Performance Magazine: Printed Edition - July 2017

Issue No. 9 July/2017

INTERVIEWS CONSULTANTS. PRACTITIONERS. Insights from practice AROUND THE WORLD The world happiness report measuring countries’ well-being Kamikatsu. The town that produces no waste Step up in social innovation to stand out ARTICLES USING AWARENESS TO ANALYZE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION INNOVATION MANAGEMENT THROUGH KPIS THE NEW PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY BUYER-SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIP NEGOTIATION AT ITS BEST + LIFESTYLE, HARDWARE & SOFTWARE, AND RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

PORTRAIT

REZA SHARIF

Improvement is performance management’s endgame

INDEMNITY STATEMENT

Š 2017 The KPI Institute Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

ID Number: TKI0172061 ISBN-13: 978-1973735670 ISBN-10: 1973735679 An appropriate citation for this magazine is: The KPI Institute, Performance Magazine, Printed Edition, no. 9, vol. 4/2017, July, 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:

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CONTENTS

EDITOR’S NOTE

3

NEWS

6

COVER STORY Customer experience: building relationships and generating loyalty

Sustainability Performance

49

10

Sustainability reporting: should your organization implement the GRI standards?

49

10

KPIs

52

Innovation management through KPIs

52

14

Healthcare Performance

56

Manal Mulla

15

56

Mohammed Al-Ghamdi

16

The new paradigm shift in the healthcare industry

Ahmed A. Mustafa

17

Performance Improvement

57

Jorge Castellote

19

57

Mahadi Osman

20

5 ways you can boost the sales value of your green business

21

Supplier Performance

Muhammad Farhan

58

Nabil Boulos

23

Buyer-supplier relationship negotiation at its best

58

PORTRAIT

26

AROUND THE WORLD

26

34

Global e-governance index: the Singapore case

34

Kamikatsu: the town that produces no waste

36

The world happiness report measuring countries' well-being Step up in social innovation to stand out

ARTICLES

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42

INTERVIEWS

Reza Sharif. Improvement is performance management's endgame

2

ARTICLES

ASK THE EXPERTS Do we really need organizational performance management to generate improvements?

LIFESTYLE

59 59

62

Bringing your fitness club to its best performance. Which KPIs to use?

62

38

Are you emotionally intelligent?

Here's how to tell

64

40

How quality sleep and sleep deprivation affect performance

68

42

HARDWARE

70

Customer Service Performance

42

Amazon Echo Dot

70

Using awareness to analyze customer satisfaction

42

Apple Watch Series 2

70

How to benchmark the performance of your customer service department

43

Logitech MeetUp

71

Benchmarking

45

Panasonic Tablets

71

Benchmarking's role within the six sigma methodology

45

Individual Performance

SOFTWARE

72

Qlik Sense

72

47

Reservio

72

The 3 rules of employee engagement: rewards, compassion, insights

47

TimeCamp

73

Balanced Scorecard

48

Kaspersky's New Secure OS

73

Strengths of the Balanced Scorecard System: a comparative perspective

48

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

74

Books: Must-haves for your 2017 reading list

74

Movie: Office Space

75

Aurel Brudan CEO, The KPI Institute Andrei Costea Head of Publishing & Media

EDITORIAL TEAM Maria Juncu Daniela Dandeș Teodora Oltean-Gocan Andreia Feraru Alina Miertoiu Paul Albu Ana Maria Sabău Andreea Vecerdea Cristina Mihăiloaie

DESIGN Javier Rocha Head of Graphic Design

MARKETING Valentina Matei Head of Marketing

GUEST CONTRIBUTORS Maggie Hammond Erich Lawson Janae Ernst

With these thoughts in mind, we proudly announce the launch of our ninth 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.

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.

This edition provides details on the subjects of KPIs, the Balanced Scorecard, Customer Service Performance, Sustainability Performance and Benchmarking, 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.

