Looking at your company with new perspectives involves stepping back from your usual view of your organization and seeing it from a fresh angle. One way to do this is with KPIs.
If you’re unfamiliar with KPIs, it stands for Key Performance Indicator. They’re usually numbers that relate to profitability, costs, sales, growth, or quality.
I recently saw a post on social media by an unknown author that described KPIs themselves from a fresh perspective – instead of just focusing on stats and numbers, it broke the idea down into how it relates to people. And since people are the heart of all organizations, I thought it was worth sharing.
The post listed 4 different definitions of KPI:
- Keep People Informed
- Keep People Involved
- Keep People Interested
- Keep People Inspired
Leaders often get promoted in organizations because they’re good at doing the technical work of the company. It makes sense for those who are most knowledgeable about the work to oversee the work of others.
But problems arise when we don’t teach these leaders that their focus needs to shift from tasks to people. Since leaders can already do specific tasks well, their focus needs to turn to helping others do the tasks better.
If this isn’t done, the leaders end up doing more work themselves instead of teaching others how to effectively do their work.
And that’s why I love this fresh take on KPIs. If leaders can focus their attention on doing these better, their teams will start to do the tasks better. And that’s a win-win for your organization!
If you’re unsure how to start exploring these KPIs with your team, here are some questions to get you started:
Keep People Informed
- How do you get feedback from your team?
- How do you know they’re accurately learning the information you’re presenting?
- What does your team need to know that could help them do their jobs better?
- What do you need to know about your team to help them do their jobs better?
Keep People Involved
- How do you get input on new initiatives?
- How do you help people understand the purpose of new programs?
- What ideas might your team have for improving the business?
- Why should your team help improve your business?
Keep People Interested
- How do you foster the career growth of each team member?
- How do you know what each person on your team loves doing?
- What’s the best learning format for each person on your team?
Keep People Inspired
- What matters most to your team?
- What impact does each person on your team want to have in the world?
- What are the personal values of each person?
- How do you create meaningful incentives for your team?
Being able to see the inner workings of things from different perspectives is key to helping your organization grow. If you can gain a deeper understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of everyone on the team, including yourself, it ultimately leads to a more cohesive work environment.