Your KPIs are a game – and you’re invited to play

There may be many ways for your employer to decide if you are a good hire or not. You may always be first in the office, you may never take a day off, you may be taking all of the overtimes, or you may just walk the office hallways really fast.

There are also less human ways to decide your value, like KPIs, OKRs, and probably many other ways to put your performance in numbers. 

Today I will focus on KPIs, as I think they are among the most popular ways that your manager can use to judge you (using numbers).

So, what are KPI’s? The abbreviation stands for KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS. Which, in simpler terms, mean goals that you can track and use as a benchmark for success. They come in percentage (from 0 to 100) or an absolute value (for e.g. 25 calls each day). the KPIs should be aligned with the direction of a company – and they should be changing from time to time.

Let’s say your company wants to make sure each customer that calls helpline gets answered – they KPI would be measuring the amount of calls taken, or the amount of calls dropped. If they need more customers – they will focus not on the revenue your customers are generating, but rather – how many new customers you are bringing. If the production process is too long – they may be looking at the time each production step is taking and try to limit your time spend on some actions.

The key word here is should – because not every manager understands the KPIs, and not every company has a clear direction. Even so, I do recommend looking at your KPIs as a whole and try to find a pattern there. You may see what your manager, or the manager of your manager is up to this quarter.

Why would I recommend that?

Well, the thing that your supervisor is not telling you is that you don’t have to achieve 100% of every indicator, to be considered a good employee and move your career further. I will write even more controversial things now – being top performer in each and every one of your goals can hurt you in several ways. 

First – your goals will be getting higher and more difficult to reach. Although this is true for everyone, once you will not be able to perform, you can see some disappointed looks and questions about „what happened? Why is your motivation lower?”

Secondly – once you reach 100% of your quota it does not mean the amount of work you have to end, what is more likely is that you will get more work for the same salary, with minimal recognition. I mean, more work is the recognition you were looking for, right?

Finally – it is very hard to show progress when you are constantly overachieving. I mean, go from zero to hero and they write about you in the news. Go from hero to superhero and suddenly everyone is tired of you and you are just showing off.

And here we come to the clou od my message. Getting recognition is more about showing progress than showing great results all the time. And, if you can show progress in the areas that your manager needs to see the progress is a recipe for success.  This is why, by looking at your KPIs you should be looking at the story they tell you. Why is my time on the call suddenly so important? Why do I need to add specific details to CRM that nobody asked about before? If you can decipher the message, you know where to push harder and what results will stand out.

Also, for me, understanding why I need to do the things that they ask me to do, helps in actually executing and prioritizing my work. There is nothing worse than trying to do something I don’t like and I don’t understand just for the sake of doing it because someone told me to.

The best outcome is when you can align the goals (not your KPIs but the ultimate goals) with your strengths. then you know where you can let yourself shine, but also where you need to push yourself a little bit, even though required things are not your strength.

Try and find the balance between what is needed, why it is needed, and how you can use your strengths to reach the ULTIMATE GOAL. Then, even if you will not be performing at 100% of every objective, you will be seen as a strong player, and hopefully, you will also find bits of joy during your working hours.

What do you think? Have you found a hidden meaning behind your KPIs?

Do you need help deciphering them? Let me know.