Issue No. 7 March/2017
INTERVIEWS ACADEMICS. CONSULTANTS. Insights from practice AROUND THE WORLD QUEENSLAND Where performance management shines BRAZIL Lessons learned from Brazil’s anti-poverty strategy ARTICLES KPIS AND THE MEDIA INDUSTRY FIVE BASIC WAYS OF BUILDING YOUR CORPORATE BRAND BLOCKCHAIN: THE FUTURE OF TRANSACTIONS SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE IN SUPPORTING OUR BUSINESSES + LIFESTYLE, HARDWARE & SOFTWARE, AND RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
PORTRAIT
SOPHIA THOMAIDOU
Communication - the link between employee and business performance
INDEMNITY STATEMENT
© 2017 The KPI Institute Ltd. All Rights Reserved. ID Number: TKI0172041 ISBN-13: 978-1544141169 ISBN-10: 1544141165 An appropriate citation for this magazine is: The KPI Institute, Performance Magazine, Printed Edition, no. 7, vol. 4/2017, March, 2017, Melbourne, Australia Indemnity statement: The KPI Institute has taken due care in preparing the analysis contained in this publication. However, noting that some of the data used for the analysis has been provided by third parties, The KPI Institute gives no warranty to the accuracy, reliability, fitness for purpose, or otherwise of the information. The KPI Institute shall have no liability for errors, omissions, or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice Published by:
Headquarters: Melbourne Office Life.lab Building, 198 Harbour Esplanade, Suite 606 Melbourne Docklands, VIC 3008, Australia Telephone Headquarters: +61 3 9028 2223 Middle East Division: +971 45 637 316 European Division: +40 3 6942 6935 South East Asia Division: +60 3 2742 1357 E-mail: office@kpiinstitute.org www.kpiinstitute.org MARCH 2016
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CONTENTS 2
EDITOR’S NOTE
3
ARTICLES
40
NEWS
6
Supplier Performance
48
COVER STORY
12
Supplier Performance in supporting our businesses
48
The homeland security balanced scorecard
12
Individual Performance
49
INTERVIEWS
14
Five useful strategies to help you manage difficult team members
49
Bård Kuvaas
15
The pros of workplace diversity
Martin Kunc
50
16
Randa Hariri
17
ASK THE EXPERTS
51
Bart Geeraerts
20
How can you build a performance culture?
51
Francesco Consolati
21
LIFESTYLE
52
PORTRAIT
24
How to improve your emotional intelligence
52
Sophia Thomaidou. Communication - the link between employee and business performance
24
Memory boosting: the key to successful job interviews
54
AROUND THE WORLD
28
The benefits of crossing the threshold of your comfort zone
56
Welcome to Queensland - Where Performance Management Shines
28
HARDWARE
58
The Republic of South Africa: How to Effectively Reconcile Strategic Planning and Budgeting
31
Kindle Oasis
58
Kuai Headphones
58
Management Performance in the Chinese Government – An Evolving Trend
33
Mio PAI Tracker
59
SMART kapp
Lessons Learned from Brazil’s Anti-Poverty Strategy
36
59
SOFTWARE
60
ARTICLES
40
PeopleGoal
60
Strategy
40
MailChimp
60
Four simple ways to improve manager communication
40
Zoho Reports
61
62
Balanced Scorecard
41
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Books: Must-haves for your 2017 reading list
62
Verizon communications and the HR Balanced Scorecard
41
The Founder or the story of how persistence can outweigh talent
63
KPIs
43
KPIs and the media industry
43
Organizational Performance
44
How to overcome the challenges of organizational change
44
Marketing Performance
45
Five basic ways of building your company brand
45
Operational Performance
47
Blockchain: the future of transactions
47
MARCH 2016
Aurel Brudan CEO, The KPI Institute Andrei Costea Head of Publishing & Media
EDITORIAL TEAM Maria Juncu Ana Lechințan Marcela Presecan Andreea Minelli Cristina Tărâță Alina Miertoiu
DESIGN Javier Rocha Head of Graphic Design
MARKETING Valentina Matei Head of Marketing
With these thoughts in mind, we proudly announce the launch of our seventh issue of PERFORMANCE Magazine. PERFORMANCE Magazine is The KPI Institute’s prime resource for insights into the discipline of Performance Management. The content published in PERFORMANCE Magazine pursues high and wide for some of the best, latest and most pressing topics of discussion in Performance Management and in adjacent areas of interest. This edition provides details on the subjects of KPIs, the Balanced Scorecard, Operational Performance, Individual Performance and Marketing Performance, among others. Flip through pages of interviews with renowned experts, extensive research studies, concept presentations, insights from practice, alongside software or hardware reviews, and books and movie recommendations, all related to performance management.
EDITOR’S NOTE
STAFF EDITORIAL COORDINATION
Encompassing The KPI Institute’s experience, research and expertise, PERFORMANCE Magazine – Printed Edition provides its readership with first-hand how-to, resources, and insights from practice, so as to assist them in their performance endeavors and in becoming state-of-the art professionals.
In our 7th issue of PERFORMANCE Magazine, we take our readers on a journey into the life of Sophia Thomaidou, a Partner at Zeler & Company, Greece and a licensed NLP Trainer & Coach. Boasting 20 years of experience in Human Resources, Sophia’s professional career has for the most part been a tale of measuring human performance and how to best improve it, having started with her studies in Sociology and continuing with her Master’s Degree in Human Resources Management. Given that Employee Performance Management is an integral part of the HR strategy of most organizations, this field fit Sophia’s career plans like a glove, allowing her to quickly rise through the ranks, occupying numerous directorial positions over her ongoing career. Take part in public sector implementation processes from various countries and nations, as each edition will feature extensive analyses on the subject, compliments of our Business Research Analysts. Also, best practices, alongside the latest trends, will be offered for a wide variety of performance-related sub-domains, from KPIs, to the Balanced Scorecard, and from Strategy and Operational Performance, to Individual and Organizational Performance. Last, but not least, the magazine features recommended resources for professionals interested in combining leisure and professional development, such as books and documentaries. So now we invite you to take part in a world dedicated to integrating performance and all that is comprised in the search for improvement, in its smallest details. Enjoy this March’s PERFORMANCE Magazine! As we are always interested in gaining insights from practitioners who activate in a multitude of environments, contact us at editor@kpiinstitute.org if you are interested in becoming a Guest Post Editor, or having your interview featured in PERFORMANCE Magazine. Andrei Costea Head of Publishing & Media, The KPI Institute MARCH 2016
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SCHEDULED COURSES IN 2017 Upcoming 2017 Training Courses Americas
City
Date
Certified KPI Professional Certified Performance Audit Professional and Practitioner
Toronto Washington D.C.
26 - 28 June 21 - 23 June
Asia Pacific
City
Date
Certified KPI Professional and Practitioner
Kuala Lumpur
24 - 28 July
Certified KPI Professional
Kuala Lumpur
4 - 6 April
Melbourne
8-10 May
Sydney
20 - 22 November
Certified Strategy and Business Planning Professional
Kuala Lumpur
11 - 13 September
Certified Performance Management Professional
Kuala Lumpur
10 - 12 April
Certified Employee Performance Management Professional
Hong Kong
26 - 28 April
Certified Data Analysis Professional
Kuala Lumpur
3 - 5 May
Certified Data Visualization Professional
Singapore
14 - 16 August
Certified Balanced Scorecard Management System Professional
Kuala Lumpur
13 - 15 December
Certified Supplier Performance Professional
Singapore
17 - 19 May
Certified Customer Service Performance Professional
Kuala Lumpur
14 - 16 August
Certified Performance Audit Professional and Practitioner
Singapore
22 - 24 May
Europe
City
Date
Certified KPI Professional
Barcelona
3 - 5 April
Certified Performance Audit Professional
London
10 - 12 July
Middle East
City
Date
Certified KPI Professional and Practitioner
Abu Dhabi, UAE
12 - 16 November
Doha, Qatar
5 - 9 November
Dubai, UAE
10 - 14 September
Jeddah, KSA
26 - 30 March
Riyadh, KSA
14 - 18 May
Abu Dhabi, UAE
12 - 14 November
Doha, Qatar
25 - 27 April
Dubai, UAE
7 - 9 May
Manama, Bahrain
2 - 4 May
Abu Dhabi, UAE
15 - 16 November
Dubai, UAE
10 - 11 May
Dubai, UAE
23 - 25 April
Riyadh, KSA
2 - 4 April
Dubai, UAE
14 - 16 May
Certified KPI Professional
Certified KPI Practitioner Certified Strategy and Business Planning Professional Certified Performance Management Professional 4
MARCH 2016
For more details visit our store at: marketplace.kpiinstitute.org/scheduled-courses
THE KPI INSTITUTE’S PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS
Framework v 2.0 2015
This program is meant to improve the practical skills in working with KPIs and developing instruments like scorecards and dashboards. Participants will acquire a sound framework to measure KPIs, starting from the moment they are selected, until results are collected in performance reports.
Certified Performance Improvement Professional
C-PM
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Framework v 1.0 2015
This course offers insights and best practices for improving performance in different scenarios, from data analysis and reporting, decision making and initiative management, to building a performance culture.
Certified Employee Performance Management Professional
C-EPM
EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Framework v 1.0 2015
Attendees will gain exposure to best practices and key concepts and will learn how to establish and use criteria for performance evaluations, from implementation to improvement and maintenance of the company’s employee performance management system.
Certified Personal Performance Professional
C-PP
PERSONAL PERFORMANCE
Framework v 1.0 2015
The two-day interactive program will help you understand personal performance, by explaining the benefits and clarifying the process of measuring it. It focuses on identifying ways to boost your performance outside working hours.
Certified Data Visualization Professional
C-DV
DATA VISUALIZATION
Framework v 1.0 2015
An exclusive framework that provides insights on effective visual communication, through a rigorous approach to creating visual representations of vast information, techniques of standardization and tailored data visualization tools.
C-DA
Attendants will understand through practical learning how to effectively collect, analyze and interpret data by enabling managers/ analysts to draw insights from both quantitative and qualitative data, based on historical statistics and trend analysis.
Certified Benchmarking Professional
BENCHMARKING C-B
C-KPI
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Framework v 1.0 2015
Framework v 1.0 2015
Benchmarking methodological uniqueness is represented by the identification and analysis of the processes that lead to a superior performance of a company, offering the opportunity to compare an organization’s performance against industry competitors.
Certified Supplier Performance Professional
SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE C-SP
Certified KPI Professional and Practitioner
DATA ANALYSIS
Framework v 1.0 2015
Participants’ skills in managing supplier performance and developing a strategic approach to procurement will be developed by enabling the identification of performance gaps and implementing action agreements with suppliers.
Certified Customer Service Performance Professional CUSTOMER SERVICE PERFORMANCE C-CSP
Framework v 1.0 2015
The course will help improve the business planning process and long-term organizational performance, through the use of strategic planning tools that will ultimately lead to smarter and quicker strategic decisions.
Framework v 1.0 2015
Participants will not only understand the importance and implementation phases for the Customer Service Excellence standards, but they will be given the necessary tools to implement it internally and measure its impact externally.
Certified Performance Audit Professional
PERFORMANCE AUDIT
C-PA
C-SBP
STRATEGY & BUSINESS PLANNING
Certified Data Analysis Professional
Performance Maturity Model Framework v 2.0 2017
This educational program presents a rigorous approach to diagnosing and auditing the maturity of performance architectures for 5 capabilities: strategic planning, performance measurement, performance management, performance culture and employee performance management.
Certified Balanced Scorecard Management System Professional
BALANCED SCORECARD MANAGEMENT C-BSC
Certified Strategy and Business Planning Professional
Framework v 1.0 2015
The course focuses on delivering all the information needed to fully comprehend the value of the Balanced Scorecard, as well as on developing the necessary skills for a successful implementation.
To browse through our upcoming training courses visit our online store at: marketplace.kpiinstitute.org/scheduled-courses MARCH 2016 5
NEWS
NEWS
> How AI can bring on a second Industrial Revolution One of the chief tendencies of today is to “make things smarter and smarter”. Kevin Kelly, publisher of The Inevitable and founder of the All-Species Foundation, calls it cognification, more widely known as artificial intelligence - AI. In one of his latest TEDx presentations, he explained why he thinks that mass AI implementation & adoption is going to be one of the most influential development trends in our society, in the next 20 years. In his opinion, people have overlooked three important aspects related to this trend: 1. People have different types of intelligence - emotional, visual, spatial - all grouped together in clusters Starting from this idea, Kevin Kelly explains that when making machines, they should be engineered following the same pattern, where certain machines are smarter, in some specific areas, than humans, such as the GPS in spatial navigation. Kelly sees this as “making alien intelligences” and he strongly believes that these new intelligences are going to “help us think differently, because thinking differently is the engine of creation and wealth and new economy.”
2. Using AI to make a second Industrial Revolution Today we are able to distribute artificial power on wires, on a grid to every home, factory, farmstead, and make use of it just by simply plugging in a cord. With this new formula, ‘X + AI’, Kevin Kelly claims that everything that is electrified can become ‘cognified’. This way, a simple electric pump can become a smart pump, or a 250-horsepower car can have 250 minds. 3. Through embodying AIs, we can create robots These bots will not only be doing many of our tasks, but they’ll create other very different tasks, engendering new kinds of jobs. The future successful team will be comprised of both humans and bots. The best medical diagnostician is not a doctor, it’s not an AI, it’s the team…they’re different, they’re utility and they are going to be something we work with rather than against. By fully grasping the depth of these three aspects, people will start understanding and embracing AI a lot better, and in 20 years’ time, the internet and AI will not be the same.Kevin Kelly, Publisher of the Whole Earth Review, Executive Editor at Wired Magazine, Founder of the All-Species Foundation and author of The Inevitable – is also a photographer, conservationist, and student of Asian and digital culture.
> Unlocking the Secrets of the Brain Long-Term Potentiation The recipients of last year’s Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Prize were three British researchers, Tim Bliss, Graham Collingridge and Richard Morris. Together they made groundbreaking advances that revealed how nerve connections, or synapses in the hippocampus - a brain region vital to memory - can be strengthened through repeated stimulation. The process is known as long-term potentiation or LTP and it showcases the inherent plasticity of the synapses, which can change in response to experience. This flexibility is proof of the fact that the brain has the capacity to reorganize itself, after damage such as a stroke, or after the loss of normal input, as we see with blindness. While Tim Bliss, visiting worker at the Francis Crick Institute, gave the first detailed description of long-term potentiation (LTP), Graham Collingridge, Chair of 6
MARCH 2016
the Department of Physiology at the University of Toronto, discovered the role of the so-called NMDA receptor in the induction of LTP. Last but not least, Richard Morris, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh, was the one who began a long programme of research to establish the role of LTP in memory. These results are groundbreaking, because they have revealed that the brain is not static, that it has a malleability without which we would not be able to learn, memorize and evolve.
NEWS
> Longines launches revolutionary ski-boot data chip at Sölden Once 2017 hits, the world of alpine skiing will be overwhelmed by exciting news that will mark the season and will be announced during the first stage of the FIS World Cup, which will take place in Sölden, Austria. Long story short, Longines, the luxury watch company from Switzerland, will be ready to share with the rest of the world some information regarding their new timekeeping and data handling technology for the sport. The Swiss company has been a major player in the alpine ski racing scene since 1933, surpassing challenges in the field of timekeeping and offering their highest level of expertise to measure a skier’s accomplishments. This year, Longines is prepared to exceed the limits of timekeeping by bringing new performance data to the field, in the hopes of boosting spectators’ experience and improving the overall understanding of the sport for all alpine skiing fans. What is the purpose of this technological innovation? Just like with any new piece of sports-related technology, the main aim is to
improve results. Such a trend has already been noticed in football, rugby and baseball. In this particular case, the approach is quite simiar. Longines’ new innovation is comprised of a chip that is supplied with a radar and motion sensors. The chip is attached to the skier’s boot and the sensors facilitate real-time and continuous measurement of an athlete’s speed. What is more, the sensors also enable the measurement of the acceleration and deceleration of the athlete’s speed, as well as the time it takes to reach 100 km/h and an analysis of the jumps. Who can see this data? Data is transmitted in the form of TV graphics and it can be seen by viewers at home, by those attending the competitions, and let’s not forget, by those who have most to gain from it – the athletes themselves. As a result of this new technological development, athletes will not only be able to keep track of their own progress, but through this instrument they can analyze it and constantly seek to improve.If you are wondering when will such a marvel of Long work hours erode a person’s mental and physical health, because it leaves less time to eat well and look after themselves properly.
> What is a Healthy Work Limit? The Australian National University, ANU for short, has discovered that people who work more than 39 hours a week risk damaging their health and increasing their chances of getting ill. The research reveals that people can lead a healthy life if they work roughly only 39 hours a week, instead of the 48-hour-week limit set internationally about 80 years ago. Lead researcher Dr. Huong Dinh from the ANU Research School of Population Health claims that:
Unfortunately, Dr. Dinh says that two in three Australians who work full-time, spend more than 40 hours a week at work, and that women work even longer hours if we take into consideration all the unpaid work they do at home. Dr. Dinh underlines the fact that the healthy work limit for women is 34 hours per week if their other commitments are taken into consideration. Comparatively, the healthy work limit for men is up to 47 hours a week. This is because men spend less time on domestic work than women. He also points out that although women are just as skilled as men, they have lower paid jobs and less autonomy than men, and that the time they spend on care and housework is mostly disregarded.
measurement be introduced in the world of sports, you don’t have to wait too long. This technological innovation in the area of timekeeping and data handling will be officially launched during the 2017 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in St. Moritz (SUI), for which Longines is the Official Partner and the Official Watch. Given the extra demands placed on women, it’s impossible for women to work long hours often expected by employers unless they compromise their health. The research was a part of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey and it used data from about 8,000 Australian adults. Co-research professor Lyndall Strazdins from the ANU Research School of Population Health said that Australia should start thinking about ways to resolve at least a part of the problems that affect work and home life balance. The professor claims that Australians need to change their attitudes towards work, and that men should be encouraged to “take time to care without penalty or prejudice.” What is more, she emphasizes the fact that Australians need to realize that working long hours does not necessarily mean doing a good job. MARCH 2016
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NEWS
> Individual Wellbeing at the Workplace Individual wellbeing is strongly connected to performance at the workplace. An increase in employees’ wellbeing can mean an increase in the efficiency of an organization. There are various factors that influence wellbeing at an individual level, as well as several key factors through which one can achieve an increase in wellbeing:
> The App that Could Save Lives and Battle Cancer The Garvan Insitute of Medical Research in collaboration with Vodafone Australia have developed a new mobile phone app, called DreamLab and that can possibly aid in finding the cure for cancer.
technology. The data includes noises from celestial sources, receiver electronics, TV stations, radar and satellites.
