What gets measured gets done: So, are you measuring the right things?
It’s an age-old cliché: “What gets measured gets done. And what gets rewarded gets repeated.” The origin of this statement is up for a debate (click here if you want to geek out a bit on that). But regardless of the origin, the message stands clear: If you can measure it, then you will have the information you need to achieve it! And that’s the key to getting things done.
Isn’t this the sole reason why schools conduct periodic exams or organizations have KPIs for their employees? What would happen if schools didn’t conduct an exam? Obviously, without a measure, there would be no way to determine whether a student has done well, and therefore, there would be a lower motivation to study. This could be the probable logic behind our Cabinet scrapping the ‘’No detention” policy in Indian schools.
The same applies to organizations too. A KPI system makes people accountable for targets, goals and performance. To add on, you feel empowered when you see the needle move through your efforts – it could be a sales target or increasing the EBITDA by 20%. These are like “baby steps” to boost your morale and keep you focused on the ‘big prize’ (read: Appraisal)
Ok, so you have KPIs, so does your boss and his boss. Everyone has KPIs including the CEO of your organization. Now while all these performance metrics focus on targets, what about KPIs for good behaviour? We are sure you have dealt with a difficult boss at some point in time in your career. Let’s agree that Great People Managers™ are rare. We start a new job only figure out that our boss is not ideal. S/he might be a micromanager, a narcissist, a visionary that lacks the ability to get the job done, a boss who doesn’t share credit, a poor communicator, an absentee boss, and the list goes on.
But have you ever thought that what could be the reason for this? Is it because they have their hands full? Or the targets? Or is it something else.
Could the reason for a bad behaviour be the lack of a ‘Key Behavioral Indicator’?
A Key Behavioral Indicator or KBI is a quantifiable term that creates a benchmark of what behaviour is acceptable and what isn’t. For instance, bringing a sense of humour to their work would give some brownie points to your manager, while yelling at a team member won’t. We believe that having a KBI would make a manager aware of what behaviour is acceptable and what isn’t.
This is what we at Great Manager Institute have set out to create. We have our flagship study - the Great People Manager™ Study, developed with an aim to evaluate every Manager’s ability to be a good leader and Connect, Develop, Inspire© his/her team members.
And how do we achieve this? Through eighteen open-ended questions, designed based on eighteen behavioural traits of a Great People Manager™.
Post survey, managers receive a report of anonymised, aggregated feedback along with a Great People Manager™ certification.
What’s more exciting is that we would be celebrating the best managers and their companies through the Great People Manager™ Awards – since what gets rewarded, gets repeated, doesn’t it?
Ok, a survey and awards – that’s it?
Off course not! These hard-won insights won’t be sitting in a drawer gathering dust! To turn these insights into action, our Great People Manager™ app would provide personalised coaching and tips to Managers to help them up their game.
All in all, measuring results has always had a place in our organizations. However, results only tell us what has been achieved, not what can be achieved. But behaviour does. Let’s make behaviour as measurable as performance and focus on creating the right leaders (or the Great People Manager™s) to drive long-term growth and results.