Working with KPI - use or organizational stupidity

I'm sure many had the "honour" to work with them to set key performance indicators (key performance indicators) or simply spelled out goals for the month (quarter, semester, year).

sourse

The purpose of the application of such criteria for the evaluation of employees simple and clear to everyone, the desire to make the business more automated and increase the efficiency of evaluation of its parts (departments and employees), but sometimes it is necessary to notice that in fact we have the opposite effect.

Working for many years in large organizations, I "impregnated" by the systems, arranged exclusively on the assessment of the KPI performance, and I want to note that often the goal of "chopped into so many small sub-tasks" do not always lead to success. I will say even more, I am convinced that the incompetence that we see in many organizations at the management level, input of evaluation KPI is just a delusion for the present work effectively.

In such organizations it is often possible to notice the attitude of the employees as "production cars", which in turn not only unacceptable and short-sighted and just plain silly.

In some branches of the company I met set KPI such as counting the number of seconds during which the employees had to decide average journal entry or to solve the customer's problem. Almost always the leaders of such units even they couldn't really justify or prove at least that his innocence: averaging rules for example 1 min 20 sec to fill the invoice or 45 seconds on the admission application for the warehouse, and more.

No, at this point, you do not think that the KPI is only harm, but I'm talking about the common and stupid use of this instrument we have, it is perceived as "stick", the desire to keep energized. And in fact needs only to define reasonable limits. To understand what is his purpose and what he should expect in the reporting period!

Recently, we analyzed the results of several thousand "field staff", those who does the work of going round the outlets, visiting corporate clients, etc. In some branches, the heads reasonably come to the question of assessing the effectiveness on the fact of transactions or turnover of those points of the visit, while others decided not to separate employees with GPS trackers (to assess their location, did not need the geofence to this day - explanatory, fines, etc.).

And what do you think gave analysis? Yes, the work efficiency of employees, who know that the most important turnover and actual performance of business (and not institutional "slavery") - give greater efficiency. And those who are being controlled, only a temporary surge, subsequent layoffs, and the high probability of image harm (because of the stupidity of the local chief).

Another example of "good" lawyers will appreciate, when the main criterion for evaluation in the major overseas company where I once worked - it was 90% of the success of the outcome of the court cases (well, that's when a month of 10 cases you should have to win 9 in favor of the Corporation :-) Adequately? You can set KPI in the pre-trial decision, 1% of your success is motivation for the result (Oh, if I was a millionaire).

Or as some believe, the time that employees spend in the restroom. And remember, I think at Ford plants paid engineers support just for the fact that the employees sit in the break room (because it works for them and established).

The task is difficult, you need to get to understand the many leaders that people can do better than machines (at least today), must be allowed to go at times beyond the ordinary and stupid rules, especially when given the right objective and set reasonable objectives. After all the times Peter has already left, or not?

When we manage to create a desire of employees to a common goal, they cannot be stopped. It is foolish to scoff at them, measuring their every move and a free moment. The KPI system, which is used in most companies is a modern "stick" causing fear. These figures do not carry any purpose other than to reassure the "guide" a little higher and higher.

It is time to tell the truth - blind application of KPIs is an organizational stupidity! Purpose probably need and you can cascade up to a certain level of leadership, but not more then to be production weighted specific tasks to employees.

You need to trust the people you hire, and in the case of performance issues have only yourself to blame, you made the choice you did not prepare the soil or the employee. It is important to admit mistakes and to stop pretending that business, the company will not become better just because of the fact that you will start to control everything (filling new cells in spreadsheets).

Future failure of the bureaucratic system and getting rid of outdated foreign models of doing business with a KPI, the future could reasonably be built on the interaction of groups and their rational organizational culture efficiency...