As the data is difficult to analyze, SETI does it digitally and increased computing power But how exactly does this app work? enables searches to cover greater frequency It is pretty simple and straightforward. While ranges. your phone is charging, it automatically downloads genetic sequencing profiles Folding@Home, created at Stanford provided by the Garvan Institute. These University, is another app that has used profiles are then processed using the similar models to gain and control power. smartphone’s CPU and sent back to the By borrowing processing power, this app institute to be used in cancer research. tries to search for groundbreaking cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer and Being quite the versatile tool, it allows the user infectious diseases like Ebola. to choose which type of cancer to support – breast, ovarian, prostate or pancreatic. Apart from these, HTC Power To Give What is more, the user can select how much and Charity Engine also perform similar mobile data the app uses every month. Even functions. Charity Engine employs though this information represents just a thousands of computers to split expensive small contribution, researchers hope that it computing jobs into thousands of smaller will help complete the bigger picture. pieces, each small enough for a PC to work on as a background task. Researchers compared the app to a supercomputer. Why? Because with Once each PC has finished its part of the 100,000 app installs, researchers would puzzle, it sends back the correct answer and be able to process data 3,000 times faster earns money for charity. than at present. With 5 million users, that number would increase to 150,000 times. John Mattick, Director of the Garvan Nevertheless, this is not the first time an app Institute, admitted that they need enormous “has harnessed dormant processor power for processing power and that “the future of philanthropic aims”. medical research, the future of healthcare is going to be about the use of data”. One other app, SETI@Home uses a similar method to capture data about extraterrestrial DreamLab researchers are nonetheless intelligence. The app uses radio telescopes to optimistic and believe that the trend for listen for narrow bandwidth radio signals passive altruistic computing will slowly, from space. Because such signals don’t but surely gain popularity and thus help occur naturally in our world, detecting them researchers in their quest to finding cures may provide evidence of extraterrestrial and truths, as the case may be. 8
MARCH 2016
A degree of autonomy in regards to how people do their job; Variety in the work employees undertake; A sense of doing something important, of achieving something at the workplace and through their work; Knowing what is expected, and receiving positive feedback; Positive interpersonal contact with other people, with managers, co-workers, customers etc. An organization which seeks its employees’ wellbeing needs to remember that many of these factors have one idea in common, and that is maintaining a good & open communication channel with all employees.
NEWS
> World’s First Integrated Strategy and Performance Audit Platform is Online! The KPI Institute is launching a dedicated online platform for its audit division, The Global Performance Audit Unit (GPA Unit). User-friendly and interactive, the GPAUnit.org is the go-to-place for making the most out of your initiatives to improve and mature the organizational performance management system! Explore the GPAUnit.org for a superior user experience and enjoy integrated features in five PRACTICE DOMAINS that cover key areas of an organizational performance management capability: SELF – ASSESSMENT SURVEYS That help you gain a clear perspective on performance maturity assessments PERFORMANCE AUDIT SERVICES Provided by GPA Unit experts to maximize the added value generated by performance management systems TRAINING & CERTIFICATIONS For auditing the maturity of performance management systems and being recognized as Certified Performance Audit Professional & Practitioner CERTIFICATES OF RECOGNITION For audited organizations reflecting the achieved maturity level of their performance management system Don’t take our word for it, see what GPA Unit partners & customers have to say about: “Assessing our performance management capability by using the performance maturity
model framework provided to us, by the GPA Unit, with their detailed insights regarding our current maturity level has helped our organization to understand its gaps and build a roadmap for continuous improvement. It will most certainly allow us to review and discuss our progress, during the next few months, which we are sure will elevate our performance management system’s maturity from the current level to the next one.” Insights from Mr. Udoy Chatterjee, Chief Operating Officer – MEFIC Capital Learn more about the work performed by exploring some of our latest success stories from organizations assisted across the globe, such as: Nordea IT Group (Stockholm, Sweden); Financial Audit Unit, (Dubai Government, UAE), Tesena (Jakarta, Indonesia) or MEFIC Capital (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) About the GPA Unit The Global Performance Audit Unit (GPA Unit) is the audit division of The KPI Institute. Designed to empower professionals worldwide to achieve performance excellence, GPAUnit.org is the only online platform that supports the delivery of integrated performance maturity assessment services.
About The KPI Institute The KPI Institute is a research institute specialized in business performance. It operates research programs in 12 practice
At the GPA Unit, we strive to provide integrated performance audit solutions through rigorous research, education and diagnosis using the proprietary Performance Maturity Model Frameworks and a network of accredited partners for global knowledge dissemination .” Adrian Brudan, General Manager of the GPA Unit & The KPI Institute EMEA domains, ranging from strategy and KPIs to employee performance and from customer service to innovation performance. Insights are disseminated through a variety of publications, subscriptions services and through a knowledge platform available to registered members. Support in deploying these insights in practice is offered globally through training and advisory services. MARCH 2016
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INTERVIEWS
NEWS
NEW TOP 25 KPIS REPORTS SERIES – 2016 EXTENDED EDITION
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10 MARCH 2016
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16-18 May 2017
COVER EVENTS STORY
THE HOMELAND SECURITY BALANCED SCORECARD MARIA JUNCU
D management tool designed for organizations to manage their
r. Robert Kaplan and David Norton’s Balanced Scorecard is a
strategy. The scorecard offers a way to achieve a set series of objectives: I. Clarify and translate vision and strategy; II. Communicate and link strategic objectives and measures; III. Plan, set targets, and align strategic initiatives; IV. Enhance strategic feedback and learning.
Their balance scorecard was initially designed for businesses with a ”closed system”, but in time it has evolved from a set of measurement techniques, to a management system, and then to an organizational and change framework for a strategy-focused organization. Both Kaplan and Norton realized that public sector organizations would not necessarily be able to implement the BSCs specifically tailored for private companies. As the public sector mostly targeted public sector customers and taxpayers, and fiduciary outcomes, they suggested placing financial and customer perspectives at the top of the framework in a co-equal status, 12 MARCH 2016
followed by the internal and then the learning and growth perspectives. In the case of homeland security, the main question was: “How can an improved perspective for a public-sector scorecard more fully integrate roles, responsibilities, and contributions for strategy implementation?” This is an important question, as homeland security strategy implementation requires both individual independent effort as well as the interdependent actions of other mission delivery partners. Starting from the already existing private sector and public sector scorecards, one has to take into consideration an extended enterprise scorecard, which measures both independent and/or interdependent actions, and that can look at an institution from five perspectives: 1. Public stewardship; 2. Clientele impact; 3. Day-to-day processes; 4. Human capital support; 5. Enabling support. The next question is how to use these five perspectives for homeland security. What could be the homeland security’s scorecard objectives or cause and effect relationships, to implement the strategy across these five perspectives? There are a few sources of information available to
COVER STORY
develop the Extended Enterprise Homeland Security Scorecard. The first source of information is the content of the 2002 and 2007 National Strategy for Homeland Security. Both the 2002 and 2007 national strategies defined homeland security in terms of preventing or mitigating terrorist attacks, minimizing attack damage, and recovering from attacks. The 2002 one further stated that the goals of prevention included deterring potential terrorists, detecting terrorists, preventing them and their weapons from entry and eliminating the threats they pose. These goals were analyzed and implemented through six mission areas, including domestic counterterrorism, catastrophic threat defense, and emergency preparedness and response. In addition, the 2002 strategy posed initiatives for four foundational areas – law, science and technology, information sharing and systems, and international cooperation – that covered all of the six mission areas. The 2007 strategy added a fourth goal, that of continuing to strengthen the foundation to ensure long-term success by creating and transforming homeland security principles, systems, structures, and institutions. Both national strategies include specific initiatives and activities. For example, one 2002 national strategy initiative for border and transportation security is to create smart borders. The activities for this initiative include screening and verifying the security of goods and identities of people, improving the quality of travel documents and their issuance, assisting other countries to improve their border controls, and improving administration of immigration laws. All the initiatives and activities can be sources of very important objectives that address the five perspectives and their respective topics for an extended enterprise public sector scorecard. The main tools for building a homeland security balanced scorecard are the various policy and operational documents developed to implement the Homeland Security Presidential Directive – HSPD. In 2007, the Department of Homeland Security replaced the interim Goal with the National Preparedness Guidelines. The Guidelines claim that the capability elements define what resources are needed to perform critical tasks to the specified levels of performance. These elements include the following: Personnel: staff who meet relevant qualification and certification standards;
Planning: collection and analysis of intelligence and information, and development of policies, plans, procedures, mutual aid agreements, strategies, and other publications necessary to perform assigned missions and tasks; Organization and Leadership: individual teams, an overall organizational structure, and leadership at each level in the structure necessary to perform assigned missions and tasks; Equipment and Systems: items of equipment, supplies, facilities, and systems that comply with relevant standards necessary to perform assigned missions and tasks; Training: content and methods of delivery that comply with relevant training standards necessary to perform assigned missions and tasks; Exercises, Evaluations Corrective Actions.
and
These capabilities can be seen as possible drivers for future performance-related variables in the extended enterprise scorecard – the day-to-day processes & enabling and developing human capital support. No matter if the national strategies or the guidelines and capabilities are used separately or in relation to each other, building a scorecard can help identify gaps and duplicates in their contents. Future research still needs to be done to gather the necessary information about the application of the Balanced Scorecard for homeland security strategy implementation. Nonetheless, the work that has been done until now is proving to be quite comprehensive. A testament to this is the fact that all of the aforementioned strategies, guidelines and capabilities also include the following organizational ingredients that seek to maximize the implementation of the BSC in a public sector institution/agency: A. Consensus on strategy and key performance expectations and requirements; B. Top leadership direction; C. Integrating the plan and related balanced scorecard into investment decisions; D. Making strategy a component of every day jobs and operations; E. Ensuring strategy development and implementation is a continuous process. MARCH 2016 13
INTERVIEWS
EVENTS INTERVIEWS
Bård Kuvaas Professor - Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour, BI Norwegian School of Management I find that the past traditional Performance Management has not had any particular relevance, except perhaps for providing weak justifications for poor administrative decisions
Associate Professor of Science Management, Warwick Business School Performance Management’s strength is that it can liberate organizations, unlike its altered version, performance managerialism, which only constrains them.
Randa Hariri
Bart Geeraerts
Director of Strategic-Operational Planning & Performance Evaluation Department/Assistant Professor, Dar Al-Hekma University
Management Consultant and Performance Management Reporting & Projects Expert, Degroof Petercam
Any aspects which do not mean much to the employees and are used solely for their judgement value, not for improvement purposes, lose their relevance in any performance management system.
Francesco Consolati Advisory Business Solution Manager - Risk, Fraud and Performance Management, SAS The traditional approach to performance measurement is losing its impact from a strategic point of view, whilst it remains relevant for employee performance measurements and general performance evaluations.
14 MARCH 2016
Martin Kunc
I expect detailed analytical business demands to rise. For a Performance Management practitioner, in order to respond to an increasing number of challenges, this is a sine qua non.
INTERVIEWS
The main challenges of Performance Management in practice are due to the fact that the process is time consuming and that people haven’t focused enough on the development of performance.
Academic Bård Kuvaas Professor - Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour, BI Norwegian School of Management In 2017, the Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Bård Kuvaas, Professor in the Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour at the BI Norwegian School of Management, Norway. His thoughts and views on Performance Management are detailed below. Which were the 2016 key trends in Performance Management, from your point of view? Last year’s key trends in Performance Management were centered around the adoption of a less (forced) ranking process, the acceptance of a less formal setting and the increase in feedback episodes. What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at the organizational, departmental and employee level? I would prefer not to answer this question as I do not have any particular thoughts on this matter. Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future? I hope that some of the major changes in managing performance in the future will include: less predefined feedback sessions, feedback based on individual employee’s needs, less SMART goals and more purpose oriented goals, as well as more forward oriented performance discussions.
What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research? I would like researchers to pay more attention to and to spend more time researching the possible alternatives to the traditional Performance Management of today. Which organizations would you recommend to be looked at, due to their particular approach to managing performance, and their subsequent results? I believe that the Southwest Airlines should be more closely analyzed, because of their many results in the field of Performance Management, and because of the fact that most of these results are a ‘reaction’ to the particular approach they have adopted. Which of the existing trends, topics or particular aspects within Performance Management have lost their relevance and/ or importance, from your point of view? I find that the past traditional Performance Management has not had any particular relevance, except perhaps for providing weak justifications for poor administrative decisions (e.g. for pay, promotion etc). Which are the main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today? The main challenges of Performance Management in practice are due to the fact that the process is time consuming and that people haven’t focused enough on the development of performance. One other challenge I would like to mention is the conflict of interest between the administrative and developmental purpose. What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes?
I think that there are many things that need to be improved. A way to start would be to ask line managers and employees how useful they think the existing Performance Management system is in developing employee performance through surveys or focus groups. What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management? Some best practices in Performance Management can result from less predefined feedback sessions, feedback based on individual employee’s needs with respect to timing and constructive feedback, less SMART goals and more purpose oriented goals, as well as more forward oriented performance discussions. Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs? The aspects of Performance Management that need to be emphasized during educational programs are those aspects that are based on empirical research, rather than the typical normative aspects that don’t take basic research on employee motivation into account. What are the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management? Some practitioners might not be able to achieve higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management because of their uncritical copying of other organizations, and their lack of basic knowledge about organizational behavior and human (work) psychology. MARCH 2016 15
INTERVIEWS
The main challenge today is to have a balanced approach to performance management and to avoid falling into “performance managerialism.
Academic Martin Kunc Associate Professor of Science Management, Warwick Business School In 2017, the Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Martin Kunc, Associate Professor of Management Science at the Warwick Business School, United Kingdom. His thoughts and views on Performance Management are detailed below. Which were the 2016 key trends in Performance Management, from your point of view? Analytics has become an important aspect in the discussion of performance management as a tool to design performance management systems and as a decision support system for performance management. The amount of data that these provide offer an organization’s leaders the opportunity to find every pain point, every weakness and also garner enough information to build a remedy. What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at the organizational, departmental and employee level? Performance management is still a predominant aspect at the organizational, departmental and employee level, and it has proven to have quite an impact. Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future? Managing performance will become more sophisticated with the introduction of multiple dimensions based on the rise of analytics and data. However, the cognitive 16 MARCH 2016
aspect of managing performance is still years away of being fully understood. What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research? The predominant aspect that should be explored more is the integration of cognitive dimensions in performance management, especially the impact of complexity on managers’ cognitive abilities to fully utilize performance management. Which organizations would you recommend to be looked at, due to their particular approach to managing performance, and their subsequent results? I believe that Google should be more closely looked at, taking into account its many results in the field of performance management, as well as its approach to it. Which of the existing trends, topics or particular aspects within Performance Management have lost their relevance and/ or importance, from your point of view? I have noticed that financial performance has completely lost its relevance due to the stronger impact of the stock market performance. Which are the main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today? Which are the main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today? What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes? I think that the integration of soft variables needs to be improved substantially and that there should be less reliance on hard transactional data.
Educational programs should place more emphasis on performance management with a multi-dimensional focus, incorporation of analytics, the understanding of soft variables and the use of systems thinking. What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management? One best practice is reflected in the fact that we can use performance management to liberate the potential existing in organizations, rather than using it to constrain organizations, which would be performance managerialism. Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs? Educational programs should place more emphasis on performance management with a multi-dimensional focus, incorporation of analytics, the understanding of soft variables and the use of systems thinking. My book - Kunc, 2008 Management Decision paper stands as a reference point, for anyone that is curious.
INTERVIEWS
Performance management has to undertake a paradigm shift from adopting a judgment and accountability approach, to following an improvement and enhancement approach.
What are the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management? Some of the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in performance management are narrow mindedness, reliance on financial and transactional data, and spreadsheet modelling. Narrow mindedness prevents them from broadening their horizons and working with different types of people; reliance on financial and transactional data limits their information coverage; and spreadsheets can be misread. What is your opinion on the emerging trend of measuring performance outside working hours? This is very bad from a privacy perspective and it will reduce productivity inside working hours, because feeling under constant pressure to perform will decrease employees’ productivity, and it will make them feel that they are losing their privacy. What personal performance measurement tools do you use? This is a private matter and I feel that it should be the same for everyone. We are developing a database of subjects/ degrees in Performance Management. What are your suggestions relevant to the database (i.e. subjects/degrees such as the Master’s in Managing Organizational Performance)? I would like to suggest a Master in Business Analytics or related degrees. For example, the Warwick Business School has undergraduate courses in international management and management, a doctoral programme in Business Administration and a post-grad degree in Business Analytics.
Academic Randa Hariri Director of Strategic-Operational Planning & Performance Evaluation Department/Assistant Professor, Dar Al-Hekma University In 2017, the Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Randa Hariri, Director of Strategic-Operational Planning & Performance Evaluation Department/ Assistant Professor at the Dar Al-Hekma University, Saudi Arabia. Her thoughts and views on Performance Management are detailed below. Which were the 2016 key trends in Performance Management, from your point of view? Performance management differs from one industry to another. From my position as an academic consultant, I view the performance management system as a holistic process that should make wise use of the interrelated collected data, as well as praise the engagement of all employees through encouraging selfevaluation processes, by producing portfolios that document everyone’s work and reveal their progress. In this portfolio, employees are encouraged to include all data that measures their performance; accordingly, the employee is encouraged to develop or select the KPIs that best measure their performance and contribute to the achievements of their own objectives that strictly align with their respective departmental and institutional objectives and missions. In this way, the KPIs would be more relevant and acquire more than judgmental meaning to the employees.