In our 9th issue of PERFORMANCE Magazine, we shall delve into the professional life of Reza Sharif, MD and Founder of Parsian Strategy, a privately held management consulting company that provides businesses with strategy training and consulting services. Reza has made it his mission to help organizations to define their strategies, take actions to realize their vision and achieve performance excellence by building a performance culture. For him, constant and consistent improvement should be the end goal of Performance Management, the kind of improvement that is systems-based and is focused around outcomes and performance drivers, so that efficiency and effectiveness are always at peak values.

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 subdomains, from KPIs, to the Balanced Scorecard, to Individual, Supplier and Healthcare 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 July’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 JULY 2017

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SCHEDULED COURSES IN 2017 Upcoming 2017 Training Courses Americas

City

Date

Certified KPI Professional

Santiago Toronto

25 - 27 September 6 - 8 November

Asia Pacific

City

Date

Certified KPI Professional

Certified Data Analysis Professional Certified Data Visualization Certified Balanced Scorecard Management System Professional Certified Customer Service Performance Professional Certified Performance Audit Professional and Practitioner

Kuala Lumpur Singapore Kuala Lumpur Hong Kong Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur Singapore Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur Singapore

20 - 22 November 10 - 12 October 6 - 8 September 13 - 15 September 15 - 17 November 9 - 11 October 14 - 16 August 13 - 15 December 14 - 16 August 20 - 22 November

Middle East

City

Date

Certified KPI Professional and Practitioner

Abu Dhabi Doha Dubai

12 - 16 November 5 - 9 November 24 - 28 September 10 - 14 December 27 - 31 August 22 - 26 October 12 - 14 November 24 - 26 September 10 - 12 December 29 - 31 August 14 - 16 November 19 - 21 November 4 - 6 December 8 - 10 October 10 - 12 December 5 - 7 November 15 - 17 October 22 - 24 October 5 - 7 November 12 - 14 November 9 - 11 October 29 - 31 October 21 - 23 November

Certified Strategy and Business Planning Professional Certified Employee Performance Professional

Certified KPI Professional

Certified Strategy and Business Planning Professional

Certified Performance Management Professional Certified Customer Service Perfomance Professional Certified Employee Performance Professional Certified Supplier Performance Professional Certified Balanced Scorecard Management System Professional Certified Benchmarking Professional

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JULY 2017

Jeddah Riyadh Abu Dhabi Dubai Tehran Dubai Riyadh Tehran Dubai Riyadh Dubai Dubai Riyadh Dubai Dubai Tehran Dubai Jeddah

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 JULY 2017

5

NEWS

NEWS

their own partner relationships and will allow them to connect more efficiently. What is more, they help managers identify new partners and suppliers, and they help companies benchmark their own performance against peers. For a commercial graph to be complete it has to display three things: the companies in an ecosystem, the relationship between them, and the reputations they have earned through their mutual dealings. The commercial graph’s most valuable ability is that of depicting each party’s earned reputation. A company’s reputation score depends on its performance in relation to a number of business relationships.

> Commercial Graph The Digital Enemy of the 21st Century Social networks have become a valuable means for acquiring data. Facebook was among the first networks that graphed the users’ relationships and interactions, with the intention of providing those taking a special interest in their user base a means of reaching them with highly targeted services.

Today, businesses that sell to customers or that need to deal with suppliers have the chance to create their own social graphs, depicting the interactions among enterprises and not just individuals. These graphs are an upgraded version of the old social graphs, and they are called commercial graphs.

Commercial graphs illustrate the existing relationships between businesses, based on digitally captured real-life interactions. They are designed to help businesses manage

It is important to note that these graphs depend solely on implicit indicators of quality and performance, which can be objectively observed in the business interactions between companies.

Companies have started noticing the potential of these commercial graphs. We can already find a number of software providers that have started taking actions towards capitalizing on this opportunity. Organizations like TradeShift, Procurify and SPS Commerce have seized the opportunity and are now collecting interaction data through their workflow management tools.

