Skip to main content

Do You Like The Numbers?

When reviewing the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of a business it can be uncomfortable for many people.

When you are faced with the numbers of your business, in 'black and white', it might not tell you what you want to hear.

Over the last three months or so I have been involved in more and more conversations with clients about how they don't like their numbers. Instead of using this information to re-direct efforts in the business their KPIs have become something that gets ignored.

There is a clear distinction to make here; there is a difference between outcomes and results.

KPIs are, for the most part, just results. They are only outcomes (i.e. you have failed) if you choose to make them into outcomes.

Results guide us. If you use the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle then you accept the results as feedback. This feedback then allows you to change tack and try something different.

Numbers can be our friends, if we work with them. If you find yourself ignoring your KPIs and just hoping that your on time delivery performance / sales targets / customer satisfaction levels (or whatever is important to you) will improve, then I ask you to look again.

Use the results to guide your business improvements and watch the results change. Then, when the time is right, you can determine your perspective on the results and declare an outcome. From a personal point of view I like to work with the results until they are really good and declare the outcome to be a success. Keep working with the PDCA cycle until you have gotten to where you want to be also.

Now, go and embrace your numbers!


Giles Johnston
Author of 'Business Process Re-Engineering', a practical plan to improve business performance.

Popular posts from this blog

The Kaizen Checklist is here!

Do you want to get better results from your Kaizen programme? Improve your business results quickly with my downloadable kit (including guidebook, workbook and templates) for only $39. Are you looking for a sustainable way to identify and implement improvements across your business? Practical improvement strategies The Kaizen Checklist is a downloadable kit that you can use with your management team to develop a system that suits your business and allow you to quickly implement Kaizen effectively at your place of work. This works great if you use it as the centre piece of your own internal workshop. The kit includes a 40 page guidebook, a workbook, four appendices and three templates. All parts of this kit are designed to get you up and running as fast as possible. If you are unfamiliar with Kaizen, let me stress that this is a simple improvement philosophy that is so much more than just  ‘a Japanese word for continuous improvement’. I’ll cover what it rea

Take the pressure off! Using the Y-curve with your Kaizen improvements

Do you feel under pressure when you have to make changes happen in your business? It can be scary when we try something that we have never done before. I remember thinking to myself 'how on Earth am I going to figure this out?' on many occasions. I think the last time was a few weeks ago! Years on from becoming reasonable at the art of change I am still faced with the same dilemma. It is scary and it is clear to me why so many people shy away from making change happen. It is natural to get stuck in this oscillation. On one hand you need to make change happen; the business needs the improvement benefits. On the other hand you don't want to screw up... Last week I was talking to a young engineer that I am mentoring. He was paralysed. Changes were not happening at all. There was always some early promise with his projects and then, as completion (and judgement day) loomed, progress would evaporate. The engineer asked me for my views on this  during a recent conversati

Do you need a burst of improvement ideas for your business?

If you haven’t created your improvement action plan for 2020 yet then I have something for you. I have just completed my latest project – The CI Focus Tool . This Android App is now available on Google Play and provides a simple method for generating as many effective improvement ideas as you need. This is the same basic method that I describe in my book Effective Continuous Improvement  and is now available as a simple to use app. In essence it is a brainstorming focus tool. Press the focus button and you will be presented with a random continuous improvement focus. Brainstorm ideas around this focus with your team (whilst the timer is running) and there you go – a number of great ideas for you to prioritise and implement. The reason that this works so well is because of the focus. When your business runs out of its immediate problems to fix you need a different strategy. Very focused brainstorming helps you break past this problem and configuring the app to meet t