Here's a well-written article that reflects something I've noticed across a number of jobs during my career: KPIs are often the problem, not the solution.
Yes, businesses should measure performance. They should seek to improve the metrics that matter.
But setting KPI targets forces staff to focus solely on reaching a particular metric for a particular target, at the expense of everything else.
@skribe I'd go further and say they really shouldn't exist at all.
Particularly for lower level employees, KPIs can shift blame for structural problems within the organisation (including it's policies and procedures) on to the individual.
Not reaching that sales target? It's not that the market is saturated, the product is crap, the sales channels are wrong, or the marketing is ineffective. It's just you aren't trying hard enough!
Higher up, it incentivises managers to sacrifice everything else in order to get a particular number looking good. A KPI on costs gets managers to focus on getting short-term costs down, no matter what impact that cost cutting has on long-term profitability.
It's just a bad way to run an organisation.
Now at @
skribe 🇺🇦 