However, they are not the only ones. LinkedIn, as well as payment startups like Square and cash-flow management startups like Pulse App are also planning on adopting the new graphs. Commercial graphs will soon become an integral part of the business world, as the importance of their role in creating more efficient market interactions, as well as in building healthy business relationships, cannot be denied.

> HNA Group A New Predator in the Business World The HNA Group was founded in 1993 by the Chinese billionaire Chen Feng and made its name in shipping and aviation. Although relatively unknown, China’s HNA Group is becoming one of the world’s biggest companies.

In the past few years the company has been spending millions of dollars with the sole intention of acquiring as many businesses as possible, as well as stakes in Deutsche Bank, the Hilton hotel chain and skyscrapers in London. The Chinese organization has a huge employee base which counts more than 400,000 people worldwide and has no intention of stopping there.

Despite some threats of harsher spending controls on Chinese businesses and the Brexit incident in the UK, HNA chief executive Adam Tan declared that they have complete confidence in the organization’s approach. Their main strategy involves buying businesses all along the supply chain. This means that the 6

JULY 2017

conglomerate takes care of the whole ‘package’, from the airlines business and airport business, to the shopping and travel agent business. For instance, when you travel, your luggage could be handled by one of its firms, you could eat airplane food from its catering group Gate Gourmet, or stay in one of its hotels.

Apart from the travel industry, HNA has a huge property portfolio.

Among its major deals, one cannot but mention the two large buildings in London's Canary Wharf, as well as some major acquisitions, such as the Carlson Hotel, which runs the Radisson hotel chain, the airline catering firm Gate Gourmet, the Irish aircraft leasing firm Avolon Holdings, as well as the airport services firm Swissport Group.

Last but not least, it wouldn’t do to forget the fact that the HNA Group is not only the biggest shareholder in Deutsche Bank, but that it also has a 25% stake in the Hilton Hotel Group.

NEWS

> The Malls of the Future The mall, as we know, it has slowly become a thing of the past, as new technologies and continuous innovations have opened the path towards a new era.

> Hyperloop A Loopy Idea or the Future of Transportation?

According to Elon Musk, the Hyperloop is a “cross between a Concorde, a railgun and an air hockey table”, a “fun ride” that introduces an entirely new mode of transportation. Musk envisioned a very fast and very efficient form of transportation that could transport passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in less than 30 minutes. If this idea becomes a reality, then this new mode of transportation would be faster than the bullet train planned for that region.

Last year, at an Economist innovation awards event, Elon Musk noted that the Hyperloop would be “much faster and cheaper while remaining weatherproof and, “ideally”, crash proof”. What is more, he mentioned that passengers would get on and off without having to wait for service.

Jay Yarow of Business Insider believes that a 1972 paper written by R.M. Salter, a physicist for the Rand Corporation, is Musk’s source of inspiration. Giving it a very straightforward name “The Very High Speed Transit System”, R.M. Salter proposed an underground tube that would send passengers from New York to Los Angeles in 21 minutes.

He even mentioned a network that could connect various points of arrival and departure. This system would be powered through a type of electromagnetic levitation that would propel cars at speeds of nearly 14,000 miles per hour. However, Musk has denied the idea of using underground vacuum tubes for the Hyperloop. So what are his other options?

Brian Dodson of Gizmag suggested the Lofstrom Loop (a system for launching payloads into space) and a Pneumatic Transport System (PTS).

This era of “smart” shopping centers has already begun in China and parts of the US. China’s high-end, futuristic malls are equipped with new technology in the hopes of attracting more and more customers.

The rise of e-commerce and a change in consumers’ tastes, have determined shoppers to visit malls less and less. That is why malls need to come up with new ideas if they want to match the omnipresent and omnipotent e-commerce providers. One feature that has gained popularity lately has taken the form of touch-screen platforms that provide customer information.

For example, in the US, Ralph Lauren is testing interactive mirrors in fitting rooms. These mirrors allow shoppers to request different sizes, browse through other items, or interact with a sales associate.

