Look At The Right Barometers To Accomplish A Performance Breakthrough
Keywords: productivity, speed, quality, performance, output, faster, save money, save time
To accomplish performance breakthroughs, you need to learn and continually use all eight steps of the performance breakthrough process in the correct order.
The steps are listed here:
1. Understand the importance of measuring performance.
2. Decide what to measure.
3. Identify the future best practice and measure it.
4. Implement beyond the future best practice.
5. Identify the ideal best practice.
6. Pursue the ideal best practice.
7. Select the right people and provide the right motivation.
8. Repeat the first seven steps.
In this article, you’ll learn how to pursue the second step: Decide what to measure.
Having created an environment where the value of measurements is appreciated, your next step is to gain the most benefit from measurements. Properly identified, these measurements will be as helpful to you as a barometer is to a weather forecaster.
Begin by focusing on a particularly important process within your organization where you expect to find a large improvement opportunity.
Then you should determine what measurements about this process will help you make the fastest progress.
If you are a laggard in developing successful new products in an industry where that skill is critical, the new product development process would be a fine place to start.
Using the experience that you gain in looking at the first process, you can go on to extend this approach to other important processes and opportunities.
Find the Suggestion-Box Winners
A large consumer products company found that it lagged all of its competitors in measures of financial performance. Stung by this information into wanting to change, management encouraged employees to suggest improvements. Tens of thousands of suggestions were received.
Rather than treat all these ideas equally, management established a review team that included executives from every functional area. The reviewers looked for ideas that offered enormous immediate and long-term benefits that were easy to implement right away.
Another team of fifteen executives was assigned to see that these top options got enough implementation attention. One percent of the ideas provided 95 percent of the cumulative improvement.
As a result of this effort, three years later the organization was the number one performer in its industry by any financial measurement.
Choosing to pursue those highest potential ideas aggressively was a good idea. You should do the same.
Measure at the Right Level with the Right Measure
Large organizations often confuse themselves by over averaging what they measure: For example, tracking the average temperature on a given day around the world won’t tell a retailer what kind of apparel to offer in a given store. Start looking at the temperature trends by store, and you may begin to improve your stocking.
STALLBUSTERS
Identify Your Most Important Processes
Ask these questions to begin your search for your most important processes:
1. How long could your organization survive without each process?
2. How long could your organization prosper if each process were done poorly?
3. How long will your organization last if it performs each process less well than competitors?
Having gotten a sense of what your most critical processes are, ask these questions:
1. If you did the process as well as you can imagine it, what would be the size of the benefit compared to how well you are doing today?
2. If you did the process as well as you can imagine it, what other opportunities would open up?
3. What would developing those opportunities be worth?
Potentially Important Processes to Measure
1. Monitoring of institutional investor decisions to purchase your competitors’ shares and debt rather than yours
2. Developing new products and services that provide customers with major benefits over competitors’ offerings
3. Marketing for attracting and retaining customers with whom you have a profit margin advantage over competitors
4. Shifting your mix of customers, products, and services to improve your costs versus competitors
5. Identifying and implementing your most important cost-reduction opportunities
6. Finding and realizing your organization’s largest opportunity areas
7. Reducing cost of capital in ways other than by borrowing more money and refinancing at lower interest costs
8. Adjusting compensation and recognition activities to reinforce helpful employee behavior
9. Obtaining win-win ideas for mutual benefit from suppliers, partners, and the communities you serve
Find the Critical Factors for Your Most Important Process
Once you have selected an important process to focus on, narrow your attention further to reveal the most important parts of the process. The following questions will help you:
1. Who can help you determine the critical factors in the process you are investigating?
2. How can you measure what may cause or influence the process’s important aspects?
3. What’s the best way to check your conclusions about the critical factors of important processes by using statistical analyses?
Start by Measuring Everything You Can Think of (That Seems Worth the Cost) Concerning the Process’s Output and Its Influences - and Then Narrow Your Focus
This is a good time to identify which measures are most available for comparisons outside of your organization. Be sure to check all your data to see how well they help you understand your performance. Once you’ve done that, begin eliminating some measurements while paying more attention to others.
To make this shift, work with data until you can statistically identify causes and effects.
In deciding how much to spend to measure and analyze, keep in mind the size of the potential benefits. Some expensive measures are well worth the cost.
One firm found that a single measure (which cost more than all of the other measures combined) provided almost all of the insights into improving an essential process. Had the company stopped looking because of expense, the firm’s sales would be less than half and profits below a quarter of the current level.
Donald Mitchell is coauthor of six books including The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, and The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook. Read about creating breakthroughs through 2,000 percent solutions by registering for free at
Previous Articles Highlighter:
Make Money Online With 80% Of The Work (1)
Keywords: internet marketing, make money online, marketing productivity I don't know how many of you have worked in a Fortune 50 company before. But, if you have you know how much large companies focus on squeezing the greatest benefit from every dollar spent.
