If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It

Introduction

You have developed your organisational structure, prepared positional contracts and have established who is responsible for what. Great progress! And now comes the part that ensures that everything is to some extent controllable and directed to the right direction—KPIs.

KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are the pulse of your business. They provide you with the current information on whether your people, processes and performance are on course. Without them, you are guessing.

This week’s blog post will reveal what makes a good KPI, how to set them, and why they are so important for growing your business.

Why KPIs Matter

Clarity & Focus

KPIs ensure that your team concentrates on the critical outcomes. They filter out all the rest and show what success looks like in practical terms.

Performance Tracking

They enable you to track the progress in a scheduled way, whether it is the performance of an individual, a department or the company as a whole.

Proactive Decision Making

KPIs do not require you to wait for the problems to arise but instead help you identify them early enough to make adjustments.

Team Accountability

Individuals take more responsibility when they understand what they are being measured on, and how their work contributes to the bigger picture.

How to Create Effective KPIs

Link KPIs to Business Goals

Every KPI should be linked to the general goals of the company. Ask yourself: Does this number work to move the business forward if we hit it?

Make Them SMART

Your KPIs should be:

  • Specific

  • Measurable

  • Achievable

  • Relevant

  • Time-bound

Define Clear Owners

Every KPI requires someone who is to ensure that it is accomplished. No shared ownership—it leads to finger pointing and missed targets.

Track Regularly & Visibly

KPIs should be checked frequently and displayed to the team. What gets measured gets managed.

Don’t Overload

A few, well-chosen KPIs are far better than a large, confusing list of KPIs. Focus on the metrics that actually move the needle.

Examples of Good KPIs

  • Sales: The number of qualified leads generated per week.

  • Marketing: Website conversion rate.

  • Customer Service: The first response time to 2 hours.

  • Operations: Order fulfilment accuracy.

  • Finance: Aged debt over 30 days.

Each of these is easy to understand, easy to track, and directly aligned to a goal that matters.

Taking Action

This week, take a step back and ask:

  • What are we currently measuring in the business?

  • Are these numbers actually useful for decision-making?

  • Does every team member know what their KPIs are?

Start with setting 2–3 KPIs for each role. Simplify, make it visible and concentrate on the outcomes that matter.

In the next week…

We’ll conclude the systemisation series with How-To Systems – transforming your business into a system that can be repeated and scaled.

Question for readers:

What KPI produced the largest effect in your business when you began measuring it?