Performance Perspectives

Category Archives: Performance Management

Dashboards Versus Scorecards- Its all about the decisions it facilitates…

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The one thing that most everyday drivers fear is that infamous “check engine light”. Unless its during the first few seconds of startup (the point at which every indicator on the dashboard lights up for a few seconds), a “check engine” alert is one of the few that signals that indicate big problems are imminent unless something changes fast…as in, stop the car soon and diagnose, or run the risk of being abandoned on the highway with a very costly repair. If you are someone who doesn’t take your vehicle’s indicator lights seriously, trust me (from experience), this is not one you want to ignore.

Dashboards, Indicators, and Alerts…

There are many indicators around us that alert us to changes in status of a process, and deviation from what may be considered to be a “normal operating condition”. And the place where most of these indicators are visible is on our dashboards. Whether it’s the dashboard of your vehicle, the cockpit display on an aircraft, the bridge on a ship, or a control room in a power plant; it’s the one central place where status is monitored and response strategies are determined, most often by the operator of the asset.

Of course, these deviations from the norm that show up on our  “dashboards” occur in varying degrees, and can signal very different things. A “service soon” indicator light your car dashboard is more “suggestive”, and usually means its time for an oil change or tune up. But you’ve generally got some time before it becomes a bigger issue. A “low fuel” indicator on the other hand, is a bit more significant, and usually means you’ve got a finite quantity of miles left before you are what we might call “SOL” (although I’ve tested this threshold on occasion and can attest to the fact that there is some (albeit small) “cushion” past 0 to rely upon). And then there is the “check engine” light that most often means PULL OVER ASAP ( as soon as safe and practical -but SOON).

I’m not sure about you, but I view the “check engine” light as analogous to to an “airspeed alert” that a pilot might get right before a stall condition, or a traffic alert he gets when another aircraft is within the allowed separation tolerance. You might not yet be “past the point of no return”, but you’re pretty darn close.

Dashboards and Scorecards: Is there a difference?

In the Performance Management discipline, we often hear people refer to the terms “Dashboard” and “Scorecard” rather indiscriminately, with little if any conscious distinction as to what they each connote. I’ve often avoided getting too “wound up” about this, because getting caught up in corporate “buzz phrases” and semantics can cause us to miss the bigger issues at play. But after reflecting on this a bit, I think the differences here are in fact worthy of some discussion. Not because the words themselves are super important, but because it is critical that both components (whatever you call them) need to be part of your EPM solution.

So here are is my take on the critical distinctions between the two:

  • Purpose: Dashboards are about helping you navigate the journey. Scorecards are about how successful the journey was.
  • Type of indicators included: Scorecards generally contain outcome results, Dashboards are usually comprised of leading or predictive indicators
  • Timeframe: Scorecards are periodic and longer term (weekly, monthly, annual trends) in the review horizon, while Dashboards are shorter term and can even be real time
  • Reaction– Scorecards should provoke next steps that involve introspection and analysis (drill downs, mining insights, etc.) where dashboards usually are designed to “signal” or “provoke” immediate actions or course corrections
  • Targets– Scorecards usually report against a target, threshold or benchmark as a percentage gap and trend. Dashboards generally report metrics within or against tolerance ranges, outside of which signal a required change

As with anything, these are not hard and fast rules, but they should give you a sense of where I personally see the distinctions.

Sure, there are some grey areas here. Outcomes for some, may only be a part of a journey for others. There are also cases where an an outcome indicator might be so important that it is worth tracking in both places- on the dashboard AND the scorecard. For example, some car dashboards have an indicator that tells you what MPG you are getting out of your fuel consumption in real time. But while MPG would normally be an “outcome” metric (i.e.scorecard material), it may also be useful to some of us in watching the degradation or improvement to MPG as we change driving patterns (rapid “gunning” and braking, versus more constant speeds, for example).

Examples for the Fairway

A conventional golf scorecard

A few days ago someone posted about this same topic, using golf as their main analogy. And while I agreed with most of what he said, some of his examples created pause as I though of my time on the golf course.

We both agreed for example that the “stroke count versus par” was what you would always find on a conventional golf scorecard (hard to argue with that!). However, I would also say that stats like # of greens in regulation, puts per green, club distances, etc. should also be part of your scorecard, although maybe at a level or two down the chain. After all, these are things that need to be analyzed and challenged OFF the course (although I have been known to peak at them from time to time during the round). In fact, it is not uncommon for many golfers to track these very stats on their scorecard right underneath or beside their actual stroke count.

