occurs all too often. Instead of nurturing their rising stars, insecure executives and managers feel their positions and reputations are threatened by these top performers and act to:

  • take personal credit for the rising star’s performance output and results
  • hide the star performer from the view of other executives and managers by preventing their participation in cross disciplinary initiatives, public presentations, and interaction with other executives and managers
  • diminish the star’s performance evaluation ratings with claims that the star intimidates seniors and/or is too aggressive

These behaviors disenfranchise star performers; resulting in reduced output and elevated attrition. The net result, of course, is diminished organizational performance and value creation, the exact opposite of what the executive or manager is charged to achieve.

Insecure executives and managers fail to recognize that they are not competing with their subordinates. Executives and managers are evaluated on their ability to lead others to the achievement of superior results, their subordinates on their ability to perform the tasks from which those results are derived. Therefore, subordinates’ superior performance does not place executives and managers at risk. To the contrary, a subordinate’s superior performance is often attributed to the capable leadership of the individual’s manager. Competent executives and managers understand this concept and surround themselves with superstar performers. Incompetent and insecure executives and managers do not recognize this fact and subsequently surround themselves with even less competent subordinates; condemning themselves and their organizations to inferior performance.