Vast amounts of time and energy goes into cycles of defining, measuring, and managing individual performance in businesses. The assumption is that individual performance management processes will automatically translate into improved organisational performance. Unfortunately, research on this being the case is all but conclusive.

Here are some questions that can help you think about your performance, and the performance of the people that work for you:

1. What are the 3 - 5 MOST important things you do, every day?
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   Focus on those, and for each of those, now answer the following questions:
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2. What does it look like when you do this really well?
   Here you can think of things like quality, quantity, consistency, and speed.
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3. What does it look like when you do this really badly?
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4. Who do you do this for? Who gets the output that you produce in this process?
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5. What would be their answer to these questions? With other words, how do they define you “doing really well” and “doing really badly”?
   (Hint: The best way to get this answer is to go and ask them, not to assume that you know their answers)
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6. How do you currently measure and report on how well or how badly you are doing this?
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7. How often do you currently measure and report on how well or how badly you are doing this?
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8. What do you currently do with that information? What action do you take in response to that information?
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9. How often do you take that action?
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10. If you wanted your business to perform better, how, and how often should you be measuring and reporting on this, and with whom should you be sharing this information?
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11. If you wanted your business to perform better, what action should you be taking, and how often should you be taking action, on this information?

This is not going to give you a simple one-size-fits all, once a quarter company-wide performance management system.

What this will do, is to help you, and every person you do this with, gain clarity on how your actions are driving the success (or lack thereof) of your company, and on what you must do to make that better.

To your success

Ashton

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