What is more, stores have started embracing the idea of retail robots. It may come as no surprise that Pepper is a Japanese robot, that is fluent in eight languages and that can serve as a personal stylist and salesperson.

All these innovative services have the sole purpose of offering customers technologies that can convince them to come out of their homes. However, the other major change in these futuristic malls lies in customers’ smartphones.

Some malls have realized that they can stay connected to their customers by texting them. Shanghai’s Cloud Nine and Shenzhen’s SEG Plaza are using WeChat, a social messaging app through which they share their news and loyalty programs, while in the US, shoppers can text questions to the mall’s information desk at some Macerich locations.

Retailers regard apps as today’s most effective means of gathering more information about shoppers. Even though this new technology has contributed to the decline of malls in America, it has also brought forth some of the most innovative ideas that can give retailers the chance to bring malls at the forefront of the shopping world once again.

It could be possible, but considering that Elon Musk is currently involved with creating new technologies for space travel and exploration, he might have discovered new high-speed transportation technology. Then again, Musk’s idea might be just that - an out of this world idea that cannot be transformed into reality. Even so, all things start with a spark of recognition, of awareness and then with an idea, a concept that might just become possible.

That is why people are so intrigued and interested in Musk’s “farfetched” dream. They know that if it becomes reality, then the U.S. transportation system will be cheaper, faster, weatherproof, crash-proof and always on time.

JULY 2017

7

NEWS

> The business idea that looks to tackle CO2 Carbon dioxide emissions are a real threat, as they can lead to climate change. Unfortunately, as it stands right now, current levels of CO2 have went up by quite a bit. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that 10 gigatons of CO2 need to be removed from Earth's atmosphere every year to halt the pace of global warming.

Nonetheless, some innovative people have not fallen into despair, despite these grim numbers. Instead they have created the world's first commercial facility that can extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and resell it for commercial purposes.

According to the company that developed this new system, this technology could lead to a 1% cut of global fossil fuel emissions by 2025.

Climeworks is the name of the company that built a plant near the village of Hinwil, in Switzerland, and the agricultural firm Gebrüder Meier Primanatura runs the greenhouse. The company declared that the agricultural firm plans to use CO2 to enhance the growth of lettuce.

Gebrüder Meier Primanatura estimates that the CO2 from the Hinwil plant will enhance the growth of its lettuce by 20 to 30%. What is more, the waste incineration plant will provide the heat and renewable electricity needed to run the facility Valentin Gutknecht, a business development manager at Climeworks, said "The plant will capture 900 tons of CO2 per year” and that it “consists of several CO2 collectors, which are large boxes with filters inside. We blow air through these boxes for several hours, and after the filter is saturated, we heat the box up to 100 degrees to extract the pure CO2 and regenerate the filters."

Climeworks also plans to manufacture synthetic fuels from CO2. "The idea is to use excess renewable energy from solar and wind power plants to produce hydrogen and then synthesize it with CO2 to create renewable hydrocarbon fuels such as gasoline and jet fuel," Gutknecht said.

Climeworks has big plans, as it hopes to launch 250,000 plants, similar to the original one, by 2025. These plans reveal not only their vision of a successful business, but also their desire to help the planet, as their success could enable technology to eliminate 1% of global fossil fuel emissions. Apart from agriculture and synthetic-fuel manufacturing, Climeworks believes that fizzy-drink makers could also hop on board by discarding the use of synthetic CO2, a byproduct of ammonia production, and using the atmospheric gas which we have plenty of.

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JULY 2017

> The Startup Accelerator that Helps Launch Companies All those who stand at the front lines of patient care, such as nurses and physicians, represent a potential source for innovation that could lead to a reduced cost of care and to improvements in patient health.

However, it is not easy to turn clinicians into entrepreneurs, as they have little time and often lack the skills needed to transform an idea into a product. Boston Children’s Hospital is the first hospital that decided to create an innovation accelerator to overcome these problems. The accelerator was launched in early 2016 and it immediately succeeded to engage more than 300 clinicians, researchers and administrators, connecting more than 25 clinical departments at the hospital.

