To measure or not?

I am a firm believer in measurement of performance as part of a wider performance management regime.

However, I am also aware of the dangers of inappropriate measurement.

Measurement drives behaviour change. This means. however, that if the measures are ‘wrong’, you will drive behaviour in the wrong direction.

People, understandably, will try to move measures in the direction that  puts them in a  favourable light. If this does not move the organisation closer to its mission, something is clearly wrong. Staff end up playing the measures game, rather than concentrating on real, successful performance improvement.

A simple - but all too common - example is where staff are incentivised to maximise  output.  If they do this at the expense of quality,  they still win but the organisation will lose.

So, review your performance measures and KPIs regularly - and check they are having the desired effect - in both the short and  longer-term.