Most companies can't predict how they'll perform next month, quarter, and beyond.
Today, everyone has access to more performance data than ever before.
But, it is inaccessible to most people because it lives in so many places – behind so many apps, logins, passwords, and screens.
This makes everyone’s job even harder. Especially yours.
Often times, you might be unsure how your work directly influences performance, or which activities you and your team should be doing in order to move the needle.
That’s why it’s so hard to communicate the value of your work to others – your boss, your team, or your clients.
Think about it – you’re probably routinely logging into 12 different apps to track performance and see how things are going, but you’re only seeing pieces.
Then, you have to piece those things together by taking screenshots, downloading CSVs, copying and pasting data from all the tools you’re using into spreadsheets and slide decks.
By the time it’s presented to others, it’s already outdated and usually too late for you and your team to act on it.
So, like most people, you default back to the things that mostly worked for you in the past, or rely on your gut.
The reality is that most companies are striving for general performance improvements.
But the world is moving too fast to continually rely on general improvements.
To achieve predictable and meaningful improvements, you need to change your approach.
Predictable Performance is about creating an environment where everyone feels in control of the company’s performance next week, month, quarter, and beyond. One where everyone knows the impact of their work towards the company’s goals, and more importantly, is able to use that information to improve performance tomorrow.
Where instead of goals being static, they’re set monthly to inspire short-term action.
Where adjustments can be made on the fly in order to stay the course and make progress.
Where real-time monitoring allows everyone to stay focused on the most important activities, identify the ones that produce the best results, and feel empowered to adapt their plan as needed.
Where everyone, across an entire organization, will know how their work directly influences performance and is in control of the company’s performance next week, month, quarter and year.
With Predictable Performance, you don’t need to spend hours digging around for the insights you need. It isn’t dependent on monthly or quarterly reporting meetings, or cut-and-paste and out-of-date spreadsheets and slide-decks.
Instead, because everyone knows the status of initiatives, progress towards goals, and the activities that drive results – everyone is able to make the adjustments that improve performance.
To predictably improve performance, companies must adopt a methodology for how they manage.
To improve performance in a predictable manner, companies must first define what winning looks like and prioritize initiatives that will drive performance to achieve that state. Improvement will require execution, iteration, and learning. For most initiatives, 90 days is a big enough window to allow for launch and measurement, and yet a small enough window to necessitate urgent action.
Most companies have an annual plan and some break those down to quarterly targets. But, when employees wake up in the morning, they aren’t concerned or motivated with goals that are so far away -- until it’s too late. The first step towards predictable performance, where the real magic happens, is when you break these targets up into smaller pieces. Monthly goals create short-term action.
Once everyone is focused on the right actions, consistency helps to keep everything on track. But when performance dips, plans need to change. The key to hitting monthly goals is to discuss each team’s plan every week and adapt to any changes in performance.
You’re on the right track. You’ve set monthly goals and are revising your plans to hit them every week, but now you need to see how your daily activities help make progress. When you monitor your impact as you implement your plan you’re also empowered to adapt your approach as needed in order to stay on track.
Every team member is responsible for sharing the impact of their work as it happens. Sharing results – good and bad – in real time allows companies to celebrate victories, do more of the activities that produce results, and course-correct when things aren’t working.
You’ll know you’ve implemented Predictable Performance successfully when everyone feels in control of the company’s performance next week, month, quarter and year.
When everyone, across an entire organization, knows how their work directly influences performance, can be confident that everyone else knows too and most importantly, will use that insight to help drive tomorrow’s performance.
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