What is more, it has developed nine projects, three of which have become start-up companies that have amassed over $2 million in venture funding. The Innovation & Digital Health Accelerator (IDHA) provides business analysis and direct feedback from an in-house team that is experienced in business development and digital health.

The Boston Children’s Hospital method offers development support, mentoring, as well as funding, depending on each project’s needs. Apart from this, the accelerator is comprised of a development and data science group which is responsible for building, testing, and implementing digital innovations.

The hospital also formed a network of external experts and industry collaborators with the intention of constantly developing their capabilities. This, in turn, has allowed them to provide a wider range of services, to build new technologies and to form new start-ups.

The hospital staff attribute their success to these six elements: 1. Benefitting from a sound business mindset 2. Providing an early verdict 3. Giving valid and constructive rejections 4. Creating a diverse team 5. Having an entrepreneurial leader 6. Receiving practical industry input Digital technologies can completely transform the world of health care, as they promise change, evolution and innovation. Physicians, nurses and other frontline clinicians should be the main actors when it comes to inventing new applications. However, they need help from a variety of specialized support, as well as an innovation system that can complement their needs.

NEWS

THE KPI DICTIONARY · REFERENCE COLLECTION OF BOOKS

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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.

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FEBRUARY 2016

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN 2015

More Publications INTERVIEWS

LEGISLATION

“New IT developments and software tools allow countries around the world to break conventional boundaries.”

EDUCATION

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN 2015

EVENTS

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

Keyword Trends Statistics for the most popular performance-related keywords in Google search

Keep up to date with industry trends and leaders!

Education Degrees. Subjects. Main Events.

Resources Best-selling books. Latest published books. Academic articles. Portals.

Communities

Software Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for 2016.

For more details visit our store: marketplace.kpiinstitute.org

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9

COVER EVENTS STORY

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS AND GENERATING LOYALTY DANIELA DANDES

I discussion in the business sector is related to customers. The

main questions that need to be answered are: How do you attract customers?; How do you approach leads? – this question led to the development of a new business, called growth hacking; How do you earn their trust? and most importantly: How do you keep them happy, satisfied and loyal?

department and/or strategy, versus companies that did not include such an approach in their business.Even back then, the results of this report were clearly in the customer’s favor: in a period of five years (2007-2011), companies that implemented a customer oriented policy produced a cumulative total return of over 22%. In comparison, those organizations that lacked a customer experience approach experienced a negative rate of return, more specifically -46%.

Customer experience has been around for quite a while now and it is employed by companies around the world. In 2012, a company called Watermark Consulting researched how to best calculate the ROI of publicly traded companies that had a customer experience

The idea here is that not only do customers reward companies that take an authentic interest in them and their needs, but the market itself has already embraced that approach. This has been happening for quite a while now.

t is no secret that in 2017 one of the most important topics of

10 JULY 2017

COVER STORY

CE – the new old idea So how come we are still considering the customer experience department a new idea? Even though the results of such a department have been proven in the past, companies are still focused on more immediate profit over aspects that they consider secondary, such as focusing on the customer and her/his experience.

This is definitely an ongoing trend in many Romanian companies, but with the constant growth of businesses and the digitization scene developing at such great speed, companies can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines regarding their customer strategy.

Furthermore, it is a phenomenon that Loredana Negoiță, Head of Customer Experience at City Grill Romania, has noticed as well. She was a speaker at this year’s edition of the Customer Relations Management Conference in Romania 2017, a conference focusing on the performance

What is customer experience exactly?

The customer experience process is defined by Adam Richardson, Group Product Manager at Financial Engines, as “the sum-totality of how customers engage with your company and brand, not just in a snapshot in time, but throughout the entire arc of being a customer”.

Ms. Negoiță sums it up as meeting a customer’s expectations, satisfying that customer and convincing him to become loyal to your company.

A customer experience process is comprised of customers’ needs, expectations, the satisfaction we bring to them, the way we impress them during the experience, convincing them to be loyal to the business.