What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at the organizational, departmental and employee levels? The integration of Performance Management at the organizational, departmental and employee level is highly necessary and highly recommended. This integration is highly related to the intended alignment along the various levels and thus best ensures the achievement of the objectives at the different levels. Most importantly, this integration provides the employees an ownership of the objectives at all levels and enhances their contribution to their achievement. Alongside with the performance management integration at all levels, comes the importance of educated or informed decisions that must be data-driven. Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future? The major changes in managing performance in the future should focus more on the employees’ wellbeing, mainly their motivation and professional development. Accordingly, this entails more focus not only on the outcomes or results, but rather on the employees’ behaviors. This aligns with the holistic approach to performance management, which recommends more work engagement for the employees that starts with the development of the objectives at all levels, as well as with the evaluation of their performance. Performance management has to undertake a paradigm shift from adopting a judgment and accountability approach, to following an improvement and enhancement approach. This paradigm shift in the approach renders the employee more responsible for their work and for their own personal achievement, MARCH 2016
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INTERVIEWS
We need to create and enforce accountability in our business and educational leaders for developing further the strengths of employees and educators.
as well as the achievement of the whole organization. Nevertheless, this does not entail that employees should ignore data completely, but recommends making wise use of the data that they need to seek or collect. This renders the employees of any organization to be the data owners, the data collectors, and most importantly the data analyzers of their work in relation to their own objectives, the departmental objectives, as well as the organizational objectives. This emphasizes the importance of engaging employees in the evaluation process and most significantly, focusing on their engagement in relation to the achievements they have to work towards. This in-depth engagement constitutes an intrinsic reason to succeed for an employee, which is way more effective than the existing external motivations such as, but not limited to, incentives of all kinds. What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research? There are always new topics to be researched and explored in performance management. One of the main ones that have not been researched could be: How could performance management be related to leadership practices? What KPIs can best measure the BOT performance? Which organizations would you recommend to be looked at, due to their particular approach to managing performance, and their subsequent results? Ultimately, educational institutions are unique and cannot be included within the business organizational frame. In light of 18 MARCH 2016
this, the performance management system in these institutions must be reconsidered and a special performance management system for this sector must be developed accordingly. This is significantly obvious through the specificity of the clients, although this term is not favored by educators, that educational institutions deal with, who are the students: the students who are the starting point of any educational institution and their end product. In addition, educational institutions have another kind of specificity related to their employees. Schools, colleges and universities have special treatments to teachers or faculty members on the one hand, and to other staff members on the other hand. Which of the existing trends, topics or particular aspects within Performance Management have lost their relevance and/ or importance, from your point of view? I think that any aspects which do not mean much to the employees and are used solely for their judgement value, not for improvement purposes, lose their relevance in any performance management system. The more performance management aspects are used for improvement purposes, the more relevant they get. Which are main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today? The main challenges of a Performance Management System, in practice in the past and today, are still almost the same. These challenges are manifested in the selection or development of appropriate KPIs that best measure the respective objectives. What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes?
I think that every Performance Management System has to be linked to an evidence and feedback subsystem that documents achievements, in addition to the factors that contributed negatively or positively to achieving those respective achievements. This would be a vital element in the paradigm shift towards the improvement or development of performance management. What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management? The alignment along the different levels: institutional, divisional, departmental and employee levels. In addition, the measurement used through specific KPIs, which can lead to informed decisions based on data. Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs? From my perspective & experience as an educator in higher education institution, I believe more emphasis should be put on or even a special section could be designed about educational institutions and the management systems that can best be employed in these institutions. Such a topic must be included in the educational programs about management systems. This emphasis is worth being considered due to the importance of the education sector, its size, and role in today’s societies. What are the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management? There are always limits for every functional system whose effects vary from low levels of influence to high levels. Nevertheless, the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in
INTERVIEWS
The main challenges of a Performance Management System are still almost the same: selecting and developing appropriate KPIs, for each of the measured objectives.
Performance Management focus on the following: Sharing data among practitioners in the same field, which influences benchmarking purposes. Focusing on the outputs rather than the outcomes The restricted ability of the performance management systems to evaluate creativity; Communicating data Integrating data from different systems; What is your opinion on the emerging trend of measuring performance outside working hours? I totally disagree with this emerging trend. The employee is a human being whose nature we need to respect, as well as respond to his needs and abilities. On the contrary, I am an advocate of closing emails after working hours to give employees time to relax and resume their work more efficiently and effectively the next. What personal performance measurement tools do you use? Actually, due to the specificity of educational institutions that I emphasized earlier, we developed a system in our university, customized to best document and monitor the progress of the achievements of all objectives and their respective KPIs, including the detailed action plans. Connected to this system are scorecards, dashboards and databases, which are developed and maintained at the
departmental, divisional and institutional levels, to measure our KPIs. Interestingly, we succeeded in transforming these scorecards into self-evaluation tools that are used by each respective manager at the departmental, divisional, and institutional levels to monitor their progress and document their achievements. These altogether provide us with precise information of where we are & where do we want to be. In addition, this tool allows us to identify the challenges that we are facing towards attaining any target and thus achieving any objective. We are developing a database of subjects/ degrees in Performance Management. What are your suggestions relevant to the database (i.e. subjects/degrees such as the Masters in Managing Organizational Performance)? I would much like to see you developing oneyear diplomas or certificates with focused content on performance managementrelated topics. What are the processes and tools you look at, in order to differentiate a successful performance management system, from a superficial one? In regards to educational institutions, which are my main focus, I look at whether that institution’s system has tools or instruments that are well customized for it, taking into considerations the specificity of such an institution at all levels. Such an instrument could be a Management System that incorporates one’s portfolio of achievements as a self-evaluation tool, which is integrated into the grand design of the whole institution. Which were the recent achievements in generating value from performance management in your organization? We have changed the way our scorecards
work. From simply displaying data to a user and nothing else, we’ve redesigned and improve them, turning them into selfevaluation tools, which can showcase strong points, weaknesses and also give the user the ability to share achievements.
I think that every Performance Management System has to be linked to an evidence and feedback subsystem that documents achievements, in addition to the factors that contributed negatively or positively to achieving those respective achievements.
MARCH 2016 19
INTERVIEWS
I think that measuring performance outside working hours can be useful to develop particular skills, but I also feel that this has to do more with the mindset than the actual measurements.
Consultant Bart Geeraerts Management Consultant and Performance Management Reporting & Projects Expert, Degroof Petercam In 2017, the Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Bart Geeraerts, Management Consultant and Performance Management Reporting & Projects Expert at Degroof Petercam, Belgium. His thoughts and views on Performance Management are detailed below. Which were the 2016 key trends in Performance Management, from your point of view? In 2016 I noticed a growing interest in an integrated management information system that allows the user to easily drill down data into great details. Especially in dynamic industries with complex business models and corporate structures, reporting and explaining even the most obvious performance measures effectively requires a well-conceived integrated management information system. What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at organizational, departmental and employee level? While cascading Performance Management throughout the various levels of an organization may seem evident, it is a delicate exercise when the employee level is involved. Unless employee goals are very straightforward (i.e. where performance management can be cascaded down), a great deal of ambiguity may be involved when 20 MARCH 2016
assessing employee performance. In that case, depending on the context, I believe that a focus on employee satisfaction rather than control is key.
performance appraisal, as it can lead to an increase in unhealthy competition between employees, which in the long term can affect their overall performance.
Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future? As the amount of available data grows, I expect detailed analytical business demands to rise as well. For a Performance Management practitioner, in order to respond to an increasing number of challenging questions effectively, a detailed integrated management information system is a sine qua non.
Which are main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today? I think that at the organizational level, one of the main challenges of Performance Management is generating structured information out of an enormous amount of data.
What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research? Many companies seem reluctant to allow employees to work from home. However, in my opinion, there are several reasons to believe that, in certain situations, it could lead to improved performance. That is why I believe that this aspect should be more closely analyzed. Which organizations would you recommend to be looked at, due to their particular approach to managing performance, and their subsequent results? I think it is worth taking a look at any company which has succeeded in both developing & implementing a valueadding management information system and in offering consultancy regarding the inner workings of said system, to other organizations who might wish to adopt it. Which of the existing trends, topics or particular aspects within Performance Management have lost their relevance and/ or importance, from your point of view? At the employee level I expect more and more companies to step away from the annual
What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes? All related performance management tools and processes used for reporting within an organization, across departments, should be based on the same centralized data source. Moreover, the distribution of reports should be managed by a centralized department ensuring consistency is always first and foremost. This will ultimately lead to an increased credibility of the reported figures. What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management? Banking on my previous answer, considerable attention should be given to an integrated approach both from a conceptual and technological/architectural point of view. This will ensure the credibility and sustainability of the solution and process. Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs? Educational programs should place more emphasis on two important aspects of Performance Management: 1. Defining the right performance measures, as wrong measures may lead to dysfunctional behavior,
INTERVIEWS
I think that one aspect, which is often overlooked, is the use of analytics engines which offer effective support to one’s business strategies.
ultimately causing sub-optimal results; and 2. Providing integrated, transparent and easy to use performance management reporting tools. What are the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management? Some practitioners cannot achieve higher levels of proficiency because of their own resistance to change, which can often lead to the fragmentation of performance management reporting processes. Apart from this, I also believe that the level of technological acumen, or lack thereof better said, can represent another obstacle that can greatly hinder their development. What is your opinion on the emerging trend of measuring performance outside working hours? I think that measuring performance outside working hours can be useful to develop particular skills (e.g. sports, hobbies) more effectively. Today, a lot of tools and apps that facilitate all kinds of performance measurements are available. I believe, however, that it is more about the mindset than the actual measurements. What personal performance measurement tools do you use? I mainly use spreadsheets for personal purposes, and apart from that, nothing else. What are the processes and tools you look at, in order to differentiate a successful performance management system, from a superficial one? The time required to generate periodic performance management reports, which highly depends on the level of automation. Manual reporting processes are generally less accurate and imply a higher risk of errors, so that would be the main thing I’d take a close took at.
Consultant Francesco Consolati Advisory Business Solution Manager - Risk, Fraud and Performance Management, SAS In 2017, the Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Francesco Consolati, Advisory Business Solution Manager - Risk, Fraud and Performance Management at SAS, Italy. His thoughts and views on Performance Management are detailed below. Which were the 2016 key trends in Performance Management, from your point of view? The top trend I see, for Performance Management as a discipline, is moving from traditional KPI measurement to effectively supporting management decisions. In the past, there was a lot of discussion regarding the differences between performance measurement and management but now it is time for all organizations, regardless of size, to adapt to market changes, which means fully utilizing both of the aforementioned aspects. What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at organizational, departmental and employee level? Usage of Performance Management as an effective support strategy system depends on how pervasive it is within the organization. One of the key factors is to spread the usage of Performance Management at the employee level. Of course, contrary to the organizational level, KPI definition and measurement will be very different at the employee level, where it makes more sense
to talk about monitoring simple Performance Indicators. Nonetheless, these PIs will have to be in line with the organizational strategy and general KPI framework. Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future? Major changes will be the increasing use of analytics to effectively manage performance. Currently, the evolution of Business Analytics, as developed by vendors like SAS, provides the ability to move analytics from statisticians to business people, so it becomes easier to do the following: Analyze correlations between business variables and external factors (ex: volume of sales depends on prices and sales effectiveness, but also on the GDP rate) Manage accurate forecasts to anticipate trends and support budget target definition What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research? In my opinion, the integration of analytics in the daily activities of any organization boasting a Performance Management System should be a high priority objective. As such, one activity that can be explored through further research is how to fully integrate analytics into the day-to-day activities of an organizational entity. Which organizations would you recommend to be looked at, due to their particular approach to managing performance, and their subsequent results? The best in class organizations have set up dedicated departments, such as those for Data Office and Data Governance. On top of this, assigning a CDO further helps an MARCH 2016 21
INTERVIEWS
In my opinion, the integration of analytics in the daily activities of any organization boasting a Performance Management System should be a high priority objective.
organization to have an integrated source of information for managers and other department leaders & members. Which of the existing trends, topics or particular aspects within Performance Management have lost their relevance and/ or importance, from your point of view? The traditional approach to performance measurement is losing its impact from a strategic point of view, whilst it remains relevant for employee performance measurements and general performance evaluations. Which are main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today? I would say the main challenges are related to data availability and data quality. In addition to this, including additional sources of data like social and web data can add value to performance management systems, but also complicate things, so if you do embark on this journey, you must be fully aware of the challenges that lie ahead with all the new data you will be receiving. What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes? Adopting a Big Data approach can add value to performance management, because it will provide you the ability to analyze company figures, including additional information like the ones mentioned before, web and social platform data, as well as ratings from customers and other data that will allow you to analyze the impact of your strategic actions on numerous variables, not just financial figures. What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management? 22 MARCH 2016
In my opinion, a best practice could be the hiring a Chief Data Officer, who will be responsible for providing data for the CFO, CRO, CSO, CMO and so on. The Chief Data Officer should be different from the CIO, his main objective being to act as a data provider and to offer accurate information based on internal and external data. Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs? I think that one aspect, which is often overlooked, is the use of analytics engines which offer effective support to one’s business strategies. The evolution of analytics engine in terms of democratization (possibility to be used by everyone without statistical competences), like the ones provided by SAS, is something that can prove to be very helpful in this regard. What are the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management? Usually, the limits are mainly related to data silos approaches and to practitioners chiefly focusing only on the reporting side without any insights and/or analytics usage. Reporting is very lackluster if done without any sort of data back up and I see many professionals falling into this trap, just to provide a quick report. Time is money, indeed, but accurate information is by extent, even more money in the mid-tolong run. What are the processes and tools you look at, in order to differentiate a successful performance management system, from a superficial one? My main points of analysis would be, as said before:
Are these tools and processes used to build an innovative approach to data? Do these instruments integrate/federate or decentralize data? Do they eliminate data silos or use external data, coming from social media platforms?
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MARCH 2016 23
PORTRAIT EVENTS
SOPHIA
THOMAIDOU Communication - the link between employee and business performance ANDREI COSTEA
M Performance Management only after they have any professionals stumble upon the field of
already been through the trials and tribulations of various other business-related fields. But Sophia Thomaidou’s story started right up the path of this specific field, as she found that HR and Employee Performance Management were her true calling. Boasting 20 years of experience in Human Resources, Sophia’s professional career has for the most part been a tale of measuring human performance and how to best improve it, having started with her studies in Sociology and continuing with her Master’s Degree in Human Resources Management. Since Employee Performance Management or EPM for short, is an integral part of the HR strategy of most organizations, it was only natural that Sophia’s first roles offered her the chance to design, adapt and implement EPM Systems in a plenitude of organizations, ensuring that these were aligned with those entities’ Performance Management Systems at the organizational level. Her very first professional position gave her the opportunity to see how the theoretical aspects of Human Resources can be applied into actual practice, in the business world, which gave her a solid foundation on which she could build her would-be career. 24 MARCH 2016
“Communication is the most crucial element in ensuring buy in from employees for the Performance Management System.”
PORTRAIT
Performance Management is one of the backbones of an organization. It is the tool that allows the organization to measure its effectiveness and attainment of goals. It is the vehicle through which all functions and human capital will be steered towards the same direction in order to achieve common goals.
Another memorable event was when a Fortune 500 US-based consumer organization hired her, effectively catapulting Sophia into the world of robust, data-driven Performance Management Processes, where she received firsthand experience regarding how such processes were designed, for what end and what results were expected of them at the organizational and employee level. These roles were the first of many directorial positions that she held, in a wide range of industries, across several sectors, featuring a diverse array of profiles. Nowadays, she leads the Organizational Development Sector in a HR Consulting firm and has been with the company for the past 5 years, designing, developing and implementing initiatives & programs that increase employee engagement and support organizations in their journey of maximizing their human capital potential. But along her path, Sophia was not alone. She always kept to heart the teachings of a few individuals who through their writings, have proven to be the inspiration she needs to further hone her skills. Ken Blanchard, Tony Robbins and Daniel Goleman have all taught her what true tenacity, agility, determination and strength of character means, and through their lessons, Sophia has understood that in today’s world, there is an impressive amount of diversity when it comes to human characters and archetypes, as well as an equally impressive number of ways to communicate with each and every
one, whilst discerning with great precision what makes them tick. As such, she sees Performance Management with its numerous subfields, specifically Employee Performance Management, as being intertwined with HR and everything there is about what we know as human capital.
Performance, Employees and Communication For Sophia, PM represents the vehicle that aligns organizational performance with strategy and tracks how close an organization is to its strategy. At the employee level, it is both an instrument which allows calibration between the different objectives that employees need to achieve, in order to attain certain strategic goals, as well as a tool that provides a medium of transparency and communication between employee and employer.
organizational performance, increased employee retention and engagement, improved productivity and a much more efficient management of costs. Moving on, PM also aids the Manager, as it helps him reduce conflicts within a team, enhances the overall communication level between him & his fellow employees, whilst ensuring that transparency and consistency are always on his mind. Lastly, although many individuals believe that Employees are generally the oppressed category when it comes to performance measurement & management, Sophia disagrees and states that PM helps clarify where an employee should focus in order to further contribute to the organizational strategy; at the same time, it gives him the chance the assess his own performance and presents him with the utmost valuable of opportunities – defining his career path, which in turn prompts higher levels of job satisfaction as a result.
When asked what benefits would there possibly be in using anything relating to Performance Management, our HR professional answered that an effective performance management system acts as a means of contributing to the attainment of the organizational strategy, by monitoring performance at all levels within the organization. So what this essentially means is that there are benefits for all three parts of the holy trinity of business: the organization, the manager and the employee.
So by virtue of the relationship between the elements of this holy trinity of business, we can see how Performance Management quickly becomes the vehicle through which all functions and human capital will be steered towards achieving a common goal, acting as an organization’s backbone, powering it to new heights.
What Performance Management brings to the Organization is improved
But with great power come great challenges and this field of expertise certainly does MARCH 2016 25
PORTRAIT
not lack those. Sophia mentions how PM can quickly become deprecated if the individuals designing and implementing it do not understand what their contribution to the overall organizational strategy & vision should be. Furthermore, this vehicle of transformation needs a rigorous and consistent degree of continuous implementation; one cannot simply lay down the building blocks and then expect the system to build itself. In addition to these, one of Performance Management’s biggest requirements, if not the biggest one of all, is to get the buyin from the various stakeholder groups within the company. The stakeholder groups ARE the company and if they do not believe in measuring & managing performance, nothing will ever come of it. Thus we can see how difficult the task of a professional working in this line of expertise is, on an everyday basis, given that you have to balance out your own understanding of the system, its implementation and everyone else’s understanding of it. In Sophia’s words, “communication is the most crucial element in ensuring you get the buy-in from employees, for the Performance Management System. It is imperative to have a consistent & robust communication program about the many benefits of this system, and link to other HR systems, in order to increase awareness and engagement among your employees”. Without communication, everything falls like a castle of cards.
