The New Book “Performance Master” Chapter 1 Introduction: Digital Performance Assessment

Making an objective performance assessment via selecting the right measures and measuring them right are both art and science.


There is no doubt that well-defined measures and KPIs are important factors to manage performance and keep track of strategy execution effectively. However, everything has two sides: Do some performance measurement initiatives encourage quantity over quality? Are you measuring something simply because you can or because you always have done that even though the operating environment may have changed? And how to make an objective performance assessment as the first step in taking a holistic approach to unlock digital perforamnce?

The performance KPI setting should focus on achieving the ultimate goals of the business as a whole: It is dangerous to impose metrics just because the focus on what’s measurable is manageable. Every metrics should have a good reason for being measured. So often you see things measured that are never really reviewed or communicated. The absence of inquisitive conversation around these issues can lead to disconnect between actions and the measurement of success. Performance assessment, when used in an individual context, tends to focus on all that is good that has been achieved by the individual, but sometimes, managers have to ask tough questions such as, if individuals’ performance were so good, why is the company failing? From the team performance perspective, there are always two sides of measurement: The measures to motivate teams to achieve more and the measures to distract management from the ultimate business goals. The rule of thumb is that whatever metrics/KPIs you emphasize are the ones your team will focus on. Put another way, whatever is being watched is what you will get.

Change assessment and measurement: Measuring is a good starting point to changes. Change is inevitable, and Change Management is an important management discipline in running a contemporary and dynamic digital organization. A change manager needs to assess business changeability and evaluate every specific scenario to create the change program success. Change Management measures or KPIs are strong tools, which can be both rewarding, but also cause damage to an organization if measuring wrong things or measuring them in the wrong way. Perhaps the difficulty in measuring Change Management is that the very thing we are measuring is changing. There is no one size fits all change efforts, and there is no magic formula to measure changes as well. The other consideration is that the part you are measuring is only a snapshot of the entire organizational picture, each change effort is so different, some Change Management needs to be measured via leading indicators, while others are better measured via lagging indicators.

The promise and peril of metrics and performance assessment: A performance measurement system is a necessary foundation for continuous improvement. Metric is part of transparent visual management allowing pulling. Metrics can help you get some objective perspective on what you are trying to manage, but they need to be crafted and interpreted well. Without measurements, it can be hard to tell whether attempted improvements make the situation better or worse. The maxim “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” has come to be taken as a truism. However, the different metrics only make sense at different stages in an organizational maturity. Metrics are tools in the toolbox, but just because you have a hammer, not everything is a nail. Further, there are people extremely obsessed by metrics who end up creating a huge and sophisticated set of meaningless metrics and that some managers put a lot of energy on getting better indicators, just because they want beautiful numbers to report and not because they are genuinely interested in helping their teams improve. In fact, there are a lot of metrics abuse and false assumptions of the metrics. What gets measured, get managed. The goal of performance assessment and management is not only to do things right but do the right things and continuously improve doing that.

Making an objective performance assessment via selecting the right measures and measuring them right are both art and science. The goal of performance measurement is to leverage trade-off, break down silo things, encourage positive behaviors, and ensure the business as a whole to reachiing the best performing result.

The "Performance Master" Book Amazon Order Link

The "Performance Master" Book B&N Order Link 

The "Performance Master" Book Introduction Slideshare

The "Performance Master" Book Preview

The "Performance Master" Book Introduction 

The "Performance Master" Book Chapter 1 Introduction

The "Performance Master" Book Chapter 2 Introduction

The "Performance Master" Book Chapter 3 Introduction 

The "Performance Master" Book Chapter 4 Introduction 

The "Performance Master" Book Chapter 5 Introduction 

The "Performance Master" Book Conclusion

The "Performance Master" Quote Collection I

The "Performance Master" Quote Collection II


The "Performance Master" Quote Collection III

Posted in: KPIs,Performance Master