A problem many of us have is too many measures and, consequently, too much to improve. We need to prioritise, but we somehow don't do it well enough. Here's a method to focus on what really matters most, that has over 116 years of proof that it works.

A typical way to set targets is to calculate a target for the year, and then apportion it to each month in that year. The idea is to keep everyone focused on achieving the target, so increase the likelihood the annual target will be met. But it doesn't work. ...

In performance improvement, a few important terms are often confused or misused. So, exactly what are benchmarks, baselines, targets and standards? (more…)

Performance measures aren’t doing their best work when you treat them as a tick-and-flick monitoring tool. They are only giving you one angle on performance. Often the insights you need will come from a richer story that needs more characters to give a fuller picture.

Evaluation is about looking for improvement. But so is performance measurement. So why don't we call them the same thing? Well, it's because they're different.

Measure Upsubscriber Suzanne asks "How do you set targets using historical data?" It's a great question, because it acknowledges something that most people don't appreciate about target setting.

As a self-confessed Lululemon addict, I've been following their website and blogs for a couple of years now. My interest is in their product (for my running and yoga wardrobe) but also in their business model. I noticed a few lead indicators of their recent public relations catastrophe that apparently they didn't.

Rhianna's organisation has a committee for their new KPI Reporting Framework project. And they've laid out an approach to consult the right people in developing new measures to align to their six strategic themes. Deadlines are set, senior leaders are supportive, the budget is approved. But chances are, they'll fail.

Big hairy audacious goals are scary. So are stretch targets. So scary that most of the time we avoid them or ignore them. What we don't realise is, that by avoiding them because we can't guarantee we will meet them, we end up guaranteeing a fate worse than failure.

When we get things wrong, it's not just our own time that gets wasted. Our customers often suffer too, and more than we are aware. It damages the relationship, and that affects the other results we want, like revenue or referalls. But what to do?