Simplicity, improvements and commitment Given that implementing a PM System seems to be quite the monumental task, at times, and add to that the fact that it can all come tumbling down, one has to ask himself: what could be improved or done better, so as to prevent this? Sophia is of the opinion that the answer’s easier than we’d expect: simplify the tools of the trade. As she put it, one of the most important areas that could use some work concerns the use of PM tools and processes, namely their simplicity. 26 MARCH 2016
Currently, most such systems are proving to be quite cumbersome to the internal users of an organization, which can oftentimes act as a deterrent to continue using it. PM needs automation, it needs software and IT so as to remain relevant for today’s ever-changing population. Professionals, practitioners, consultants and researchers alike must look to develop solutions that are user-friendly, do not require a significant amount of time investment and can be seamlessly integrated into other online platforms. This will give the field an air of novelty and replenish its vitality. Even the most disheartened and disbelieving stakeholders would be turned around if they were constantly briefed and kept in the loop about all of the new developments going on in the field, as this would showcase Performance Management’s greatest strength: its undeniable & astounding degree of malleability and adaptation, which would convince even the wariest user that there is way more to come, down the road. Such a feat can be done by any organization - it only needs commitment, and as far as Sophia sees it, the best organization to do it is one where its members: Understand the Vision & Strategy of the organization and what needs to be done, on their part, in order to achieve it Know how to align their Team’s and their own Personal goals with the overall organizational strategy Are responsible for and mindful of their own performance Solicit feedback from both internal and external peers very frequently & incorporate this feedback to better align their actions with the organization’s goals Understand the value of Performance Management as a tool and are relentlessly committed & dedicated to it and its uses
An effective Performance Management System has the power to transform vision into tangible results and align efforts at all of the organization’s levels. Milestones and understanding Individual Performance Management Our interviewed HR specialist continued her point, mentioning that from her point of view, one of the greatest achievements of an organization as the one aforementioned would be to generate value from attaining the highest possible degree of alignment between business strategy and business achievements. As she put it, ”an effective Performance Management System has the power to transform vision into tangible results and align efforts at all of the organization’s levels”. But one might get caught up in the grand scheme of things and forget what the true purposes of it all is. Although every single
PORTRAIT
to achieve results through the maximization of its human capital. Therefore, in order to make the best use of all HR components, we need to always maintain a robust IPM system, which provides our employees with the highest quality information and open communication channels, that facilitate feedback and continuous improvement. The importance of these last two elements cannot be stressed enough – by having good communication and all the information they need, employees will be more open towards IPM and Performance Management in general. Keeping people in the dark is never a good idea, bringing information to light is what gives them trust and confidence.
Work and life: a balancing act If we take into consideration the tremendous amount of work that has to be put in, by both employer and employee, when it comes to designing the optimal way of executing their jobs, we might tend to forget what it is all for, namely growing as individuals. Surely, PM systems are designed to provide us with a detailed overview of everything that is happening inside an organization, but we mustn’t forget the reason one wants to implement such a system in the first place, which is offering employees a chance to better themselves, to improve at whatever their job requires them to do, to climb the ranks and advance both the company’s and their goals. element within PM is important, from the operational and organizational ones, to strategy and employee management, Sophia reminds us that this last element, in her eyes, stands out as the most important one. Without people, there is nothing but an empty room, filled with paperwork. Individual Performance Management must never be overlooked, as it lies at the heart of any HR Suite System, feeding information to every other HR System component, like talent management, succession management, individual assessments, compensation & benefits and so forth. An effective HR strategy is one that boasts an integrated approach of all the available tools and instruments, allowing an organization
This is why Sophia believes that an optimal work-life balance, from multiple perspectives – the employee’s, the employer’s or even the consultant helping the former make use of PM tools and processes, has two major parts to it. First off, our personal performance. All three have to try their best to eliminate stress & seek maintain a state of wellbeing even in the face of adversity. One of the better ways to do this is by consistently looking out for ways to be more innovative. By focusing on innovation, one forces himself away from whatever is causing distress and angst, trying to center on finding new and exciting ways of completing his/her task, whatever that may be. Innovation begets energy, which
in turn is a major kickstarter for improving oneself both personally and professionally. Even if you do not manage to fully solve a task in a day’s work, that does not mean the sky’s falling. Go home, relax, take your mind off of whatever was troubling you and come in the next day refreshed. Learning to disconnect goes a long way and also helps one’s innovative thinking, as it pulls you out of the rut you were in and sets the mind on a completely different track, which might just bring to light a solution for your initial problem. Secondly, our professional performance. As far as this topic is concerned, Sophia does not believe in a magical, 1-size-fits-all solution, but she does argue that having clear accountabilities & goals, a great degree of transparency, openness and communication, and making effective use of technology & well-structured meetings paves the way for a much easier time at work. If we add to all of these elements a robust PM System, which can be more simple or complex according to a company’s needs, we find ourselves in a very straightforward, streamlined and uncomplicated environment, where everyone knows what everyone’s task & contribution to the overall project will be. This makes the work lives of all three aforementioned roles much, much easier. In the end, things may go awry anywhere, regardless of how well-made a system is, but as long as those designing and implementing it are fully aware of all the latest trends, information and knowledge available, they will have no issues in mending any issue that may arise. Performance Management is part art, part science, part human experience. One has to continually seek to enhance it, change it and adapt it, so that it suits the needs of those using its tools and processes. By proving its effectiveness, one can surely get the buy-in of all stakeholders, which only acts to strengthen the system. A trusted PM System quickly becomes the core element of any organization’s stride forward, as its members hold it to be the instrument of evolution that they had been looking for all along. Hard work, dedication and commitment always pay off and this has never been truer than with measuring & managing our performance. MARCH 2016 27
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WELCOME TO QUEENSLAND Where Performance Management Shines ANA LECHINTAN
A for a quarter century, while globally, Framework ustralia has been striving economically
economies were shaken and scarred by the financial crisis. For 25 years in a row the country has experienced no recession. How did Queensland, the second-largest Australian state, manage to avoid the universally despised two quarter negative GDP evolution? Did the minerals, metals and petroleum of the so called “Resource State” ensure its iron stability? Certainly.
However, the strategy of effectively capitalizing on these commodities in no “raw” resource does not come “natural”. It is a rough crystal, refined by a wellstructured, systematized process. And the “Queensland Government Performance Management Framework”, together with the “Financial and Performance Management Standard 2009” are links of steel within this process. The Great Barrier Reef, a living sapphire with an endless glitter of rainbow fish. A blue Skywalk through the green Tamborine Rainforests, enabling a whole new view of the world. Brisbane, a capital city with a capital culture... All these and many more are promised by the tourism slogan “Queensland, Where Australia Shines”. A further reason the Australian state should be renowned for is its “Government Performance Management Framework”, an exemplary structure for constant improvement at central and local government level. 28 MARCH 2016
Queensland’s Performance Management The Queensland Government Department of the Premier and Cabinet has published an entire section dedicated to performance management for government agencies on its official webpage. The pièce de résistance developed by the Department in collaboration with the Performance Unit, is “A Guide to the Queensland Government Performance Management Framework”. The purpose of the guide is to facilitate the process of measuring and monitoring results in the public sector by establishing clarity for planning, measuring and monitoring results and public reporting as tools for the continuous improvement of Queensland public agencies. The guide applies to all government departments and statutory bodies, requirement
which is legally imposed by the “Financial and Performance Management Standard 2009”, a national standard regulating the management of resources. The columns supporting the steel framework Queensland’s Performance Management Framework is built with the stated desire to attain: openness and transparency by defining clear roles; responsibilities and procedures; integrity through an impartial and ethical decision-making process; accountability by ensuring that all agencies adhere to the set standards and stand for the decisions they take; due care through efforts dedicated to avoiding harm by negligence; a high degree of public defensibility, which refers to a decision-making process based on fairness and equity in relation to the public.
Community Expectations / Scrutiny
Planning
Measuring and Monitoring Results
Public Reporting
The Commonwealth of Australia, A Guide to the Queensland Government Performance Management Framework, Available at: https://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/publications/categories/guides/perf-manage-framework.aspx
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Whole of government direction
Government objectives for the community
Agency business direction
Agency objectives
Agency service delivery
Government and external factors influence outcomes
Service Area
Service Area
Service Area
Service
Service
Service
Service
Service
Service
Service
Internal management controls outcomes
Service Service
The Commonwealth of Australia, A Guide to the Queensland Government Performance Management Framework, Available at: https://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/publications/categories/guides/perf-manage-framework.aspx
1. Planning, measuring and monitoring results, public reporting All the above attributes are to be achieved through these three basic components of Queensland’s Performance Management Framework: Planning, followed by Measuring and Monitoring Results, as well as Public Reporting. Each of these processes is applied and regulated at three levels: the whole-of-Government, specific Agencies (agency business direction as well as agency service delivery) and Individual. In the first case, planning is embodied through the government’s stated objectives for the community, the Charter of Fiscal Responsibility, the State Budget, as well as through specific plans for priorities and strategies. In setting the direction, the government relies on the requirements and the opinions of stakeholders, customers and the entire community. Furthermore, the whole-of-government direction is also guided by the promises made during the election campaign and agreements made with other entities. The fiscal policy and the
annual budget are other strong elements to be considered. Government agencies as well as individuals are to align themselves to the strategic, specific and operational objectives of the government. After the planning is conducted, throughout the year, government entities are required to measure and monitor their progress against the objectives set during the previous phase. The Department of the Premier and Cabinet is regularly monitoring and reporting on the performance of government entities, whereby agencies themselves are required to have their own systems of evaluating the degree to which they have reached their objectives. Recommended measures for that include trend analysis, variance analysis (comparing result differences from one period to another, from one agency to another and from target to actual) and benchmarking. As far as public reporting is concerned, the Auditor-General recommends a sincere and balanced performance information, which addresses the agencies’ key activities and
reports both on good and less favorable results. Furthermore, it should be stated whether the results are above or below the set targets, whereby the reasons for various occurrences should be also mentioned together with the planned actions to be taken in response to the results in question. Objectives, KPIs, Performance Targets In setting its direction, the government gathers information on the requirements and opinions of its stakeholders, customers and the community, formulates them as objectives and develops policies in order to facilitate reaching them. Government entity objectives are recommended to be: An expression of desired achievements; Focused on the end result and not on the means to achieve it; Be aligned with the government’s general objectives for the community as well as with the agency’s identity (vision, mission, purpose); MARCH 2016 29
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Measurable and verifiable provided that concrete results are expected; Informative and the agency should be able to exert influence on their achievement. The PMF also introduces KPIs, which have the role of indicating the extent to which the obtained outcomes are in line with the strategic objectives. Furthermore, each agency objective is required to have at least one KPI and, if possible, a set target. According to the Guide, KPIs are to be: Descriptive of a measurable change over the period of time when the strategic plan is applied;
Provide as much information as possible with regard to the reasons an objective has or has not been achieved. Recommendations are made with reference to the target setting process too, which is described as a reinforcement towards performance improvement. Their main aim is “to set a level of performance acceptable to government on behalf of the community within fiscal limits […] Targets are expressed as absolute numbers, a percentage, or a ratio”. Correctly set targets should be: Challenging but achievable without setting unrealistic standards, which would rather demotivate than stimulate achievement;
Relevant to the agency’s desired state and attributable, whereby accountability should be clearly defined;
Discussed with and known by staff within governmental agencies, individuals must be held accountable and feel ownership and responsibility;
The targets for the KPIs should be challenging but at the same time achievable by considering available resources;
Based on historical performance results and trends and must mind current policies and priorities, available resources and stakeholder demand.
30 MARCH 2016
The Performance Unit together with the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, offer government agencies paramount knowledge through the Guide to the Queensland Government Performance Management Framework. Furthermore, the website also publishes practical assisting documents containing, among others, common public sector terms used throughout the PMF, concrete examples of the concepts utilized within the document and best practice recommendations and templates. A Performance Management System brings clarity and focus, ensures that resources are allocated towards what matters the most and supports entities in their efforts to align resources, employees, tools and processes to the main strategy. Considering these aspects, “Queensland’s Government Performance Management Framework” should be viewed as an epitome of accountability, value creation, reliability, transparency and most important, respect for citizens, a government’s ultimate customers.
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THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA How to Effectively Reconcile Strategic Planning and Budgeting MARCELA PRESECAN
H effectiveness when it comes to government performance, strategic plans are mainly a and reporting tools that link strategy to budget: ow
would
you
define
operational
to engage in. In the context of government
structures? The National Treasury Department of the Republic of South Africa advocates a Framework for Strategic Plans and Annual Performance Plans that might just answer that question. One reason that makes this Framework particularly interesting is that it focuses on more than planning, implementation, reporting, monitoring and evaluation. The National Treasury Department’s Framework goes one step further to emphasize the need to link strategic planning to budgeting.
stratagem for budget execution. Although a strategic plan outlines the long-term goals and objectives of an organization, in the public sector such goals and objectives can easily turn into a mirage if not properly aligned to budget requirements. In an attempt to look into the best practices that reconcile long-term strategic planning and short-term focused budgets, the Framework suggested by the National Treasury Department of the Republic of South Africa clarifies the role and relationships of the main strategic planning and reporting tools used within the wider context of government performance excellence.
Why is it important that strategic planning and budgeting are linked? With governments and the public sector in general, it is particularly challenging to alleviate the tensions that come with tight budgets. That is why budgeting plays an important role in strategic planning for government entities. Linking strategic plans to budget ensures that the objectives set out are reasonable and expectations sensible. With the Republic of South Africa, in particular, connecting strategy to budget provides reassurance that development and progress are achieved in the context of limited resources.
What are the main strategic planning and reporting tools that link strategy to budget? The Framework designed by the National Treasury Department of the Republic of South
Africa identifies the following strategic planning
1. Strategic Plans A strategic plan establishes the long-term goals, objectives and priorities by minding the limitations of the resources available. It ideally covers a period of at least 5 years and it highlights the main service delivery areas of a governmental institution as constituted by its policies, programs and project plans. According to the National department of the Republic of South Africa, the strategic plan covers the following aspects related to strategy: Vision, Mission, Values Strategic Goals Strategic Objectives Budget Structures
Fig. 1: Strategic Plan - Excerpt Strategic objective
Increase access to HIV and AIDS programmes for individuals, families and society
Objective statement
To expand access to appropriate treatment packages, to 100% (45 000) of all people diagnosed with HIV and Aids in the province
Baseline
Number of infected people currently supported in province: 20 000
Justification
What is the relationship between strategic planning and budgeting?
This objective will contribute in decreasing the number of new infections, reducing morbidity and mortality amongst HIV affected persons and implementing care and support programmes for people living with HIV and AIDS
Links
This objective will contribute to improvement of the health status of the citizens of the country by ensuring access to HIV and Aids programmes
Strategic planning relates to the strategic path an organization, may it be public or private, decides
The Republic of South Africa, Framework for Strategic Plans and Annual Performance Plans, Available at: http://www.treasury.gov.za/publications/guidelines/SP%20APP%20Framework.pdf
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2. Annual Performance Plans The Annual Performance Plan assembles the performance indicators that were selected to monitor the achievement of the institution’s goals and objectives, as they were drafted in its Strategic
Plan. The Annual Performance Plan provides ultimate reconciliation of budgets and performance targets. Ideally, the Annual Performance Plans include performance targets for the following 1-year period. According to the National department of
the Republic of South Africa, the strategic plan covers the following aspects related to performance: Performance Indicators Baselines and Targets
Fig. 2: Annual Performance Plan - Excerpt Performance Indicator
Audited/Actual performance
Estimated performance
Medium-term targets
20XX
20XX
20XX
20XX
20XX
20XX
20XX
1.1 # Patients receiving ARVs
3,000
5,000
6,000
10,000
12,000
15,000
20,000
1.2 # New clients tested for HIV/AIDS
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
13,000
15,000
15,000
The Republic of South Africa, Framework for Strategic Plans and Annual Performance Plans, Available at: http://www.treasury.gov.za/publications/guidelines/SP%20APP%20Framework.pdf
Fig. 3: KPI Documentation Form - Example Indicator title
# Non-profit organizations (NPOs) funded by the government to deliver substance-abuse services
Short definition
The number of NPOs that deliver services for substance abuse, prevention and rehabilitation, funded by the government within the reporting period (i.e. the count excludes those that are not government funded)
Purpose/importance
Benchmarking enables the department to track how widely its funding of substance-abuse programmes is distributed within the NPO sector
Source/collection of data
Manual funding registers
Method of calculation
Simple count
Data limitations
Dependent on the accuracy of the registers
Type of indicator
Output
Calculation type
Non-cumulative
Reporting cycle
Annual
New indicator
No
Desired performance
Increase in the number of funded NPOs
Indicator responsibility
Programme officer
The Republic of South Africa, Framework for Strategic Plans and Annual Performance Plans, Available at: http://www.treasury.gov.za/publications/guidelines/SP%20APP%20Framework.pdf
What are some other strategic planning and reporting tools that link strategy to budget?
may include a performance-related incentive and reward system for managing an official’s job performance”.
1.Performance Reports: Provide information and progress updates on the implementation of the Annual Performance Plan. Performance Reports are released either annually for purposes of wither review or oversight and quarterly, so as to regularly monitor performance against quarterly targets.
3.End-Term Reviews: Reports on the extent to which a public institution has achieved the strategic goals and objectives set forth at the beginning of the fiveyear period delineated by the Strategic Plan.
The “Framework for Strategic Plans and Annual Performance Plans” advocated by the National Treasury Department of South Africa provides 2.Performance Agreements: solid reference in terms of strategy planning, monitoring and reporting. The National Treasury Department of the Republic of South It validates a results-based management approach that integrates strategy Africa defines Performance Agreements as “the official duties and and budget for sustainable delivery of government services in contexts responsibilities that are attached to an appointment or position, and that are related to public sector performance management.
32 MARCH 2016
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MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE IN THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT An Evolving Trend ANDREA MINELLI
I Chinese economy of the last two decades, processing of activities and to deal with f we closely analyze the evolution of the
the results are noteworthy. The country has been able to transform its economic pace, becoming one of the strongest, if not the strongest, player in terms of international trading, product manufacturing capabilities, gross domestic product (GDP), along with a population that in 2016 almost reached 1.4 billion people.
Besides these relevant indicators, since the early 1980s China had implemented a methodology that had, as an objective to improve government efficiency, ensured policy compliance at both the local and the Institutional level. This scheme was a Performance Management System, which along the years, has grown in terms of content and technicality. Performance Management and Organizational Restructuring
China’s
commitment
to
improve
its
Civil Resource Performance Management
human resource management, has evolved and changed through several administrative reforms that have occurred in the last thirty years, and that have been mainly focused on structural changes. These reforms were implemented from the Central Government in a top-down manner.
Following the several rounds of government restructuring from the early 1980s, a new civil system, which promoted civil resource management based on merit and performance, was presented. These performance-based reward systems incentivized China’s pursue of a performance management regime even further, distancing themselves from the previous system, a system that was created and ran according to different criteria – as position-based pay.