But if you put all of that on the scorecard, then what does the dashboard look like? We’ll if we think about it in terms of the 5 criteria I provide above, it would likely  be things like yardages to the hole (what i need in order to make my club selection), wind direction (what I need to shape my shot), # stokes ahead or behind the lead (what I need to manage my strategy), speed of the green (necessary in determining the line and speed of your putt), and the myriad of other factors that are utilized by professional golfers before and during a round. And while many of us may manage the above by “feel”, just take a look at a professional’s yardage book and caddy’s notes and you’ll see what looks strikingly similar to a dashboard (albeit manually illustrated with stray marks and notes). And if you want to spend the money, you can always buy some pretty cool dashboards for your iphone or blackberry.

Some Final Thoughts…

I think some of the confusion between dashboards and scorecards is because metrics are often combined in the same visualization, regardless of whether it is called a scorecard or dashboard. Even automobile dashboards have a place for total accumulated miles. Golf GPS devices enable you to enter score count. As I said before, the distinction is sometimes burry, and often not even that critical.

What’s much more important is whether or not you have the full compliment of indicators you need to manage the business. When most executives ask their teams to develop “a dashboard”, the content of what they are really asking for is unclear. Are they hungry for better tracking of results? Or are they asking for better metrics- those that will enable better decisions and more responsiveness? Or are they simply looking for better analysis of the results?

Unless you understand that, it will be hard to deliver on any of these requests or mandates, regardless of what you end up naming it. In the end, Scorecards and Dashboards are merely visualization tools. What';s more important is that you embed and align the right content into these tools that will enable a clear line of sight between vision, objectives, KPI’s, metrics, and initiatives that tells the complete story and enables those who are in execution roles to be successful.

The bottom line is that you are the designer and architect of the info that is displayed, and so all these distinctions- whether it is between scorecard and dashboard, long term versus short term, leading versus lagging, etc.— are really only important in terms of their usefulness in helping YOU design a system that is relevant and useful within your organization. What you call these things is not near as important as whether the system produces the right outcomes.

-b

Author: Bob Champagne is Managing Partner of onVector Consulting Group, a privately held international management consulting organization specializing in the design and deployment of Performance Management tools, systems, and solutions. Bob has over 25 years of Performance Management experience and has consulted with hundreds of companies across numerous industries and geographies. Bob can be contacted at bob.champagne@onvectorconsulting.com

Making Your Targets Achievable…Its about Progress not Perfection!

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As I was relaxing over the weekend watching the ATT Pro-Am, where more than a few players (and celebs) entered the final day well within contention. There are many golfers that are entering 2011 in good form for so early in the year, and while there was only one winner, there were at least a dozen players (from the 40-somethings like Phil and VJ to the cadre of “young guns” that appear to have come out of nowhere and are now taking center stage) within striking distance when the day started on Sunday.

As it turned out, the winning team was in fact one of those young guns(D.A. Points), who ironically stood beside his celebrity playing partner- not other than the “old fart” we all remember from caddy shack, Mr Bill Murray himself. And what a finish it was.

But what was interesting about this day was that there were so many guys playing great golf, and who had clearly taken there game to the next level. It was kind of odd listening to the Mickelson (after mucking up a few key holes that likely cost him a come from behind win), describe the tournament as “really fun” and his play as “much improved”. Sure, anyone making tens of millions a year could probably maintain that attitudeafter “letting one slip away”. But I actually watched that interview thinking the guy was genuine. In my view, good athletes get where are not only through hard work and unwavering commitment, but also by recognizing and reinforcing the principle of improvement as much as they do the actual win.

As you read the below post, I encourage you to think about how you can apply this principle to your periodic goal setting process, whether its setting new goals or negotiating mid course corrections. I hope you enjoy what I believe is some pretty timeless advice.

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From my previous post “PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION”…

Good performance managers can separate the “aspiration” from the “journey” toward it. Notice I said “toward it”, and not “to it”. Performance Management is a process, not and end game. It’s a journey “toward” a state of perfection, knowing that you may never fully achieve it. It’s working damn hard at something knowing that you never really graduate or declare a perfect ending. There’s always something else to aspire to. Our job as performance managers is to manage the process or the journey, using the “end game” only as a beacon that you navigate toward.

