When KPIs are not achieving their targets, performance improvement is needed. But rather than rushing to solutions prematurely, we need measurement for diagnosis. (mo...

Without evidence of an outcome, how can we know the outcome matters? And how can we know if a change initiative to impact that outcome is worth doing?

Lag measures cannot be improved directly; only through changing one or more of their lead measures. And there are six basic steps to make this happen. (more&h...

Performance cannot ever be maximised because there will always be constraints. When the constraint is budget, the real question is how to get the best performance within that budget. The answer lies in who defines ‘performance’.

We can't know if performance improves unless we know where it started. That's why we set a KPI baseline. Here's how to set your KPI baseline the right way! (more…)

A high-leverage strategic change initiative promises so much more than an ordinary one. But what exactly defines high-leverage? (more…)

When we use KPIs, their impact goes beyond our intention of monitoring our goals and reaching targets. Measures influence people's behaviour and the results of other measures. These influences can be unexpected and undesirable, so we must either mitigate them or choose another measure. ...

We don't just measure performance to know we're making progress. We measure other things too, to monitor our processes, to modify our behaviours, and to celebrate achievements. So for a little side-step to the usual performance measurement stuff, let's explore the world of progress monitoring.

Experiments are what scientists use to stop assumptions from limiting how much they learn about the natural world. And we can use them in business to stop our assumptions from limiting how we can elevate performance, and from wasting the resources we invest to do it.

One person that always seems to have fun around failure is Adam Savage, from Mythbusters. He’s like a big kid, wide-eyed and giggling, as he and his more stoic co-star, Jamie Hyneman, test all kinds of pop-culture myths, like whether you can ride a motorcycle on water, escape a turtled car under water, and put your hand into molten lead and not be injured. Adam routinely says that he doesn’t ca...