The reforms were beneficial because they strengthened China’s audit capacity, which was focused on monitoring how local governments achieve their own targets. Local authorities weren’t able to manage themselves and assess important functions. For this reason, several managing methods for local county governments had emerged. They represented the “vertical” and “semi-vertical” system that differed from the functional area in terms of responsibility, authority and central – provincial geographical position.
However, even though the regulations seemed rational and significant, there were several policies and requirements that had to be followed. For instance, status/ qualifications had a noticeable influence on performance evaluation, along with a maximum percentage of civil servants that could be ranked as “outstanding”. Finally, the
MARCH 2016 33
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OECD Journal on Budgeting, Performance Management in the Government of the People’s Republic of China, Available at: http://www.oecd.org/governance/budgeting/48169592.pdf
34 MARCH 2016
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limited possibility of promotion within the working environment, had a negative impact on the performance-based rewards system. The Emergence of the “Objective Responsibility System” Modern Performance Management arrived in China under the official name of “Objective Responsibility System” (ORS) at the local government level, and it was concerned with setting goals for the secondary provincial government. When implemented, the voluntary nature of the adoption and the lack of a unified guideline, resulted in different variations of ORS according to the regions of the country. Furthermore, following the principles of “Management by Objective” (MBO), the ORS also involved: Objective setting specification; Monitoring and measuring the performance in achieving the defined objectives; Feedback and rectification measures based on performance information. One important feature of the ORS is that it was carried out top-down in a centralized
manner, setting-up targets and cascading to the lower layers of governments (ex. Township-level), forming a network of targets in the form of economic growth rate and related performance indicators. Moreover, the ORS of the 1990s has always had a single-facet focused on economic growth, giving noticeable weight to GDP growth in terms of target setting and performance evaluation. Except for a few monitored non-economic indexes, all the main indicators led, directly or indirectly, to an improvement of the GDP growth. Social, Citizen and Economic Development in Performance Management After entering the 21st century, the “Objective Responsibility System” went through some important changes. Soon after the GDP cult, during the huge environmental and great social losses of the last years of the 1990s, top leadership decided to broaden the focus of the ORS. They put more weight on social, “human-centered” principles, public service functions, sustainable development and administration by law. An example showing these transitions was launched by the Qingdao City of Shandong Province in 2002. The example reveals that
the ORS content covered economic and social development, as well as administrations according to law, transparency and service attitude. Since the mid-1990s, China’s performance management has developed quickly, in comparison to its economic development. In the beginning, the ORS was primarily designed for internal hierarchical control and it was focused only on economic growth, neglecting all the social, environmental and administrative processing indicators. Soon after the end of the 1990s, China’s public sector performance placed more emphasis on social functions and public services, experiencing an increased citizen involvement in performance measurement at the government level, through citizen public assessment surveys. This transition towards more non-economic indexes came from both the center government and the local province governments. Despite the progress achieved until now, that of a much greater public participation in the measurement of government performance, the system remains slightly limited and in need of improvement, especially when the demands of human development must be met. MARCH 2016 35
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LESSONS LEARNED FROM BRAZIL’S Anti-Poverty Strategy ALINA MIERTOIU
B soccer team and soap operas into a Brazil’s poorest population, representing income if they send their children to razil is well-known for turning its
and poverty rates. In terms of inequality,
The program offers parents a fixed monthly
global phenomenon. But is there a way Brazil managed to convince the world its method of tackling poverty is worth testing and implementing at a global level? Could their strategy actually be replicated in other countries in order to help alleviate poverty and improve life standards worldwide? Since the success of this policy led to its adaptation in almost 20 other countries, a deeper analysis of this strategy and its implementation from the perspective of the employed performance management system is worth exploring.
60% of the country, owned 4% of the wealth, while the richest people of the country, representing 20%, owned 58% of the wealth. Based on this background, in 2003 president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who considered that „hunger is actually the worst weapon of mass destruction. It claims millions of victims each year”, initiated Bolsa Familia.
school and health checkups. Due to its broad coverage, Bolsa Familia was addressed to approximately a quarter of Brazil’s popoulation and nearly 1.7 milion beneficiaries managed to get leave from the program. The basis of the program is the „single registry”, the beneficiaries’ targeting tool which consists of household information. Bolsa Familia has three main strategic objectives:
According to the Legatum Prosperity Index, a complex index which aims to reveal the underlying drivers of prosperity for countries worldwide, Brazil’s ranking was quite stable starting with 2007, only varying between the 49th place and 46th place. In 2014 the ranking dropped to the 53rd place, while in 2016 Brazil was ranked 52nd out of 149. However, this index is not only focused on economical factors, but it rather delivers insight into the main areas of national growth, areas such as: openness of economy, government effectiveness, entrepreneurial design and labor market structures, access to education, health infrastructures, national security and personal safety, personal freedom, civic and environmental consciousness. Brazil has a history of non-inclusive growth models and regressive social policies that resulted in high inequality 36 MARCH 2016
Bolsa Familia was one of the four pillars of the strategy „Brazil without poverty” and a „conditional cash transfer program” that managed to reduce poverty in Brazil from 9.7% to 4.3%- almost by half- in 10 years. Moreover, income inequality also decreased by 15%.
Reduce poverty and inequality; Reduce the transmision of poverty between generations; Family development through complementary programs.
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In order to assess both the need and the financial benefit, and to cover a large part of the population, the program has set targets, or interval targets, based on only two main indicators - the monthly income of the family and the number of children. However, the indicators are not standardized. For example, the eligibility criteria for entering the program are: Any family that has a lower monthly income than R$60.00/capita; Any family, with children bewteen 0-17 years old, that has a monthly income between R$60.01 and R$120.00/capita. Bolsa Familia Program
These same criteria are also used when establishing the type of financial benefit a family can obtain: either a basic, variable or a variable youth benefit. After the families enter the program, the indicators used as conditions to receive the financial support are: the children’s minimum school attendance and medical checkups. The set targets for minimul school attendance are: 85% for children with ages between 6-15 years old, and 75% for adolescents aged 16 or 17.The government doesn’t have strict targets regarding health, but the metrics that are being monitored are: vaccination and optimal development of children under 7 years old, as well as prenatal care for pregnant women and monitoring of the lactating women. Brazil’s Bolsa Familia doesn’t state any KPIs monitored in order to assess the success of its strategic objectives, which can be a major critique from the perspective of performance management implementation. Although it can be argued that phenomena of poverty or inequality are usually measured by global indexes, such as the Legatum Prosperity Index or the GINI coefficient, we cannot say the same about the other two strategic objectives set by the program. Hence, one recommendation would be to create a performance management system that assesses the performance of all objectives or initiatives. We can acknowledge that there has been an initiative to measure the performance by developing an index to assess the
Conditionted Income Transfer
Created in 2003 as a Program: focused conditioned free use direct payment to the family, preferably to the woman
Immediate relief of poverty (income) Break the intergenerational cycle of poverty (conditionalities) Family development (complementary actions)
The Federative Republic of Brazil, Bolsa Familia Program, Available at: http://www.ipc-undp.org/doc_africa_brazil/6.SENARC_Overview_PBF.pdf
decentralized management - a strategy employed by Bolsa Familia. The index was created to help divide the resources between municipalities, as one municipality has to score above 0,5 in order to receive resources they can use for the management of the program, for the monitoring and for the implementation of complementary programs. The index measures the following indicators: Measurement of the quality of the Single Registry data; Registry update; Information on the education conditionalities; Information on the health conditionalities. In conclusion, although there are several critiques regarding the implementation of the policy and the fact that it can create dependency on the system, or that without a reform in health and education the policy will not have the desired success , Bolsa Familia managed to reduce poverty and
inequality, to reduce the infant mortality rate, to boost the education levels and even help promte the dignity of the poor. From this perspective, we can agree that Brazil has a performant program and that even though the performance management system described above is rather oversimplified, there are several lessons to be learnt from this analysis: The significance of choosing the key objectives for the program; The importance of selectig KPIs to measure all objectives, since in Brazil’s example it is not clear whether some objectives were achieved or not; The relevance of standardizing the indicators, as this will bring clarity regarding what is being measured; The value added by integrating indexes or already collected data into the data analysis process, as it simplifies the data collection process. MARCH 2016 37
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BALANCED SCORECARD
EVENTS STRATEGY
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FOUR SIMPLE WAYS TO IMPROVE MANAGER COMMUNICATION resource-based economy is minds, so managers should deliver order using 4. Share the company’s goals T heslowlynormal changing to a knowledge-based crystal clear directives. This way, the employees The company has goals to achieve, and it is
one. Successful companies do not only depend on their resources, but also on the creativity of their employees. Nowadays, creativity is an important asset that every company should have. Going back to the early 2000s, who did not know about Nokia? Almost every person that had a mobile phone chose to buy Nokia. Where is Nokia now?
Unfortunately, they couldn’t adapt to the market’s changes, and they weren’t able to see that the world had changed. The giant had fallen because of a small android invented by a small company. To survive the constant change and evolution of the industry, every company should have the ability to notice each small shift in the market. Creating a comfortable work environment is needed to boost employee capability and creativity. A comfortable environment should not be reduced to a nice chair and a desk, it should represent the way in which managers establish communication with their employees. Sometimes, mistakes come from miscommunication. Employees cannot read
40 MARCH 2016
can understand what the managers want from them. Here are a few simple things that a manager can do to improve communication:
1. Be assertive Without a doubt, every employee must respect his employer. However, you should give orders in such a way as to not humiliate your employees. You can benefit a lot more from gaining their respect, than from treating them as mere tools. 2. Give feedback Every manager should give his subordinates feedback. This way, the employees can understand their strengths and weaknesses, and try to improve where necessary. Through feedback you can help them become better employees. 3. Listen Few people want to listen. The fact is, sometimes problems can be solved only by listening. Be a good listener so your employees know that you care about them. It will create a friendly work environment, and it will get you their loyalty.
a manager’s duty to break down those goals into small steps, so that the employees can focus on their tasks. Sharing the company’s strategic plans and goals with the employees is very important, because that way your employees can better understand the directives they are given. In the end, every journey is easier if we know the destination These examples are just a few small bubbles of air in an ocean full of foam. We can easily find other strategies to improve managers’ communication skills. The next issue is not whether we are going to implement this or that strategy, but whether we are going to do it or not. Even if it looks like an easy task, changing the way we communicate is actually very difficult. We need to have a strong will to do so, because not everyone wants to leave his comfort zone. We must not forget that we live in a very different world, and that failing to adapt leads to our immediate loss.
EVENTS BALANCED SCORECARD
VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS AND THE HR BALANCED SCORECARD I into what is now known as Verizon it received regulatory clearance, and that they with five strategic directions: n 1997, Bell Atlantic and GTE merged
build a long-distance customer base as soon as
As a result, the HR leadership team came up
Communications. The company is the largest provider of wireless and wireline communications in the US and it can be found in 44 other countries within Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Pacific.
also needed to aggressively seek to increase its overall revenue base. For this to happen, they started making a conscious effort to improve their customer service, which they realized was the key to maintaining customer loyalty.
1. Talent Enlarge talent pool; Invest in professional development; Ensure workplace diversity.
In Fiscal 2000, the company reported revenues of $65 billion, generated by 261,000 employees. Verizon Communications offers voice, data and wireless services as well as published print and electronic directories. Its raging success was the result of aligning HR with Business Strategy – developing a solid set of indicators to measure how HR helped the organization deliver its business strategies.
The HR department had never before been subjected to specific performance metrics, as it was not a revenue producing department. Nonetheless, to determine how these activities affected overall business goals, one of Verizon’s strategic moves was to link human resources activities to:
It all started when the Telecommunications Act of 1996 forced Verizon Communications to amp up their game in the context of a new self-regulating market. As telephone, internet and cable providers targeted the same customers, in an effort to gain the upper hand many started to offer fullpackage services, from local and longdistance, to wireless, video and internet. Verizon realized that they needed to be ready to
1. Productivity; 2. Product cycle times; 3. Sales and other metrics. This was the beginning of what is now thought of as an exemplary exponent of the HR scorecard methodology. As the Balanced Scorecard approach is focused on measurable performance, and on bringing all business functions into alignment, Verizon’s choice was a simple one. Thus, Verizon decided to employ the BSC, so that the HR department could determine its goals.
2. Leadership Find ways of identifying high-potential employees; Grooming them for leadership roles. 3. Customer Service and Support Determine retention issues; Promote HR-related products and services available to employees, support employee engagement. 4. Organizational integration Create better information-sharing systems between business units and with the unions. 5. Human resources capability Build human resources capacity by rotating key talent; Creating a measurement system that highlights adept achievements and invest in tech solutions.
MARCH 2016 41
BALANCED SCORECARD
Strategic; Customer; Operations; Financial. They also assigned targets for all these perspectives: One-quarter of these targets being taken from benchmarking data for the telecommunications industry;
C-BSC
The next step was to create a measurement model to support these strategic directions. They did this by asking company presidents in every business area to share with them their own concerns and questions related to the HR department. Based on these inquiries, they developed 118 performance measures, divided into four perspectives:
BALANCED SCORECARD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Fra Framework v 1.0 2015
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The remaining targets being based on a projection of internal data against which they could measure their actual performance. The PbViews software helped them communicate the BSC results throughout the entire organization. Through this software, they were able to report online the quarterly Scorecard results, and to reveal how the results cascaded through all the levels in the organization. What is more, employees were given the opportunity to learn how to use & interpret the Scorecard data, through online video and audio resources. In the end, what this meant for the company was that through the Balance Scorecard approach, Verizon Communications was able to reduce call center employee turnover, to set and achieve specific targets, and last but not least, it allowed their HR unit to reinvent itself as a profit-conscious department. So as we can see, the BSC doesn’t have to always be used in the same pattern, of only measuring business performance through a set series of say, financial-only indicators. We can adapt it to fit whichever end we wish to meet, to whatever goal we value the most. 42 MARCH 2016
The Balanced Scorecard Management System Professional Certification is an accreditation that endorses you both for the knowledge in developing the Performance Management System based on Balanced Scorecard methodology and implementing the framework across all levels of the organization.
WHY BECOME CERTIFIED? Achieve the goals of your organization Ensure excellence Worldwide recognition
IMPLEMENT A BALANCED SCORECARD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM TO DRIVE YOUR BUSINESS PERFORMANCE! View our course agenda, dates, locations and pricing options, by visiting: marketplace.kpiinstitute.org/scheduled-courses
KPIS
KPIS AND THE MEDIA INDUSTRY S business companies solve certain the users that most frequently interact with number one indicator that shows whether ocial Media Measurement can help
problems. Just like other private business industries are concerned with increasing brand awareness, media companies are concerned with the recognition of their media outlets, such as: television channels, newspapers, magazines or their company as a whole. For media companies to gain new subscribers, to connect to new audiences and to reap other important benefits, they need to know how to properly build a social media strategy and how to correctly measure social KPIs. These are the most important social media KPIs for media companies:
Key Influencer Identification: identifying
share ratio, which is vital because it is the
your page’s content.
the audience is interested or disinterested in the type of content the company produces. Additionally, an increased share ratio equals an increase in channel, or company recognition. Secondly, there is the number of comments, which indicates Fans’ interest in the content.
User Activity: identifying the times of days and the days of week in which your users are engaging most frequently with your page. Distribution of Fans: identifying which countries your fans are from. Media companies must keep in mind that they can find business solutions through social media measurement KPIs. How? By employing the following social media measurements:
Response Time: the average amount of time that it takes for the administrator to respond to user posts or questions.
1. Media Channel Loyalty Media companies are able to improve their future content to fit the demands of its audience by measuring engagement rates of links or videos that are published on their social channels. What is more, by understanding subscribers’ demographics they can identify the best times to publish content.
Engagement Rate: the amount of user interactions (likes, comments and shares) that occur on your page.
2. Fan Engagement There are two types of fan engagement that must be worked on. Firstly, there is the
Response Rate: the percentage of user posts or questions that the administrator responded to.
3. Channel or Company Recognition Through the appropriate use of social media, companies can gain recognition with audiences and markets that were previously inaccessible. Channel or company recognition can be increased by accessing new audiences and markets via social media. What is more, a wider channel or company recognition equals a higher number of new subscribers. Why are social KPIs so important? To gain a large number of new subscribers, media companies need to increase the recognition surrounding their channel or company. By monitoring social KPIs that measure fan engagement, growth, activity and demographics, media companies can understand the best tactics for connecting with their current channel subscribers and attracting new ones.
MARCH 2016 43
EVENTS ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
HOW TO OVERCOME THE CHALLENGES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE C business will experience at one point in time. Whether change seminars where the new strategies will be presented to each group. hange is a necessary and sometimes mandatory process that any
member from each group to participate in meetings, or create
comes about as a natural step in a company’s plan of development or if it is forced upon the organization, companies need to adapt to remain viable. The economy dictates the changes and the company must play according to its tune. However, the need for change is real and it also depends on an organization’s evolution.
Change agents A well-oiled planning and implementation system is vital during a time of change, that is why the company should select a group of change agents from key position to help with this process.
Change in an organization brings with itself the implementation of new business strategies. All these transitions can cause resistance among employees. “How can an organization overcome all these challenges?” By simply following a few practices that can help to overcome resistance to change:
Deliverables Create final reports for everyone involved in the new business strategy. Each group must develop their deliverables according to the goals of the group. For example, one deliverable can be to increase sales by 5%. Another can be to lower costs by 5%.
Communication All new initiatives and their progress should be communicated and the management should include updates at team meetings.
Milestones and goals Employees should be able to not only see the results of their work, but also be compensated for them. So taking this into account, the organization should create a few milestones and goals to measure success throughout the year. The people who meet these goals should be recognized and rewarded.
Marketing All these changes and strategies must be explained so that each employee can understand and see how he/she can benefit from them. By understanding the goals of the new business strategy, employees will find it easier to embrace it. Dispersion In order for the information to reach all the functional groups of a company, management representatives should either invite a team
44 MARCH 2016
Change is inevitable, but if the company wants its employees to accept new business strategies, all it has to do is to make its people feel respected, valued and appreciated. An effective Performance Management System has the power to transform vision into tangible results and align efforts at all of the organization’s levels.