To some of you, this may contradict one of my earlier writings on ‘not accepting mediocrity’. In fact, there is a contradiction, and it’s by design. Goal setting is an art, always trying to find the balance between being too ambitious, but at the same time, not accepting mediocrity. Good goal setting will stretch the capabilities of the individual without demoralizing them with repeated failure. For example, an organization may aspire to six sigma performance standards, but manage the process in a way that reinforces and rewards milestones along the way. And when you’re at six sigma, there’s still something to aspire to.

Think about the game of golf. Hogan once said that man will never play a perfect round of golf, because of the nature of the game. Think about it. A perfect score of 18 is beyond human reach in the game as we know it (a hole in one on every hole). Hogan also said that when he plays a round of golf, he can expect only a handful of shots to go exactly as he planned them. Wow! Now that’s amazing. Here’s a world class golfer at his peak saying that out of 65-75 strokes, only 4 or 5 will pass his test of perfection.

But despite the fact that we’ll never achieve that perfect end state, the game of golf does challenge us with goals of par (what should a good golfer shoot), birdies, eagles, double eagles, and those rare but attainable hole in ones. The game’s scoring is also adjusted for a player’s handicap, which changes as his skill improves. There are not many sports that encourage and motivate players ‘toward’ a level of perfection, without ever fully achieving it, than the game of golf does.

So sticking with this analogy, how do golfers motivate themselves in a world where they’ll never fully achieve “perfection”? Most good golfers play each stroke, one at a time, putting a lot more focus on # of fairways hit, GIR’s (# greens hit in regulation), # of sand saves, # of up and downs, and average # of putts per green. That’s how they do it. They set meaningful and achievable milestones for the journey, knowing that if they achieve those, the final score will take care of itself. Turn on the TV every Sunday afternoon, and you’ll see it in action. Even if you don’t like golf, you can’t help but being impressed by how these guys and women manage their game (their journey).

If you like the above analogies and can relate to them, there are some great writings on the subject that will illustrate this point better than I ever could. Three that I recommend are “Golf is not a game of perfect”, “Life is not a game of perfect”, and “The golf of your dreams”, all written by Dr. Bob Rotella, a noted sports psychologist. While these may play more to the golfers among us, his style of writing lends itself to wide applications of these principles, from the workplace to life in general.

So as you set goals, and manage your people toward achieving them, remember to not only focus on the ‘end game’ or ultimate aspiration of perfection, but to also place an equal if not greater focus on the journey and the milestones we must achieve along the way.

-b

Author: Bob Champagne is Managing Partner of onVector Consulting Group, a privately held international management consulting organization specializing in the design and deployment of Performance Management tools, systems, and solutions. Bob has over 25 years of Performance Management experience and has consulted with hundreds of companies across numerous industries and geographies. Bob can be contacted at bob.champagne@onvectorconsulting.com

Managing YOUR Performance on Valentine’s Day

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I can’t believe I am getting caught up in the ‘linking of blog topics to holidays’, but after having some fun with the whole Suberbowl thing, I figured why not get caught up in today’s Valentines Day madness.

While Valentines day is positioned  as a way to demonstrate your love, passion, and commitment to your significant other, I am convinced that all this was really  created and perpetuated by a secret cartel of rose growers, flower shoppes, jewelery  stores, restaurant owners, and  chocolate retailers. But whoever is responsible for this madness, it’s still a big day that is full of expectations, and a day that most of us in committed relationships would be advised to “deliver on” effectively. And by “effectively”, I mean BEYOND expectation!

So how on earth am I going to connect Valentine’s day to the topic of performance management? Well, believe it or not, there are more than a few ways to make the “tie in”. For example, one is to do what most did with their Suberbowl blogs and simply focus on all of the statistics and trends around V-day, like $$ spent  and volume of product purchases. But that would be too easy, and I suspect there will be more than enough of that on today’s blog sites and news reports.

Instead, I’ll focus on something that may actually yield  some real value to you if you want to protect and nurture that relationship with your “main squeeze”, by providing you with a simple “performance framework” to make sure you get through the day with “everything” in tact.

Applying the basic principles of balanced scorecard and performance management, we’ll start with the “vision” and “mission”. One thing to remember when you develop a performance framework is that your vision and mission should always be viewed relative to the challenge you are trying to manage. But as a general rule, we view a vision from a longer term perspective, and a mission from a shorter term horizon.

