Still following October’s theme of ‘Ownership’, this blog will explore how setting KPI’s with your team can dramatically increase productivity and efficiency in the workplace. 

The Low Down

If you haven’t heard of a KPI before, it stands for ‘Key Performance Indicator’. By creating KPI’s and business goals with your team members, you are more likely to see results than if you don’t. It allows your team to understand what is expected of them and it’s easy to measure their progress. By doing so, you’re creating a sense of drive, pride and achievement within your team. If your business is running without any goals in place, it’s hard to measure progress and acknowledge results. Your team will start to feel as though their achievements are not important, and their passion and care for their work will slowly decrease. This will reflect not only on the company’s results, but on the image of your business as well.

The ‘How To’

We’re going to breakdown down how to create effective KPI’s for both you and your team in a few simple steps. 

  1. Creating an Effective KPI 

One of the most important things to remember when setting any type of goal within your business is that it must be specific to you and your team. They will only ever be as effective or valuable as their relevance to your company. Having them reflect your company’s culture and mission is important to inspire action within your team. Remember, the KPI’s you create are a form of communication. They must be clear, relevant and achievable in order for them to be understood and acted upon.

  1. Defining and Writing your KPI’s

It’s key to define your KPI’s according to your business objectives and missions. To define a KPI, you should ask yourself the following questions. 

  • What is the desired outcome?
  • Why does it matter?
  • How will you measure this?
  • What can you do to influence it?
  • Who is responsible?
  • How will you know you’ve achieved this?
  • When will you review it and how frequently?

By answering these as specifically and clearly as possible, you will be able to define achievable goals for your business. Make sure you customise your KPI’s to fit your business – you may have to adjust these to fit best in different departments, or with different team members to ensure the best results. 

  1. Sharing your KPI’s

There is absolutely no point in creating KPI’s for your business if they are communicated poorly. Sharing these with your team is crucial, and hearing their feedback on them is equally important. You must explain what you are measuring, why you are measuring it and how you are measuring it. Walk them through step number two and align your answers to the questions above – making sure you are clear and reasonable with your answers. Give time, and create a safe space for feedback as your team are the ones who will be helping you to achieve these goals – without them, it will be a struggle. Once you have these KPI’s set, you may want to consider sharing them with your shareholders. Ensure they are communicated in detail, to best display the direction the company is heading in.

  1. Reviewing your KPI’s and Measuring Team Success

It is important to remember your KPI’s aren’t static – which means they need room to change and evolve over time. Whether it is on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis – it is essential to regularly check in on your KPI’s. Tracking your progress, reevaluating, and updating your KPI’s are crucial to their success and keeping your team on board. When reviewing your KPI’s, ask yourself and your team the following questions:

  • Is this actionable?
  • Are we where we thought we would be right now? Why/why not?
  • Do we need to alter any aspects of this goal? If so, how?
  • Is it now attainable?
  • Do we all understand the next steps?

Measuring and celebrating team success when you see these results is crucial. By doing this, you are creating a sense of pride and achievement amongst your team, which in turn maintains drive and moral within the workplace.

Next Steps

At ActionCOACH – we create both individual and team KPI’s which we review on a weekly basis. This helps us all with accountability as well as something to strive towards throughout each day. We challenge you this week to sit down with your team and set a small number of effective, actionable and measurable goals. If you follow the steps above, listen to your team and review these goals regularly, we assure you that you will see significant improvement within your team’s productivity, and in turn, results.

If you wish to find out more or have some support in creating these KPI’s with your team, please feel free to flick us a message on any of our platforms or over email at hannahoconnell@actioncoach.co.uk