EVENTS MARKETING PERFORMANCE
FIVE BASIC WAYS OF BUILDING YOUR COMPANY BRAND is a very important aspect B randing when you want to keep your business
or company in play. When you have many competitors, establishing your brand is a powerful strategy that helps your business stay in the lead and leaves your competitors in the dust. However, many people still feel confused and frustrated, and end up giving up on building their own business brand. On the one hand, even though some of them spend a lot of time and money on branding, they still can’t boost their business image significantly. On the other hand, you can find many businesses that don’t care at all about branding and because of this, they will slowly but surely fade away from the market. There are 5 basic ways of building your business brand: 1. Know what your business is about First and foremost, you should discover the idea on which to build the foundation of your brand. You have to know the vision, mission and value of your business, as well as the product you want to deliver. You should ensure that your product is useful and needed. Sometimes, you should put yourself in your customer’s shoes. That way, you can understand what the customer wants, what his reasons for using your products are, and how to make him comfortable and satisfied.
like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or instant messaging apps like Blackberry Messenger or Line. Nowadays, this method is becoming a powerful way of spreading publicity, due to its quick way of sending information and of communicating. The purpose of your business is not only restricted to what you sell or what you provide, it also refers to the impact that your products have on the customers. For example, Airbnb’s vision is not only that of connecting people looking to rent homes with those who are looking for accommodations, but also of transforming the world into “A world where home can be everywhere”. Their mission proves their commitment to provide value beyond the requirements of the providing service. 2. Introduce your brand You can consider launching your brand as an ideal opportunity to publish your new brand, with the condition of creating an interesting story around it. Great publicity is important to make a good first impression, and to attract customers to your business. Showing your brand product to the public, is better than waiting for new customers to come to you. You can participate in the company’s exhibitions, or present your product in schools or malls. Moreover, you can hold your own show on the road. It’s all about direct publicity. You should also take advantage of technology, of social medias
However, if you want to create a more intimate rapport with your customer, you can send broadcasting promotions or offer referral credits though your marketing and sales email. If your customer is happy with your product and work, he is going to promote your service. 3. Show your consistency Every company has a brand, regardless of whether or not they see it as a priority. You must remember that your brand is a reflection of yourself and of your company, and that it is what people see first. For some companies, branding is a strategy to keep their customers loyal and to catch other potential customers. Consistency of branding refers to how much people get to know your business through your identity and message. You should think of brand consistency as an evolution. Branding consistency is not only restricted to putting your logo mark on all your business products. Every company has to create some standard guidelines related to branding. Message Consistency clearly defines your positioning and aligns it with your core behaviors. MARCH 2016 45
MARKETING PERFORMANCE
If your actions are aligned with your message, then customers will begin trusting your services. By using brand elements thoughtfully and strategically, you will build visibility and increase customer recognition and association. The guidelines map out how your logo, fonts, colors, tagline, etc. will be used. Your logo has to be simple and easy to follow, or it won’t have the intended impact. 4. Keep it alive You cannot keep you brand alive just by improving it yourself. You can’t control it completely, but you can manipulate it by listening and responding to customers’ needs. That means engaging customers either in person, over the phone, in writing, or virtually, according to the way they prefer to receive information.
STRATEGY COMMUNICATION SOLUTIONS BUILD A PERFORMANCE CULTURE THROUGH INTEGRATED STRATEGY COMMUNICATION SOLUTIONS
Do not forget that branding is an evolutionary process, and you can evolve mostly through the feedback you receive from other parties. 5. Measure your brand You can measure your brand through brand positioning or benchmarking, which can be done through any software. Fundamentally, measuring is about metrics and metrics explain what people know about your business and how they engage it, taking into account the fact that it is backed by your brand. One of the questions which can be answered if you can measure your branding strategy is: “What’s the return on investment for these branding efforts?”. You can measure by analyzing website visits, social media page likes, or even by finding out which e-mail content drives the most forwards and reconversions, and to what segment of your list that content goes. This way you can better align future e-mail campaigns with other content that elevates your brand. What is more, you can analyze by comparing your brand with the brands of other competitors, competitors who are, or could become your toughest enemies.
46 MARCH 2016
BENEFITS Discover creative tactics for strategy embedding; Drive forward change through innovative tools and techniques; Use new communication technologies to your advantage; Create your own brand image to market internally; Partner up with other communicators to raise awareness on strategy.
GET SMARTER AT BUILDING A STRONG PERFORMANCE CULTURE
EVENTS OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
BLOCKCHAIN THE FUTURE OF TRANSACTIONS legal and political systems blockchain has a unique 30-plus-character E conomic, are constructed and held together by alphanumeric address that identifies it. Users
contracts and transactions. They are vital tools that protect assets and set organizational boundaries, that control interactions between nations, organizations and individuals, and that guide managerial and social action. But despite their crucial role, these tools are not up to date with the economy’s digital transformation.
Blockchain is the technology that stands at the center of bitcoin and other virtual currencies. This technology is a ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. The ledger itself can also be programmed to trigger transactions automatically. This technology promises a very different and innovative future in transactions. How does Blockchain work? 1.Distributed Database Each party on a Blockchain has access to the entire database and its complete history. No single party controls the data or the information. Every party can verify the records of its transaction partners directly, without an intermediary. 2. Peer-to-Peer Transmission Peers communicate directly and not through a central node. Each node forwards information to every other node. 3. Transparency with Pseudonymity Transactions are visible to anyone that has access to the system. Each user on a
can choose to remain anonymous or provide proof of their identity to others.
4. Irreversibility of Records Once a transaction is entered in the database and the accounts are updated, the records cannot be modified, because they’re linked to every transaction record that came before them. 5. Computational Logic The digital nature of the ledger means that Blockchain transactions can be tied to computational logic and programmed. Users can set up algorithms and rules that automatically trigger transactions between nodes. A world that has Blockchain in it is a world in which contracts are enclosed in digital code and stored in transparent, shared databases, where they are protected from deletion, tampering and revision. In the Blockchain world we won’t need lawyers, bankers and brokers, and both individuals and organizations will interact easier and with less friction. Although Blockchain has an immense potential, it is nonetheless a foundational technology. This means that it can create new foundations for the economic and social systems of today, but the process can last for decades. It will be gradual and its integration will take time. The only question is when.
MARCH 2016
EVENTS SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE
SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE IN SUPPORTING OUR BUSINESSES supplier services and purchasing N owadays, power are of major strategic importance
to most companies. This is due to the fact that a substantial amount of the resources used by a company are made available through its suppliers. Suppliers are not only important in financial terms, but also to the aforementioned purchasing power of companies. As Lars-Erik Gadde and Peter Fredriksson showcase in their research paper, Evaluation of Supplier Performance – The Case of Volvo Car Corporation and Its Module Suppliers, supplier performance has a considerable impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of the firm. Generally, choosing suppliers in terms of chain supply is no different from choosing the companies that you want to buy products from. To choose the right suppliers, a company has to first observe, evaluate and only then, choose the most suitable suppliers that will become part of the supply chain. In terms of production processes, the materials provided by suppliers determine the quality of the product. Customer satisfaction depends on the product, which is why high quality supplier services lead to high customer satisfaction. The connection between companies and suppliers creates the supply chain. The supply chain represents the constant distribution of supplies by suppliers, which includes all aspects, goods, services and information. Companies need suppliers who understand their goals and needs. The list below is comprised of a number of supplier criteria:
48 MARCH 2016
Offering cost Credibility related to time-accuracy Flexibility in delivery Frequency in delivery Total of minimum delivery Quality Transportation cost Payment system Ability to share information Tax and Exchange Price If we have already chosen the suppliers, we have to periodically select the supplier criteria. This evaluation is needed to maintain our suppliers’ performance level. The different ways of selecting supplier criteria are as follows: 1. Define the supplier who gives the best quality supplies The quality of supplies will influence the quality of the products. That is why, one should choose the best materials to create the best quality products.
2. Maintain product availability Sometimes, the products requested by the customers can be exchanged no matter the time. So, the company has to maintain their products’ availability to meet the customers’ needs at any time. 3. Punctuality in delivering the supplies The company must ensure that the suppliers deliver the materials in time, as the productions depend on the availability of materials. Consistency is very important, as it ensures that both the company and the supplier follow the agreement, and because through it the production process is well maintained. If one side breaks the agreement, the other side can terminate the agreement and look for another partner. 4. The importance of cost production The company has to manage the cost of production as efficiently as possible, because there are a lot of costs when it comes to production. There are maintenance costs, saving costs, transportation costs, and so forth. 5. Setting the price Both the company and the supplier should agree on the best price. The proper price is important for the continuity of their partnership. 6. After sale services It is important for the company to motivate the supplier by possibly giving him a bonus. This will maintain a good relationship between the two, strengthening their partnership.
EVENTS INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
FIVE USEFUL STRATEGIES TO HELP YOU MANAGE DIFFICULT TEAM MEMBERS
E members. As a colleague or manager, you You should keep the message direct, unemotional very business has its share of difficult team
might have had the impulse to lash out at such individuals, or walk away from them, but this type of behavior is not conducive to a balanced and productive environment.
What you must remember is that difficult and annoying does not equal non-productive or useless. Even though a person might be difficult at the workplace, he or she can be part of the elite, of those with impressive business skills. What is more, thinking that someone is annoying might be a subjective feeling. The same way you find a person difficult to deal with, somebody else might find you just as irritating. Either way, you need to find a middle path so that you can maximize team performance. However, as is with making any relationship work, everyone must actively participate.
2. Make your relationship more effective
and to the point with those who ask for too many details and ask a billion of questions. 3. Set relationship boundaries The relationship between managers and employees can be difficult if boundaries are not respected. As a manager, you have to set down the rules and draw a line of intents and expectations which must not be crossed by employees. 4. Check your nonverbal body language Your frustration and stress can be easily noticed by the others. Although you cannot change the annoying behavior of others, you can still change yours. This way you send a positive signal through which you can improve the effectiveness of the interaction.
These are the main pragmatic relationship strategies that can be found in her book:
5. Concentrate your attention on producing results There are those annoying people who always claim that they are very busy, when in fact they have nothing to show for it. You should give them clear directions, determine them to produce results, give them feedback and reward their productive efforts, instead of just tolerating and listening to them complaining about how busy they are.
1.Do not let others steal your energy Try to limit your meetings with those who annoy you. Do not try to avoid them, or tune them out, just smile and stay as positive as possible while talking to them, and then try to ‘create’ a natural exit.
Dealing with annoying team members might be difficult, but as long as you don’t fight, take flight or freeze, which will garner more tension and stressful interactions between team members, then you will surely create a positive and productive team.
Ilene Marcus, a veteran business leader and workplace consultant, has written a new book entitled Managing Annoying People, where you can find tactics through which you can better manage the people and peers under your supervision.
MARCH 2016 49
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
THE PROS OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY I part of any type of business. No matter if creativity and a stronger desire of success. nclusiveness should be an important
you own a large company or manage a small operation, a diverse workplace is the key to success. By incorporating diversity into the workplace, it will be easier to gain advantages and reap benefits. Here are a few advantages of workplace diversity:
1. Recruiting Opportunities: By hiring people from all cultures, you will have the chance to connect with the best. 2. Employee Relationships: Hiring people with diverse lifestyles will guarantee better interactions, as all employees will have the chance to get to know each other as individuals. 3. Productive Teams: A diverse team will have at its disposal not only
50 MARCH 2016
a diverse set of skills, but also an entire world of 4. Competitiveness: Maintaining a competitive front is not an easy feat. However, by hiring a large number of diversely talented people, as well as people who understand cross-cultural marketing and speak across language barriers, your chances of raising above the competition will increase. 5. Tech Smarts: A diverse workplace is a chance to work with people who have a variety of backgrounds and job experiences, and who know how to work with different platforms and hardware. 6. Market Reach: Having a diverse workplace will help you improve your marketing plans, thus you will be able to better identify your client base and to plan effective sales strategies.
7. Learning: Inclusiveness at the workplace will create an open-minded environment. Experienced employees will have no biases and all newcomers will be aware of the fact that they are starting off on the same level playing field. 8. Company Culture Opting for a diverse environment with diverse individuals will create a strong company culture. This diverse group of people will become a strong team with the desire to do their best and become successful. Diversity in the workplace is a must in our day and age. By embracing diversity, you will prove the fact that it is a great strategy for increasing productivity & sales rates and your business’ overall chances of succeeding on the market, given that more mindsets will be at work.
ASK THE EXPERTS
HOW CAN YOU BUILD A PERFORMANCE CULTURE? CRISTINA TARÂTA
Stimulate. Train. Reward. Energize. Train your staff, therefore providing the instruments they need to E ngage. These five key words represent some valuable drivers improve their competences. After you have set clear performance
that, if correctly and constantly implemented, can help you build a performance culture and, eventually, a productive and positive working environment.
Engage your employees! Engagement is reflected in the discretionary effort the employee is willing to put in his work. This goes beyond the feeling of satisfaction and motivation, and research has showed it has a significant impact on productivity, employee turnover and customer satisfaction. Engagement happens when employees clearly understand what is expected from them and how success looks like, when they are given the tools to do their job right, when they have a certain degree of autonomy and when they trust and respect the organization’s purpose and leadership. Stimulate employees, by using gamification – the inclusion of game elements into the working environment. By designing all sorts of contests between departments and teams, employees are motivated to perform better, in order to “win the game”. Competitiveness is part of human nature and it can bring to light the best of people, if adequately coordinated.
expectations, you must ensure that there is an opportunity to learn and become a better employee, and a good tool that addresses these needs is training. This also shows employees that they are being supported in order to achieve their objectives. “Reward” performance! It is not enough to measure the progress, you must take actions and reward good results.
Rewards do no necessary have to be financial bonuses, they can also consist of nonfinancial incentives, such as tickets to the movies, a golden star, a celebration with colleagues. Rewarding should not take place only when you conduct the performance evaluations, but also each time someone does something good, and it can be a simple acknowledgement of their achievement. Energize, by constantly activating all of the above elements and understanding that these are not one time events, they are a never ending cycle. Influencing or changing the organizational culture is not easy and the outcomes are not immediate. On the contrary, benefits are proven on the long term. The entire purpose of building a performance culture is to ensure employees are more productive, more creative and more dedicated to their job and to the organization. MARCH 2016 51
LIFESTYLE
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE T friend who is a very good listener and always knows here is always that one person at work or that one
what to say to make you feel better and encourage you. That type of person is empathic, self-aware, trustworthy, caring, considerate and full of optimism. We have all met, at some point or another, people who are masters at managing their emotions. They are the ones who remain calm during the storm, who always find a solution without getting swept away by stressful situations. Because of their levelheadedness, they are good decision-makers and they always know when to follow their intuition. Despite their many qualities, they are still human and prone to making mistakes. However, what makes them different from the rest is their ability to accurately assess themselves. They embrace criticism and they know how and when to use it to improve their performance. These people have a high degree of emotional intelligence - EI. But what exactly is emotional intelligence? In his article “Understanding and Developing Emotional Intelligence”, Olivier Serrat, principal knowledge management specialist at the Asian Development Bank, defined EI as: “the ability, capacity, skill, or self-perceived ability to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one’s self, of others, and of groups. People who possess a high degree of emotional intelligence know themselves very well and are also able to sense the emotions of others.” Serrat claims that by working on developing his emotional intelligence, an individual can experience an increase in productivity and success. What is more, he emphasizes the fact that EI development contains elements that can “help reduce stress…by moderating conflict; promoting understanding and relationships; and fostering stability, continuity, and harmony.” There are of course some lucky individuals which were born with a high level of EI, but there are also those who lack selfawareness, self-motivation and social skills. What we have to keep in mind is that individuals have different personalities, 52 MARCH 2016
needs and ways of showing their emotions. The main question that begs an answer is: “How can we develop our emotional intelligence to succeed in life?” The good news is that unlike IQ, which hardly changes during our lives, our EQ or emotional intelligence quotient, can evolve and increase with our desire to learn and grow. Here are a few strategies that can help you develop your EI: 1. Discard negativity The ability to manage your negative emotions is essential if you don’t want to be swamped by them. It all comes down to the way you think about something. If you can change the way you think, the way you feel will change as well. In another article, “How to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence - 6
LIFESTYLE
Essentials”, Preston Ni, a professor and course designer in the areas of interpersonal effectiveness, professional communication, crosscultural understanding, and organizational change, explains how you can reduce your fear of rejection: “One effective way to manage your fear of rejection is to provide yourself with multiple options in important situations, so that no matter what happens, you have strong alternatives going forward. Avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket (emotionally) by identifying a viable Plan B, and also a Plan C, should Plan A not work out.”
Knowing that you have more than one plan can decrease your fears and negativity, relieving you of pressure and allowing you to be yourself. 2. Breeze through stressful situations It is normal to experience some level of stress in life. However, what matters is the way you handle stressful situations. A person who cannot handle stress will be reactive and frazzled, while someone who can handle it will appear assertive and poised. When you find yourself under pressure you must try to remain calm. One way of relaxing yourself is by taking a minute to do some breathing exercises, while thinking about positive things. 3. Be assertive “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.” - Warren Buffett Setting boundaries is important not only for you, but for the people surrounding you as well. It might seem difficult to say “no” out of fear of upsetting the other person, but by being assertive you will strengthen your self-esteem & gain the courage to reveal who you are, letting people know where you stand. You will gain nothing by denying your personal values, interests and judgements, you will simply live a lie, denying yourself the right to simply BE. 4. Overcome adversity Life can be difficult and sometimes very cruel. How you react to life’s challenges can make the difference between hope and despair, optimism and frustration, victory and defeat. Challenges are not meant to destroy you, they are meant to make you stronger. There’s a reason why the proverbial phrase: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”, is so widely known and used. When being confronted with life’s challenges you should ask yourself constructive questions, such as: “What is the lesson here?”, “How can I learn from this experience?” “What are the best answers?” etc. By asking these questions you can start prioritizing, gaining new perspectives and learning how to solve problems while maintaining your positivity and confidence. These strategies might seem difficult to follow at first, but by slowly adopting them, you will become a better version of yourself, improving both the way you perceive yourself, as well as the way you perceive others. But just in case you want the short version of it all, the most important thing you should keep in mind if you want to improve your EI is summed up pretty nicely in the following quote by Maddy Malhotra, Personal Management Coach and author of How to Build Self-Esteem and Be Confident: “The key to achieving desired results and gaining freedom from unwanted feelings lies within you.”
MARCH 2016 53
LIFESTYLE
MEMORY BOOSTING THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL JOB INTERVIEWS s technology has led some to believe Trying to boost your memorization skills might T oday’ that we no longer need memorization seem a daunting feat when faced with all the
”There is no limit to the information that can be stored using journeys: facts and figures about companies, balance sheets, historical data, customer information and more.”