So what is the the vision for our relationships with our significant other ? For the hopeless romantics in the crowd, the instinctive reaction would be to focus on big aspirations….things like “a long and happy life”, “to love, honour and cherish”, “to grow old together and die in each others arms”, and the myriad of other syrupy catch phrases that are there for the taking. For others, it might be something as simple as “a week without nagging” or “getting my husband to learn to ‘pick up’ after himself”. It’s all relative to your situation and ambition, and how far you are away from it. For now, we’ll stick to a vision geared to a “happy and healthy life with my loving spouse” (its a good common denominator for all of the above), along with some specificity about what that ‘looks like’ in terms of happiness, healthiness, etc…But since vision definition is not the main purpose here, I’ll leave it at that. You’ve got the idea.

Missions are generally shorter term in nature and focus on intermediate milestones in pursuit of the long term vision. For companies, they are still usually multi-year in nature, but for our purpose here, I’m going to break protocol and make the mission simply “getting through the big day”. Again, my purpose today is getting to a discussion of our specific objectives and KPI’s, not to do a tutorial on strategic planning. But it’s worth pointing out that, depending on where you stand (organizationally, timeframe wide, role etc), what looks like a mission to some, may  feel like a strategy to others, and vice versa. Thinking about a mission from a military perspective helps me sometimes (and no, I’m not making a parallel between a military event and my marriage, although most of us could probably relate to that from time to time). Suffice it to say that missions are sometimes big, and sometimes small; may be shorter term or could be longer term. And while from the perspective of top leadership something might look like a tactic, troops may in fact view the very same thing as their “mission”. Its all context dependent.

So just for today, lets consider the mission as  “getting through Valentines day 2011 with (as I said before),  “everything in tact”-which for me, means not having to make apologies for my forgetfulness, incorrect gift choices, and if I’m lucky, a happy and grateful spouse who has embraced my gesture of appreciation.

Now, for the fun part, lets talk Objectives and KPI’s...In business, the balanced scorecard purists would say there are 4 basic categories (perspectives) within which our objectives, goals and KPI’s should be managed. These “big 4″ most often include: customer, financial, employee, and internal (operations and processes). Sure there are other variants of this…but let’s hang with these for now, and try and apply these to the “v-day specific” mission we defined above.

Again, the flow will be perspective–objective—and kpi’s ( the indicators through which we’ll measure our success).

I. Customer (Ms. Valentine)

For our application today, we’ll define  “Ms or Mr Valentine as “the customer” in our little example. After all, it is their perspective that will make the determination of  whether we “get through the day in tact”. So what are our objectives for today? Here are mine:

  • Objective 1: Avoid Disappointment (KPI: # of times Mr. Valentine says  “Sh**, I forgot!!!” or “I wish i would have done…” to himself at any point throughout the day—2011 target=0)
  • Objective 2: Delight my Valentine (KPI: # of times the wife says “oh Bob, you shouldn’t have!!!” —2011 target=>2)
  • Objective 3: Demonstrate Sincerity ( KPI: # of verbal or non verbal signals suggesting that I “was just trying to make up for past screw ups”, or “trying to get an early jump on the objective below—2011 target=1 (its usually more than that :))
  • Objective 4: Generate “reciprocal appreciation” (KPI: Gestures of Reciprocal Appreciation- I’ll term these GRA’s for short (KPI and target =confidential!!! :)) —SPECIAL NOTE- be careful this one is not obvious, or you will jeapordize #3 above

II. Financial (Don’t break the bank)

Of course, achieving the above is easy if your resources are unlimited. But for most of us, be it money or time, it’s never that easy. So you’ll have to accomplish the above within your means and ability. Let’s try these:

  • Objective 1: Stay on Budget (supporting KPI’s: variance to planned budget—target=0 variance)
  • Objective 2: Maximize ROI of gift purchases (# GRA’s per $ of V-day investment—2011 target =also Confinential-i.e. providing target would provide clues as to the  target of the GRA metric above)

III. Operational (Make the day run smoothly)

In any business, there are those things that are reflective of how streamlined or smoothly the operation or process performs. Personally, I see these as “level 2″ contributors to the “customer” and “financial” objectives, but they are no less important, and if they are not proactively managed, they will cause you to fail. A few of those that are pertinent to my success on my spouse’s special day include:

  • Objective 1: Ensure timeliness of delivery (KPI: Deviation from planned delivery times—2011 target= <+/- 15 minutes)
  • Objective 2: Spread the “joy” throughout the day – i.e. sometimes, lots of little surprises leading to the big one is best! (KPI: Interval between surprises—2011 target= 3 hours)
  • Objective 3: Time the big surprise well (KPI: be on time (for dinner, the big gift, etc…)—target =0 deviation from plan)…or else there may not be time for the GRA that may follow.