The implementation of customer experience processes represents a definite competitive differentiator, which can help companies define themselves better in a crowded market. The top 3 benefits of implementing these processes, according to Ms. Negoiță, are:

of the customer relations’ area, and has an intense 13 years of experience in the hospitality field.

Ms. Negoiță chose to talk about the current reality of customers in the HoReCa and hospitality business, what they really want and how companies can help them get what they want. Her presentation – Leading Customer Experience – focused on the best case practices brought from the restaurant chains that City Grill manages.

She also mentioned the most important trends of the customer relations’ department all over the world, as well as in Romania. During her session, a quote by Ron Kaufman made an impression and perfectly expressed the status quo of investing in a company’s customer experience approach: “If you want to stay in business, satisfy customers. If you want to excel in business, delight them.”

Gaining a holistic view on your clients’ experiences by analyzing the available data (only what is relevant); Creating authentic interactions with your clients on an emotional level, that in turn help you gain a sense of control over the direction of your business and help your employees take better and more thoughtful decisions; The clear know-how on how experiences should look like for your clients, conforming with the values of your brand and of your company’s strategy.

Colin Shaw, Founder and CEO of Beyond Philosophy and bestselling author said: “Customers are not loyal because of the Customer Experience you provide. They are loyal because of the Customer JULY 2017

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COVER STORY

Experience they remember you provided. Furthermore, customers don’t remember the entire experience but only bits and pieces. It is important to get these memorable bits right, or your customer loyalty will certainly go to pieces.”

them and other similar values. Through processes, employees, the brand and your product/service, people want to obtain the values mentioned above. Obtaining them increases a customer’s satisfaction level. The miracle happens when the expected service meets the actual provided service.

There are certain tips and tricks that one should be aware of to thrive in such a complex and intense field. According to Ms. Negoiță, there are 5 specific points for a business to focus on:

Loredana Negoiță Head of Customer Experience, City Grill

Those experiences that are being offered by companies and organizations need to go beyond the customer’s expectations.

You cannot offer something that you don’t believe in: you will either get sanctioned by the customer or by the market itself.

Understanding your customer Many business people try very hard to understand their customer base. The most popular question among these professionals is – What do my customers actually want? These people spend a lot of money to find an answer to that question, either through putting out lengthy surveys that no one is interested in filling, or by organizing costly focus groups to get a sense of what buyers might find attractive.

These old-fashioned methods only complicate the process of finding a relevant answer to that popular question. Maybe the answer is simpler than that. Just think about the best example out there: yourself. What do you crave for when interacting with a service or a brand? The answer can be found inside of us: we want to be treated with respect, we want to trust those that we give money to in exchange for something.

People want to experience the following values: professionalism, credibility and trust, open communication, security, innovation, recognition of their loyalty, relevance, people that really care about 12 JULY 2017

You need to identify all the points of interaction between customers and your business. Create a customer experience map, get help from your employees, especially from those that are placed in customer touch positions, to get a better insight into the status quo of the interactions; Prioritize your decisions based on a special formula: number of customers affected by the decision x, necessary resources x, the company’s/brand’s strategy; Gather all available information about your customers from all departments and channels and merge those results. Create a profile of those customers and see what are the most common situations and scenarios they go through; Combine different approaches based on feedback received from your customers, but make sure that the teams that are executing these approaches are 100% motivated to fulfill them. You do not want a bored customer support agent to try to solve your customer’s problems; Test, measure, fail, learn from your mistakes, celebrate your wins and move on with a clearer vision. If you want to stand out, you will need to experiment, even though experimentation is scary because there’s a risk factor involved.

Generating and developing loyalty You may be asking yourself “well, we are trying to provide the very best customer experience, but to what avail?”. In short, the end result of any effective customer experience is to get the customer to the final and most important stage of the process: the loyalty phase. The dream of any business owner is for people to recognize the value of the company, to see the brand as a love brand and subsequently act as brand ambassadors.