54 MARCH 2016
skills, that improving one’s memory has become secondary in importance and usefulness. Why bother, when instead of burdening your mind with all kinds of information, you can simply use the computer to search for virtually any topic out there, or the calculator when dealing with numbers. All these new inventions lure you into believing that you have the universe at your fingertips, at the push of a button. However, what people forget is that by dismissing their memorization skills and by putting them ‘on hold’ for when they are needed, they destroy their chances of improving their memory and consequently their lives, in the long run. That is not to say that there aren’t those who realize that by keeping their memorization skills alive, their life can become more organized, efficient and successful, both on a personal and on a professional level. Unfortunately, just like Mark Twain is reported to have said “everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it”, people tend to complain about their bad memory without actually doing something about it.
studies, techniques and methods that experts have amassed until now. However, wouldn’t you be interested in knowing how boosting your memory could help you get a job with flying colors? Wouldn’t you want to learn those memorization techniques that can help you become the ideal interviewee? Today’s employment market is difficult to please and interviews are more important than ever; that is exactly why a trained memory can be the key to your professional success. Think of how impressed an interviewer would be when he sees that the applicant has done extensive research on the firm beforehand. What’s more, by recalling details and important information at will, the interviewee will come across as intelligent and dedicated. However, the question still remains: “How can one achieve this?” In his book, How to Develop a Perfect Memory, Dominic O’Brien, a British mnemonist, author of memory-related books and 8th time World Memory Champion, suggests that applicants should use ‘the mental in-tray’ before an
LIFESTYLE
interview. He explains that this mental in-tray is a simple journey with ten stages, stressing upon the importance of choosing a place that holds happy memories. He then describes the main steps of this technique: “Once you have established and memorized the ten stages, run through all the chores, tasks, or
general worries that are currently troubling you. Then create a key image for each one and place them at separate stages.” By following O’Brien’s indications, I have created my own mental in-tray so that you can see how easy it is to memorize things. The place I have chosen for my journey is my grandparent’s house where I spent most of my summers as a child. This is my mental in-tray:
THE MENTAL IN-TRAY Write article
Yard
Shop
Hallway
The funny and strange image of an angry cousin on the roof, or that of riding a bike in the barn, can easily remind me of the things that are on my to-do list. This same principle can be applied when preparing for an interview. As Dominic O’Brien explains, you just have to “keep the journey short and simple (no more than ten stages), and use instant associations to create your key images”. The only difference here, he states, is that you should place your questions in order of priority, so that you can “walk along your short journey letting the key images trigger off the questions”.
O’Brien also gives the potential interviewee the following suggestions: Start your journey at the firm itself; Keep the data as visual as possible; Transform a very technical information by applying “The Dominic System”, the mnemonic system used to convert statistics into people and actions; Use word associations to remember important members of staff; Break down your CV into its constituent parts, and translate them into key images.
This way, you can successfully order your thoughts, so that you can ask all the questions you want at the right moment, without forgetting any one of them.
All the above suggestions are meant not only as advice, but also as a means of making the reader understand that no matter how well prepared he is, or how much research he has done, his chances of getting the job are minimal if he doesn’t perform well on the interview.
“There is no limit to the information that can be stored using journeys: facts and figures about the company, including balance sheets and its history; information relating to customers, branches, key employees; data about the general sector or industry; related share prices.”
Mental composure and good memorization skills are essential. That is why honing your memorization skills and thus, improving your memory, will help you maintain your train of thought in today’s difficult interview environments, bringing out the best in you when it counts the most.
Clean
Living room
Cook
Pantry
Pay electricity bill
Bathroom MARCH 2016 55
ASK THE EXPERTS
THE BENEFITS OF CROSSING THE THRESHOLD OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE E and secure in their existence. According stepping out of our safe bubbles. veryone wants to feel safe, comfortable
is quite true that we achieve the most by
to Abigail Brenner, psychiatrist and author of Transitions: How Women Embrace Change and Celebrate Life, the comfort zone is: “a psychological/emotional/behavioral construct that defines the routine of our daily life. Being in one’s comfort zone implies familiarity, safety, and security. It describes the patterned world of our existence, keeps us relatively comfortable and calm, and helps us stay emotionally even, free from anxiety and worry to a great degree.”
Anyone who has ever tried to reach the next level, or to achieve something knows that when you really challenge yourself, you can obtain amazing results. However, pushing too hard can actually cause a negative result, and reinforce the idea that challenging yourself is a bad idea. That is why it is so hard to reach outside your comfort zone.
Stepping outside our comfort zone takes courage and it implies taking a certain amount of risk by opening ourselves up to the possibility of stress and anxiety. It is no surprise that the word stress has gained negative connotations, but we must realize that there is a big difference between plain, ugly Stress, and Healthy Stress, as healthy stress can actually act as a catalyst for growth and provide a powerful motivation to act. In 1908, psychologists Robert M. Yerkes and John D. Dodson explained that a state of relative comfort creates a steady level of performance. In order to maximize performance, however, we need a state of relative anxiety—a space where our stress levels are slightly higher than normal. This space is called Optimal Anxiety, and it’s just outside our comfort zone. Too much anxiety and we’re too stressed to be productive, and our performance decreases considerably. Staying in your comfort zone can result in consistent, steady performance, but by stepping out of it into a new and challenging task you can reach your optimal performance. If we take a minute and think about it, it 56 MARCH 2016
Nevertheless, our comfort zone is neither a good, nor a bad thing. It is, in fact, a neutral ground, a starting point. Leaving it means increased risk and anxiety, but also the chance to perform better and to gain new insights and experiences. Optimal anxiety is that place where your mental productivity and performance reach their peak. However, the real question is: “What are the benefits of crossing the threshold of your comfort zone?” 1. First and foremost, you will become more productive. When you don’t have deadlines and expectations, you tend to slack off and do just enough to get by. Comfort kills productivity because you begin to want to remain where you are and to avoid doing new things. By pushing your personal boundaries, you will become more efficient and you will learn new things. 2. You will become more flexible. One of the worst things you can do is to pretend fear and uncertainty don’t exist. Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston, explains that by taking risks in a controlled fashion and challenging yourselves
to things you normally wouldn’t do, you can experience some of that uncertainty in a controlled, manageable environment. This way, when life throws a curve ball at you, you will be prepared to catch it. 3. You will become stronger. Practice makes perfect, but it also makes it easier. In the same article, Brené Brown explains that by regularly stepping out of your comfort zone, you will get used to that state of optimal anxiety. This state of being is known as “productive discomfort” and by stepping into it, it will become more normal and you will find it easier to stretch its boundaries. As you push yourself, your comfort zone expands, so what was previously difficult and anxiety-inducing, becomes easier as you repeat it. 4. You will find it easier to access your creativity. It is a fact that by seeking new experiences, learning new things and opening the door to new ideas, we expand our view of life and we acquire new knowledge that can inspire and educate us. By doing all of these, we start seeing the world in a different light and we become more eager to learn and challenge ourselves. Stepping outside our comfort zone can have a multitude of benefits that can last a lifetime. However, adaptation takes time, effort, strategy and determination. But with a solid plan in place and the courage to step forward, your results can be extraordinary. In the end, it is better to have tried and failed, than never to have tried at all.
ASK THE EXPERTS
SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS WE HELP YOU BRING YOUR PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION TO LIFE Sustainable technology solutions to support business processes and ensure agility in working with data in today’s business environment.
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Our specialized team of analysts support customers by identifying requirements and in matching these needs with an appropriate Performance Management software solution.
Our configuration team can support you in deploying in a timely and rigorous manner the solution of choice, either in the cloud or in a client-server environment.
In case support is needed in monitoring existing implementations, we can support through providing a review of the project progress and by auditing the preliminary outputs
Given our knowledge of the field, we support organizations in selecting and deploying the right software solutions for their context.
QuickScore by Spider Strategies To view a demo, access the following link: http://www.integerperform.com/kpi-dashboardbalanced-scorecard-software/demo/
EPMS by KPISOFT Get in touch for a personalized tour of KPISOFT: www.kpisoft.com/get-started/
Performance Management. Done Right.
Pre-populated Excel Templates To access the pre-populated comprehensive collection of Toolkits, visit: http://store.kpiinstitute.org/templates.html MARCH 2016 57
HARDWARE REVIEW
HARDWARE
Kindle Oasis
Need for Speed:
Now, maybe you are not the biggest health-tracking enthusiast. Maybe you simply like to kick it back and read a good book. On this topic, any avid reader knows that even though an iPhone or an iPad can be used for almost anything, when it comes to reading an e-book nothing can replace the good old, or not so old, e-reader.
But what if tracking your everyday activities seems a bit daunting and possibly even too invasive of your personal space? What if you would like to simply track your body’s performance during intense workouts, but would also like to be accompanied by a personal trainer or receive some coaching tips while doing it?
The Perfect e-Reader?
Just like iPhones and iPads are good for their intended purposes, e-readers are the perfect companions when it comes to reading a book. Apart from the fact that their matte e-ink display is easy to read in direct sunlight, their battery can last for weeks on end, allowing you to read for hours at a time. The newest addition to the Amazon Kindle series is the Kindle Oasis, a very luxurious, high-end e-reader. One of its distinguishing features is its size. The Oasis was designed for comfort, measuring only 5.6x4.8x0.3 inches and weighing a mere 4.7 ounces. Amazon has already declared that this is the thinnest, lightest Kindle that they’ve ever made. What is more, the e-book comes with a clever leather case which not only protects the e-reader, but provides extra battery power. If the case is attached, the Kindle Oasis can last for nine weeks with only one charge-up session. This version also has a built-in 3G connection for downloading books on the go and it does not include any Amazon advertising. Just like the older versions, the Oasis comes equipped with a 6-inch antiglare 300 ppi display, but unlike its older cousins, this Kindle employs 10 LEDs to ensure even backlighting across its display. Its most interesting and maybe slightly odd feature is the spine that was built into the device, and which tapers down into a thin point. The Oasis was designed to be held from the side, the way you would hold a traditional book. The Kindle Oasis is Amazon’s newest and most innovative creation, beautifully designed and engineered. However, its steep price might mean that it will be exclusively bought by either the most avid readers, or by the most devoted Kindle fans. 58 MARCH 2016
the Kuai headphones version
The Kuai multi-sport headphones are the answer. The Kuai gives instant live voice feedback about your heart rate, speed, distance, calories, oxygen intake and many other fitnessrelated aspects, as well as coaching tips from some of the world’s top coaches. Whether you prefer running, swimming, cycling, triathloning, HIIT exercises at the gym or extreme sports, these headphones have you covered. This gadget accurately measures your heart race, pace, cadence and distance while running or connect it to your bike sensor via its ANT+ connection that is compatible with all bike sensors and you get the same measurements while cycling; moreover, it lets you listen to your heart rate whilst analyzing your laps, speed, distance, strokes and the amount of calories burnt during your swimming sessions, as the headphones can be used at up to 3 meters underwater. Furthermore, it has an 8 GB memory, offering plenty of space to store your music, collected sports data and professional training plans, which you can download through its developer’s online website. And as mentioned earlier, if you’re into extreme sports, it also benefits from secure lock fit technology, a 7-hour battery life and requires no phone connection for anything other than phone calls, which it also answers via its Bluetooth. So there is no reason to ever worry about its integrity or try to take off gear just to answer that one phone call or change that one tune. With the Kuai headphones, you remove the necessity of having to wear a heart rate strap, a sport watch, a footpod, regular headphones and even the presence of a personal coach. You get the benefit of all these elements into one sleek-looking headphone set, which comes in three different colour tints and has quality stereo sound, two navigation switches, eartips for different sports and is built out of medical grade silicone.
HARDWARE
The Mio PAI Tracker
Smart presentations with
We all want to keep ourselves healthy, strong, energetic and full of life through our existence. It’s built into our inner being, no matter how lazy or bored we might be today or tomorrow. But with so many health tracking tools, how do we know which one’s the best for us?
Maybe health-tracking simply isn’t your cup of tea or main focus right now. Maybe you’re a busy business official that needs a tool which offers you an easier time communicating plans and ideas with your team. Maybe you need the SMART kapp whiteboard.
Introducing the Mio PAI Tracker, from Mio, a pioneer in optical heart rate technology, having engineered the most accurate heart rate wearables and systems for the past 15 years.
The SMART kapp whiteboard allows you to save and share notes written on it, in a library in its app. You can write on it using your regular dryerase marker and people can also follow along what is being written via the aforementioned app. Its developers, SMART Technologies, are dedicated to changing the world by altering the way we share knowledge. Their software and hardware solutions are tailored for everyone, from primary school students to Fortune 500 companies.
your life in a wrist tracker
Mio’s new heart rate activity tracker features an innovative measurement algorithm called Personal Activity Intelligence, or PAI for short. PAI is based off of the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, which is one of the largest health studies ever performed and out of which the HUNT database was born. Based on this database, Mio’s algorithm was developed to help the everyday user maintain the same level of physical activity that researchers found to contribute to a reduced risk of death from lifestyle diseases in the HUNT study. By focusing on quality exercises, like moderate-to-high intensity workouts, the study’s researchers found that people who kept their PAI score above 100 were more likely to live longer and lead healthier lives. But what does the Mio PAI Tracker measure? In short, everything. It analyzes every single move you make, including activities such as spinning, yoga, sudden swift body movements or gardening activities. It tracks your heart rate’s intensity and shows which activities earned the most PAI points in a day, highlighting which of them took a greater toll on your fortitude. And to make matters even more simple, the same score that study participants had to maintain stays true for daily users – keep yours above 100 score, over a 7-day period and you know you’re doing just fine, even if you may alternate the level of effort you put in day by day. Although the Mio PAI Tracker is still in the R&D phase, its developers have mostly finished the wearable product and are now working on finetuning its Android and iOS apps, so that you have easy-access to all the data it tracks. So if this sounds like something you might never want to take off of your wrist, head over to mioglobal.com and see all the latest news related to this revolutionary health management product.
SMART kapp
As of right now, the company’s products are in 3 million classrooms worldwide, serve 200 Fortune 1000 customers, 300.000 SMART lab users and have an average annual download rate of 5 million times. Moreover, SMART Technologies has received numerous awards, such as the Frost & Sullivan Product Line Strategy Leadership Award, the rAVe Publications Best of ISE Award 2016 and the 2016 EdTech Awards for best Hardware solutions provider and Trendsetter.Their interactive whiteboard lets you share information with multiple individuals and then use its app to save & transform that information into a notebook lesson on your tablet or smartphone. In addition to this, the app’s timeline feature allows users to replay the work they did, so you’ll be able to revisit your plans and see how they have evolved. The SMART kapp whiteboard comes in 2 sizes, 42 and 84 inches respectively. The 42 version includes a French cleat wall mount, an eraser, 3 dry-erase markers, is made of glass and weighs about 16 kg. It is compatible with iOS and Android devices, and boasts a 1 year warranty for $149 USD, which can be extended to $249 USD for 2 years. The 84 whiteboard also includes the French cleat wall mount, eraser, 6 dryerase markers, but is made out of painted laminate steel, thus weighing around 26 kg. This one is also compatible with iOS and Android devices, and comes in with similar warranty offers, $159 USD for 1 year and $259 USD for 2 years.If you ever were in a spot where you always wanted the information on that whiteboard but never could quite get it before it was erased, look no further. SMART kapp is the solution that lets you easily save, edit and even e-mail the notes written on it, so you will always have the information you want, right at the tip of your fingers. MARCH 2016 59
SOFTWARE REVIEW
SOFTWARE
a performance review management option, the app also gives employees the chance to assess their own performance. PeopleGoal links Goals, Feedback, Reviews and Development by managing them on a single platform and feeding in to real-time reporting data, thus allowing senior management and HR to analyze a broader and more detailed picture of the company’s performance.
PeopleGoal
A Performance Management Software Measuring employees’ performance and productivity is essential to any business that aspires to become successful, as success is mostly shouldered by its human components. That is why, each and every business, no matter its size, should have a system that can keep track of its employees’ performance. This feat can be easily achieved through the use of a new app known as PeopleGoal. Like the title suggests, PeopleGoal is a performance management software created to help businesses of all sizes, with the intent of easily and effectively overseeing the performance and productivity of their employees. This software makes it easier for top management personnel to define and to set clear business goals, through which they can analyze the performance of their employees. By offering
The modular platform can be customized, allowing businesses to optimize their performance management process. The app includes general best practice options like OKRs, KPIs and a Balanced Scorecard approach for those companies that want to start a new process or update their older one. What is more, the Recognition module offers employees the chance to give quicker and more ‘user friendly’ feedback, that can complete the more formal Feedback module. PeopleGoal can not only provide incentives and motivation by helping management recognize and reward staff, but it can also help employees identify and align themselves with the organization’s strategies, to help achieve its goals, while offering instant feedback and keeping everything and everybody on track. PeopleGoal is a HR Management Software that helps companies measure and analyze their performance and productivity, giving employees the chance to improve themselves, while improving the working process of the entire organization as well. 1. Forever Free Plan – under this plan the user can send up to 12.000 emails per month if he has fewer than 2.000 subscribers. This plan is ideal for small business owners, nonprofits, or other groups that are just getting started and cannot spend as much as they would like on marketing. 2. Free Learning Resources – MailChimp provides a variety of resources to help the user in his marketing campaigns. Those resources include videos, free ebooks, guides and tools.
MailChimp
A Popular Marketing Software Marketing emails, automated messages, and targeted campaigns are an inherent part of any business. MailChimp is a popular marketing service that can be used both by small and developing enterprises, as well as by big businesses and organizations. Because of its low-cost plan, MailChimp is ideal for startups. Users are able to use email to get in touch with their clients and prospective customers, and to market their products and services with ease and accuracy, due to the software’s businessenhancing analytical features and strong software tools. Apart from its affordability, MailChimp’s popularity also comes from its cheerful and humor filled interface. The pros of this software include: 60 MARCH 2016
3. Extensive Analytical Tracking – the app’s reports use interactive graphs which help the user oversee any activities associated with his emails. These reports reveal: open and click rates, openings by location, bounces, unsubscribes and many more. What is more, given its integration with Google Analytics, MailChimp offers additional insight into the user’s campaigns so that he can see how much revenue he has amassed. 4. Useful Mobile Application – MailChimp’s application for iPhone and Android is a shortcut to the user’s email marketing account, making it easier for him to add subscribers, get updates about campaigns and about social media activities, and many more. MailChimp is a popular marketing software that is easy to use and extremely affordable, and that even after all this time maintains its title as one of the best in the email marketing solutions market.