IV. Employees (Managing the Influencers and Stakeholders)

Over the last few decades, I have found that getting through the day can be quite challenging amidst the various distractions that can emerge. Thats why its important to arm yourself with some help. For me, there are three sources of that “help”, and each plays a valuable role in navigating the special day.

  • Objective 1: Keep the delivery guys happy- (KPI: generate one thank you from each delivery vendor—2011 target=100%)
  • Objective 2: Leverage the little ones…not only can your kids they help, but they can also be instrumental in “spreading the joy” throughout the day with small gifts or gestures of appreciation to mommy. The real objective here is simply to keep the day top of mind, and minimize forgetfulness and/ or unplanned delays (KPI: # Delays/ forgotten deliveries from the kids—target= <2 (their teenagers after all!))
  • Objective 3: Impress the “influencers” (KPI: # of relevant people the wife brags to (inlaws, friends, etc.)—2011target= 3)

Now there are clearly strategies and tactics that support each of these.  In your company, these are the initiatives and investments that help you achieve all this. But for today, these will be little things like tipping the driver, timing your deliveries for maximum “optics” and co-worker recognition, setting your teenagers alarm clock…you get the idea.

And of course, there are the weightings for the objectives and KPI’s themselves. For example, you don’t want to overweight the financials, or else you may risk the GRA effect. Or overweighting the contribution of others (like your kids) may add unecesary risk to the equation, and could also jeopardize the sincerity objective. Again, use your judgement here.

But hey, isn’t that what building a performance measurement framework is like in real life? It’s both an art AND a science. And of course, there are the intangibles and things you just can’t track or keep score of . And often, especially for those who are single, you do need a competitive advantage. So be careful about everything you declare and put in writing (which may conflict with the advice of the balanced scorecard purists), or else you may risk your competetive advantage.

As I wrote this, I found myself sometimes getting sidetracked (duh…really?)…thinking about things like leading indicators, scenario modeling, gaming theory, contingency planning etc…so, lucky for you,  I had to keep bringing myself back on point. Otherwise this could have really led down some interesting and wacky paths.

But hopefully, I’ve given you enough fodder to help keep your day on track, and “if your lucky”…Nevermind, I’ll leave it at that. Use your imagination, and good luck!

-b

Author: Bob Champagne is Managing Partner of onVector Consulting Group, a privately held international management consulting organization specializing in the design and deployment of Performance Management tools, systems, and solutions. Bob has over 25 years of Performance Management experience and has consulted with hundreds of companies across numerous industries and geographies. Bob can be contacted at bob.champagne@onvectorconsulting.com

Top 10 Directional Miscues In Implementing an EPM System…

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A COLLABORATIVE WORK-IN-PROCESS…

REQUESTED INPUT FROM ALL READERS

Today, I am starting work on an article on the subject of “why Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) initiatives fail. But rather than waxing eloquent on my personal past experiences, which I have droned on about over the last 5 years on this blog, I’ve decided to take a somewhat different direction. This time, I am going to build this around my readers direct experiences, a purely “from the front” line perspective, if you will.

I think this will be interesting from a few different angles:

  • First, by its very nature, any discussion of EPM will bring together what have emerged as disparate disciplines over the years: HR, IT, Strategic Planning, Corporate Performance, Budgeting, et al. I discussed the challenges of this at length a few days back in my post on “integrating and unifying performance management” . Bringing these perspectives together in one common dialogue will be refreshing, I think.
  • Second, it will not simply focus on reasons for failure, but specifically those “choice points” where taking a different path would have yielded a different result or avoided a key mistake- Implementation related “Moments of Truth” if you will.
  • Finally the result will be your’s, not that of one consulting trying to promote their own solutions (at least not directly), but rather a collection of perspectives from users, clients, and thought leaders, wherever they reside in the EPM value chain.

I’ll try not to “lead” or steer this too much, except to provide you a few broad categories to comment on. But I welcome you to add any other category or insight you feel would be useful. Some example areas to prime the pump so to speak, include:

  • Aligning managers and executives
  • defining the measurement architecture
  • building out the measurement framework
  • installing your EPM technology
  • involvement of HR and appraisal systems
  • cultural issues and choice points
  • integration with reward structures
  • etc..