Fundamentals For Starting A Home Business (2)
There are many different products and services in the wellness industry. It should be relatively easy to find a product or service that you can feel good about providing for the general public.
Your Online Shopping Cart: Portal To Profits (3)
Just as with any retail venture in real life, shoppers are looking for a user-friendly experience that gives them everything they want or need at that moment. We've all experienced both ends of the spectrum when it comes to shopping; either the salesperson is dogging our every footstep, or when we really do need them, they're suddenly nowhere to be seen.
Finding A Job With A High School Vs. College Graduation (4)
However, it is crucial for every person to do what is right for them. Sometimes, opportunities open up when they are least expected. And other times, the most obvious pathway to financial success is less rewarding.
One Man's Pathway To Bridging Cultural Chasms: Experience, Question, Study, And Reform Understanding (5)
Keywords: communication, negotiation, cooperation, business, projects, project management, leadership, manage Dr. Leif Olsen, a Swede by birth, has become a knowledgeable citizen of the world who appreciates that connecting with others requires understanding first why others think as they do.
People 'Can Still Get' Loans (6)
Consumers may be more wary about taking out credit. However, for people who need to take loans out, the rate cut will be welcome news". The FLA spokesperson warned that as the effects of the global credit crunch begin to take hold, financial providers may tighten up the availability of loans, particularly in the short term.
Tanning Beds Vs. Natural Sun Tanning (7)
Breaking Down the Rays The reality is that there are no definite answers to this question. Both natural sun rays and tanning bed rays are made of UVB rays and UVA rays.
The Best Walleye Fishing Spots In Missouri (8)
This is a nice resort area and does not have a lot of boat activity, which makes it a nice fishing spot. Mark Twain Lake is noted as a good place to fish for walleye, but keep in mind that you have to go at the right time and the right season.
The Easiest Way To File Your State Taxes (9)
Everything considered, hiring a professional is definitely the best way when it comes time to file your state taxes. Craig Chambers is a tax and financial planner who enjoys sharing tips on state taxes and offers extensive free tax guides, and a free "special report" on taxes.
How To Quickly Find The Most Helpful Financial Services (10)
As you first talk to them, ask what they would recommend for you. If it doesn't seem right, you might want to find another individual who makes sense to you.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
Wholesale Video Games Additional Scalability Options! (1)
For instance, I have become quite comfortable again in the last years. Out casting almost on a weekly basis, that is, quick fixes that can be done from different skilled professionals and had finally begun to outsource permanently for the good on main sub-niche businesses that need such change.
Backing A Business With A Quality Online Storefront (2)
Unlike shopping at onsite stores, customers do not have the opportunity to see or feel the merchandise for themselves. They are instead required to place trust in the site on which they have chosen to shop.
Easy Forex Trading System: 12 Interesting Forex Trading Facts (3)
Technical analysis uses reliable historical data as a means of forecasting these movements. The technical analyst believes that history repeats itself over and over again. Technical analysis is not concerned with the reasons for currency movements (for example, interest rates or inflation).
Turning Your Wholesale Merchandise Hobby Into Big Business! (4)
Joaquin Reveron is a coach, mentor, speaker and online wholesale veteran. His focus online are on eBay and helping people create wealth through wholesale niches. He is also a wholesale powerseller and author of www.videogamesmystery.com
Understanding Student Car Insurance (5)
So what now? Time to take the family car for a spin and show your friends that you are finally street legal? Not without some type of student car insurance.
How To Become A Private Eye (6)
Many would suggest we did it to ourselves. The good news though is the opportunity it's provided many in the way of new careers. So how do you become a private eye?
Investing In A Burglar Alarm System (7)
For several reasons, you can get a false alarm such as forgetting to reset the keypad after coming in. You want to remember that false alarms can be a problem.
Stress Free Business Travel (8)
There are plenty of ways of booking these flights from using the internet, going to a travel agent or use a company that specialises in corporate travel management. The latter is becoming more popular with businesses because it means that they don't have to worry about the stresses of organising business travel.
Renegade Network Marketer - How To Generate More MLM Prospects Than You Can Handle! (9)
Want to put your network marketing lead generation on steroids? Read this free report The 7 Great Lies Of Network Marketing. Then join the top 5% of network marketers making money by learning how to dramatically improve your sponsor rate at: www.breakthrough.therenegadenetworkmarketer.com
How To Make A Good Impression With Your Choice Of Perfume (10)
Keywords: perfume, fragrance Your choice in perfume says a lot about you, as does the way you wear your perfume. If you are thinking of making a good impression with perfume on a new date or a job interview, you will want to make sure that the perfume is right for the occasion and is not overpowering.
Permalink to Look At The Right Barometers To Accomplish A Performance Breakthrough