SOFTWARE
Zoho Reports
A Great Business Intelligence Software Companies need to accurately analyze their business data so that they can take informed decisions. Any company can make sense of its business data more easily by using reports and dashboards.
White Labeling
Zoho Reports is an online reporting and business intelligence (BI) solution that helps small to large organizations do just that. This app allows users to easily create and share powerful reports in minutes with no IT help. Its powerful web-based business intelligence engine can help any company obtain new insights into its data. What is more, the software has a range of report creation options, which includes charts, pivot tables, tabular views, summary views, and dashboards. Apart from its useful data analysis, Zoho Reports is easy to setup and fast to implement. Its interface resembles a spreadsheet and the simple dragand-drop system makes it easier to learn and use for any business, when dealing with reports. As the app is web-based, its users don’t have to email their reports, as anyone can quickly view them online. What is more, the tool’s interface can be accessed anytime, anywhere, provided that the user has a good internet connection and a web browser. Zoho Reports is not restricted to only one functional area, or only one type of user. This app was intended to be used across various functional areas and by a wide range of users for their reporting and analytics needs.
Sharing collaboration
The user of this software can: Upload spreadsheets and other tabular data securely, as it supports CSV, TSV, XLS and HTML files; Use the software’s wide range of charts, pivot tables and tabular view components to build insightful reports and dashboards; Share the reports with others for better decision making; Embed reports and dashboards in websites, blogs and applications for wider consumption; Create powerful and flexible reports with SQL queries written in any database dialect/syntax that the user knows. Zoho Reports is a great BI software not only because it is an ideal fit for all types and sizes of businesses, but also because it allows the user to easily group data into tables and to cross report them via the drag and drop report creator or via the more experience SQL functions.
Visual analysis MARCH 2016 61
RECOMMENDED
RECOMMENDATIONS
Must-haves for your 2017 reading list 1
3
2
4
6
1. How to Dissolve The Divide: Tales from the Business-Management World
2. Entrepreneurship: An Entrepreneur’s Guide To Wealth Building
Veteran businessman John Strazz explains how to replace workplace anger, resentment, and miscommunication with a more positive, mutually respectful work culture. Beginning with the need to educate the workforce on the value of expert management, Strazz goes on to discuss the corresponding side of the equation—understanding that a company’s most important asset is its workforce.
Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur, a business owner or a freelancer, this work will teach you how to think, plan, act and find self-fulfillment in their entrepreneurial dreams. More importantly, you’ll find out the pitfalls that befall most new entrepreneurs, the truth behind wealth building, the principles that make an entrepreneur successful, and so much more.
3. The Check-in Strategy Journal: Your Daily Tracker for Business and Personal Development
4. Passive income: Ideas and strategies on how to acquire financial freedom and live life on your terms
There never seem to be enough hours in the day to take care of daily business and work towards your goals, which is an issue that The Strategic Planning Handbook tries to fix. It offers its readers the solution, in the form of a daily and weekly system that shuffles your schedule until everything fits. Define your vision, your way, then plan your work and work your plan.
Creating a successful passive income empire will free up time for you to spend with your family, to learn new skills through hobbies, and to meet new people. Time is something none of us has enough of these days. Hectic lifestyles, work, traffic, we hardly ever have quality time for our families or even ourselves. Get out of the rut you are stuck in and start creating your future.
5. The Most Effective Content Marketing Strategies You Need to Master
6. Manage. Lead. Transform: A Project manager’s Guide to Reducing project timelines by 50% or more
Content is king when it comes to marketing your online business. Do it right and reap the benefits. Do it poorly and watch your domain fade away and get lost in the white noise of the internet. In this book you will discover what it takes to create content that sells. Everything from headline copy to social media marketing is addressed. A reference guide, packed with information and examples, this is a must have.
Shakeel Akhtar and Ayesha Hakim believe that project failure starts more at the task level because of team disengagement. Howto overcome this disengagement so that every task is done at the right time by the right person is the focus of this book. Their timetested MLT framework will help you build a trusted system to first manage the project work and then lead a high performing team and finally transform an organization.
By J. D. Strazz
By Robert Craven, Adam Harris
By Jason Britt
62 MARCH 2016
5
By Benjamin Sallai
By Horace Townsend
By Shakeel Akhtar, Ayesha Hakim
RECOMMENDATIONS
THE FOUNDER OR THE STORY OF HOW PERSISTENCE CAN OUTWEIGH TALENT
T
he Founder tells the true story of how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met the McDonald brothers, took their innovative idea and transformed it into a billion-dollar business. In the first half of the movie the viewer is led to sympathize with Ray Kroc, played by Michael Keaton, who is depicted as a hardworking man, who is always on the road, driving from town to town in an attempt to sell drive-in managers a fivespindle milkshake machine. He spends his days on the road and his nights in motel rooms listening to self-help albums and assuring his wife that everything is going well. He’s past 50 and believes his marriage, career and existence are second hand goods. All this changes however, when he meets John Carroll Lynch and Nick Offerman, who play the roles of Mac and Dick McDonald, two talented but naïve brothers. Dick and Mac have come up with an extraordinarily efficient fast-food system in their burger restaurant which does not require any plates, cutlery, or tedious wait times. This new “speedee service system” guarantees that the food is ready in 30 seconds, not in 30 minutes, and simplifies the way people
eat as the customers can take their food and eat it wherever they want. After the brothers give him a tour of their restaurant and tell him how they came up with this idea, Kroc immediately senses the franchise possibilities. He does not waste any time and by playing on their weaknesses he succeeds in convincing them to let him sell franchises. From this point on, Ray Kroc reveals his greedy, conniving and power hungry self. The viewer can’t help but watch in a kind of horrified fascination as Kroc manipulates the two brothers and takes control of the finances through risky bank loans and realestate deals. His ambition is far greater than that of Mac and Dick. He grows the business in no time and decides that he is not getting a big enough cut. He discovers that the main source of income is not the franchise, but the land on which the franchise is built, and as a result he becomes incredibly rich leaving the brothers with nothing but broken promises and a couple of checks. After spending all his life chasing shadows, Kroc is clearly overtaken by greed. Even though in the beginning he seems like a hard-working,
slightly desperate blue-collared man, by the end his greed reveals the fact that he isn’t just a small guy trying to work for the greater good of his country. One could argue that he symbolizes both the admirable and the despicable in the business world. Nonetheless, we cannot help but admire his ambition, his vision and his desire to transform McDonald’s into a restaurant chain. We also have to admit the fact that without his determination and persistence McDonald’s would have never become the Fast Food Mega Power it is today. While Mac and Dick McDonald had the talent, Ray Kroc was the one with the ambition, with the perseverance, and that is also a kind of talent. “The Founder” is a movie about persistence and determination, underlining the fact that today’s capitalism is defined by one single word: ruthlessness. However, it is also a lesson about how talent cannot rise without ambition, and how ambition cannot survive without talent. In the end, McDonald’s would have never been the mega power it is today, had it not been for the talented Mac and Dick McDonald and the ambitious Ray Kroc. MARCH 2016 63
THE KPI DICTIONARY · REFERENCE COLLECTION OF BOOKS
Find the most suitable KPIs to measure your business success! Examples of documented Key Performance Indicator Definitions for an in depth view on Performance Measurement Newly released publications: 14 Functional Area KPI Dictionaries 18 Industry KPI Dictionaries
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Content. Methodology. Visual Summary. Introduction. Global Perspectives. Practitioners’. Perspectives. Academics’ Perspectives. Consultants’ Perspectives. Map Snapshot. Country Profiles. Country Legislations. Trends in Search. 2015 Statistics. Media Exposure. Educational Programs. Main Events in the field. Career. Bestselling Books. Latest Published Books. Journal Articles. Portals. Communities. Corporate Performance Management Software. Business Intelligence Software. Employee Performance Management Software. | Interviews. Australia. China. Italy. Indonesia. New Zealand. Pakistan. Saudi Arabia. Singapore. Turkey. United Kingdom. | Keywords analyzed. Analytics. Balanced Scorecard. BI. Business Intelligence. Business Performance Management. Corporate Performance Management. Dashboard. Employee Evaluation. Employee Performance. Employee Performance Management. Enterprise Performance Management. Individual Performance Management. Individual Performance Plan. Key Performance Indicators. KPI. Metrics. Operational Performance Management. Performance Appraisal. Performance Criteria. Performance Evaluation. Performance Management. Performance Management Plan. Performance Management System. Performance Measures. Performance Review. Scorecard. Strategic Performance Management. Strategy Execution. Strategy Implementation. Strategy Management. | Educational Degree Institutions. Aston University. University College Dublin. Erasmus University Rotterdam. HEC Paris. Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh Business School. University of Leicester. London School of Economics and Political Science. MIP Politecnico di Milano. University of Liege HEC Management School. École Supérieure de Commerce Paris Europe. Universita degli Studi di Palermo. Franklin University. New York University Stern School of Business. University of Pennsylvania Wharton Business School. Regis University. Weber State University. Bellevue University. Georgetown University. University of Sydney. The University of Adelaide. Monash University. King Abdulaiz University, Faculty of Economics and Administration. Beirut Arab University, Faculty of Business Administration. United Arab Emirates University. Zayed University College of Business. Peking University Guanghua School of Management. The Chinese University of Hong Kong. University of Delhi, Faculty of Management Studies. Africa University, Faculty of Business Administration. University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business. North-West University, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. | Performance Management Events. 2015. Bahrain: Manama; Egypt: Cairo; Hungary: Budapest; Hong Kong; India: Mumbai; New Zealand: Auckland; Oman: Muscat; Saudi Arabia: Jeddah; Scotland: Edinburgh; Singapore: Singapore; Spain: Barcelona; United Arab Emirates: Dubai; United Kingdom: London; United States: Florida, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Texas. | Career. Jobs. Salaries. | Book Categories. Business Performance Management. Corporate Performance Management. Employee Performance Management. Enterprise Performance Management. Individual Performance Management. Operational Performance Management. Performance Management. Personal Performance. Strategic Management. Strategy Execution. | Peer Reviewed Journals. Top 18. | Portals. Top 10 Most Visited. | Communities Analyzed. Balanced Scorecard. Business Intelligence. Corporate Performance Management. Employee Performance Management. Key Performance Indicators. | Software. Gartner: Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Software Solutions. | 232 countries reviewed. 87 with performance management legislation in place. Abkhazia. Afghanistan. Åland Islands. Albania. Algeria. American Samoa. Angola. Anguilla. Antarctica. Antigua and Barbuda. Argentina. Armenia. Aruba. Australia. Austria. Azerbaijan. Bahamas. Bahrain. Bangladesh. Barbados. Belarus. Belgium. Belize. Benin. Bermuda. Bhutan. Bolivia. Bosnia and Herzegovina. Botswana. Brazil. British Virgin Islands. Brunei. Bulgaria. Burkina Faso. Burma. Burundi. Cambodia. Cameroon. Canada. Cape Verde. Caribbean Netherlands. Cayman Islands. Central African Republic. Chad. Chile. China. Christmas Islands. Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Colombia. Comoros. Congo, Democratic Republic of the. Cook Islands. Costa Rica. Cote d’Ivoire. Croatia. Cuba. Curacao. Cyprus. Czech Republic. Denmark. Djibouti. Dominica. Dominican Republic. Ecuador. Egypt. El Salvador. Eritrea. Equatorial Guinea. Estonia. Ethiopia. Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). Faroe Islands. Fiji. Finland. France. French Guiana. Gabon. Gambia, The. Georgia. Germany. Ghana. Greece. Grenada. Guadeloupe. Guam. Guernsey. Guyana. Honduras. Hong Kong. Hungary. Iceland. India. Indonesia. Iran. Iraq. Ireland. Isle of Man. Israel. Italy. Jamaica. Japan. Jersey and Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Jordan. Kazakhstan. Kenya. Kiribati. Korea, North. Korea, South. Kosovo. Kuwait. Kyrgyzstan. Laos. Latvia. Lebanon. Lesotho. Liberia. Libya. Liechtenstein. Lithuania. Luxembourg. Macau. Macedonia. Madagascar. Malawi. Malaysia. Maldives. Mali. Malta. Marshall Islands. Mauritania. Mauritius. Mayotte. Mexico. Micronesia, Federated States of. Moldova. Monaco. Mongolia. Montserrat. Montenegro. Morocco. Mozambique. Namibia. Nauru. Nepal. Netherlands. New Caledonia. New Zealand. Nicaragua. Niger. Nigeria. Niue. Norfolk Islands. Norway. Oman, Sultanate of. Pakistan. Palau. Palestine. Panama. Papua New Guinea. Paraguay. Peru. Philippines. Pitcairn Islands. Poland. Portugal. Puerto Rico. Qatar. Réunion. Romania. Russia. Rwanda. Saint Barthelemy. Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Saint Kitts and Nevis. Saint Lucia. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Samoa. Sao Tome and Principe. Saudi Arabia. Senegal. Serbia. Seychelles. Sierra Leone. Singapore. Sint Maarten. San Marino. Slovakia. Slovenia. Solomon Islands. Somalia. South Africa. South Ossetia. Spain. Sri Lanka. Sudan (South). Suriname. Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands. Swaziland. Sweden. Switzerland. Syria. Taiwan. Tajikistan. Tanzania. Thailand. Timor-Leste. Togo. Tokelau. Tonga. Transnistria. Trinidad and Tobago. Tunisia. Turkey. Turkmenistan. Turks and Caicos Islands. Tuvalu. Uganda. Ukraine. United Arab Emirates. United Kingdom. United States. Uruguay. Vatican City. Uzbekistan. Vanuatu. Vietnam. Virgin Islands. Wallis and Futuna. West Bank. Western Sahara. Zambia. Zimbabwe.
64 FEBRUARY 2016
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN 2015
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State of the discipline annual magazine
“Collaborative efforts will grow continuously and further impact Performance Management.”
Perspectives 13 Interviews. 10 Countries. Practitioners. Academics. Consulants
Around the World Performance - related legislation in 232 countries
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Performance Magazine, Printed Edition. Seventh issue, March 2017. Content: News. World’s First Integrated Strategy and Performance Audit Platform is Online!. What is a Health Work Limit?. The App that Could Save Lives and Battle Cancer. Longines launches revolutionary ski-boot chip at Sölden. How AI can bring on a second Industrial Revolution. Unlocking the Secrets of the Brain – Long-Term Potentiation. Individual Wellbeing at the Workplace. Cover story: The Homeland Security Balanced Scorecard. Expert Interviews: Bård Kuvaas, Professor – Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour, BI Norwegian School of Management, Norway. Martin Kunc, Associate Professor of Science Management, Warwick Business School, United Kingdom. Randa Hariri, Director of Strategic-Operational Planning & Performance Evaluation Department/ Assistant Professor, Dark Al-Hekma University, Saudi Arabia. Bart Geeraerts, Management Consultant and Performance Management Reporting & Projects Expert, Degroof Petercam, Belgium. Francesco Consolati, Advisory Business Solution Manager – Risk, Fraud and Performance Management, SAS, Italy. Portrait. Sophia Thomaidou, Partner & Licensed NLP Trainer and Coach, Zeler & Company, Greece. Communication – the link between employee & business performance. Around the World: Welcome to Queensland – Where Performance Management Shines. The Republic of South Africa: How to Effectively Reconcile Strategic Planning and Budgeting. Management Performance in the Chinese Government. Lessons Learned from Brazil’s Anti-Poverty Strategy. Individual Performance. Five Useful Strategies to Help You Manage Difficult Team Members. The Pros of Workplace Diversity. Organizational Performance. How to Overcome the Challenges of Organizational Change. Operational Performance. Blockchain – The Future of Transactions. Strategy and Performance Management. Four Simple Ways to Improve Manager Communication. Balanced Scorecard. Verizon Communications and the HR Balanced Scorecard. KPIs. KPIs and The Media Industry. Marketing Performance. Five Basic Ways of Building Your Company Brand. Supplier Performance. Supplier Performance in Supporting Our Businesses. Ask the Experts. How can you build a performance culture. Lifestyle. How to Improve Your Emotional Intelligence. Memory Boosting – The Key to Successful Job Interviews. The Benefits of Crossing the Threshold of Your Comfort Zone. Hardware Review. The Mio PAI Tracker – your life in a wrist tracker. Need for Speed: the Kuai headphones version. Kindle Oasis – The Perfect e-Reader?. Smart presentations with SMART kapp. Software Review. MailChimp – A Popular Marketing Software. Zoho Reports – A Great Business Intelligence Software. PeopleGoal – A Performance Management Software. Recommended. Titles to include in your 2017 reading list. The Value Driven Business: The Simple Strategy To Create A Business You Love, by Benjamin Teal. Turning Goals into Results (Harvard Business Review Classics): The Power of Catalytic Mechanisms, by Jim Collins. The Check-in Strategy Journal: Your Daily Tracker for Business and Personal Development, by Robert Craven, Adam Harris. The Most Effective Content Marketing Strategies You Need to Master, by Jason Britt. Passive income: Ideas and strategies on how to acquire financial freedom and live life on your terms, by Horace Townsend. Manage. Lead. Transform: A Project manager’s Guide to Reducing project timelines by 50% or more, by Shakeel Akhtar, Ayesha Hakim. How to Dissolve The Divide: Tales from the Business-Management World, by J.D. Strazz. Entrepreneurship: An Entrepreneur’s Guide To Wealth Building, by Benjamin Sallai. Strategy Driven for Success Handbook: Deploy Strategies – Achieve Objectives – Celebrate Success, by Rod Baxter. Movie. The Founder or the Story of How Persistence Can Outweigh Talent. Keywords: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Balanced Scorecard. Performance Management. Performance Measurement. Strategy. Employee Performance Management. Personal Performance Management. Benchmarking. Balanced Scorecard Management System Performance. Measurement. Management. Business Intelligence. Education. Solution. Problem-solving. Decision-making. Project Management. Project Planning. KPI Selection. KPI Documentation. KPI Evaluation. Data gathering. Data presentation. Expert Interviews. Academics. Consultants. Events. Research. Mission. Vision. Strategy. Best know-how. Data and Facts. Common Sense. Data Accuracy. Performance Magazine Focus Categories: Editorials. Articles. News. Interviews. Multimedia. Strategy. Balanced Scorecard. KPI. Organizational Performance. Operational Performance. Individual Performance. Personal Performance. Around the World. The KPI Institute’s Professional Certification Programs. Certified Strategy and Business Planning Professional. Certified KPI Professional and Practitioner. Certified Performance Improvement Professional. Certified Employee Performance Management Professional. Certified Personal Performance Professional. Certified Data Visualization Professional. Certified Data Analysis Professional. Certified Benchmarking