In submitting your input, I’d like you to be brief, but as specific as possible. i.e. what was the choice involved? What were the paths you were considering? why you chose the one you did? what failure occurred as a result of your decision? what you believe the alternative path would have produced?

I’d like to see feedback from different perspectives: Executives to middle managers, Vendors to clients, “thought leaders” to employees at the “work face”- et al. The more perspectives we get the better.

You can post your comments below, or if you feel more comfortable sharing this in private, just DM me at @bobchampagne on twitter, and I will provide you with a way to get in touch with me to discuss further. I will synthesize over the coming days and weeks, but feel free to check back and follow the discussion here, on twitter, or wherever the conversation takes us. At the conclusion of the process, or perhaps during, we may elect to do a twitter style roundtable/ conference call if that is useful.

Thanks in advance for your input and participation. They say maximum learning is produced by studying, in depth, both your successes and failures. By exploring the pro’s and cons of various “directional” choices, my hope is that we can create another “step change” in how EPM solutions are designed and delivered.

-b

Author: Bob Champagne is Managing Partner of onVector Consulting Group, a privately held international management consulting organization specializing in the design and deployment of Performance Management tools, systems, and solutions. Bob has over 25 years of Performance Management experience and has consulted with hundreds of companies across numerous industries and geographies. Bob can be contacted at bob.champagne@onvectorconsulting.com

 

First things First- PROCESS before technology…

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Here is is post I wrote a few years back. I was reminded of it while on a call today on Sales Enablement and Automation. Not surprising that it always comes back to “doing the RIGHT things RIGHT”.  BTW- an update on the below article- 3 years later, the process at EWR is STILL THE SAME!!!!                                          ———————————

Here’s a brief story I encountered while leaving Newark International Airport following a recent business trip. Hard to believe, but true.

After a long flight home from the West Coast, I took a short train ride to the long term parking facility, located my car (which is becoming more difficult with age it seems), and proceeded to the parking exit. Note that it’s been a while since I’ve used the long term parking facility, as I normally use a car or taxi service, so I was largely unfamiliar with their new “high tech” customer solutions.

As I pulled up to the pay station (expecting the attendant to inform me of my charge), she immediately looked at me with the gaze of a very frustrated woman who’s obviously done this before. In a short tone, she barked out an instruction suggesting that I had passed an automated ticket booth, from which I should have inserted my ticket and noted the charge. I complied with the instruction, quietly wondering why this woman was in the booth at all, given the fact that the machine and I pretty much had this thing licked. I concluded of course that she must be there to collect the money, so I proceeded to pay her. Not a good assumption as she pointed me back to the machine to insert my payment. OK, I get it, I interact with the machine for this too…no problem, thinking that this is a pretty good solution. I wait for the machine to give me my receipt, an obvious assumption given how the first two steps went. Nope…wrong again. This time she wants me to drive to her and pick up my receipt, at which point she presses a button, lifts the gate, and I’m on my merry way.

I can’t help thinking about all the time and money went into implementing this slick new solution, that probably cost an arm and a leg, had little to no impact on cost savings, destroyed customer satisfaction, and obviously put the employee in a perpetual stae of ‘grumpy’. No…what this was, is yet another example of “technology for technology’s sake”.

When I work with organizations on business impovement, one of the most important themes I try to drill home is PROCESS FIRST, then technology. You don’t implement technology on top of a broken process. Nor do you attempt to fix a broken brocess with technology only.

The right path is to measure the effectiveness of the process before you begin. Establish a baseline. Understand how the process works today (‘As Is’ State). Look for places to improve the process. Define changes. Examine the effect of each potential change on overall performance. Then, and only then, define the technology, systems, skills, and organization needed to support the new process. Develop cost benefits and business cases. Re-examine the degree to which performance will be improved over baseline. And then your almost ready for implementation.

It’s a simple principle, but one that often get overlooked. Try to pay some attention to this in your everyday life and you’ll probably see many similar examples. Then, use these as lessons learned, and start living by the mantra- “First Things First”- process first, technology later.

 

-b

Author: Bob Champagne is Managing Partner of onVector Consulting Group, a privately held international management consulting organization specializing in the design and deployment of Performance Management tools, systems, and solutions. Bob has over 25 years of Performance Management experience and has consulted with hundreds of companies across numerous industries and geographies. Bob can be contacted at bob.champagne@onvectorconsulting.com