Loyalty is a very hot topic, because it is not easy to get to that stage with your customer. You have to have patience and to work hard until you get there, just like in any other relationship. They need to get to know you and if they like what they experience, they will come back.

If the quality of their experience does not decrease and stays the same during multiple occasions, they start trusting the level of professionalism of your business. That is when they feel appreciated and valued by your organization, that’s when the magic happens.

Each business and sector can develop very specific loyalty programs, catered to their target audience and business identity. There are numerous examples in the field of customer experience in this sense, such as:

COVER STORY

consumption, as well as get special discounts and get rewards for pursuing a healthy lifestyle by acquiring points. The mobile app is a win-win investment, both for facilitating and enriching customers’ experience with City Grill and for giving the company a direct communication line with the customer.

Lex Brodie’s Tire, Brake and Service Store from Hawaii that created a donations community, in which a customer can pick an NGO for which they want to donate a percentage of their bill. In 18 months, the company has raised 26 000 dollars for charity, thus involving their customers into something more valuable than a simple purchase process.

Audi Unite tried a sharing-economy tactic with its customer base.

In 2015, it allowed customers from Sweden to share a car via their special app. The company emphasized the role and importance of community in everyday life, thus building stronger relations in the Audi community.

What is more, people can send their feedback and ratings to the customer experience department, thus making it easier for those working at City Grill to understand their customer base and improve certain processes in real time. They also get faster demographics about their target audience, while understanding customer behavior from analyzing the experiences that these customers share.

This kind of approach motivates both customers and employees, because both parties feel like they are an active contributor in this process. In numbers, the app started in 2013 with only a 10% discount for customers and 800 of them registering on the application. In 2016, the Out4Food amassed 57,000 registered accounts, 1,100,000 transactions and 1,564 maximum amount of client visits/ client.

We should learn the following from this experience: Take a look around to see how you can help your customers; Take advantage of digital mediums. All businesses notice a growth in mobile sessions and apps. This should help you decide what to invest in.

Find your own approach, based on your company’s identity and services; Take calculated risks, since they are the only ones which can truly make the difference in a crowded market;

Umbrella Here launched in 2014 a Bluetooth device together with a specialized app, through which people could signal to others via a LED-based device that they have an umbrella, ready to be shared with others during rainy times. Again, this specific tactic builds relationships within a community, solves problems for others and spreads the word about the brand.

These programs can be used strategically throughout the customer experience process. On the one hand, they can be used to increase loyalty and to offer a sense of unity to all customers. On the other hand, they provide great customer acquisition opportunities, diving into other customer segments.

For example, City Grill took advantage of this opportunity by merging it with the needs of a highly-digitized reality. Thus, they created the Out4Food app, a gamified mobile application through which customers can have more autonomy in their experience with City Grill restaurants.

With this app, customers can directly make reservations at their preferred restaurant, order their food of choice and pay for their

Go for building communities. That feeling of belonging only appears when there’s a group and an identity to belong to.

Don’t forget about using specialized KPIs. Head on over to our performancemagazine.org and check out the proposed KPI of the Day in the News section, or to marketplace.kpiinstitute. org to get more in-depth knowledge about the standard KPIs of your field.

This customer centric approach is here to stay, so it’s best to hop on board and check what your company can learn and implement in the customer relations area.

We, at The KPI Institute, recognize this phenomenon and offer inhouse, customized customer relations programs.

To receive a personalized learning opportunity, get in touch with us at: office@kpiinstitute.org and write about what you need in this sector and how you think we can help. Customer performance is not a commodity, but a factor that helps you thrive and survive, a factor that needs to be taken more seriously.

JULY 2017 13

INTERVIEWS

EVENTS INTERVIEWS

Manal Mulla General Administrative Manager, KSUMC, Post Graduate Medical Education Center, Saudi Arabia

Ahmed A. Mustafa Consultant, Mobily, Saudi Arabia

Mahadi Osman Business Planning Consultant, United Arab Emirates

Nabil Boulos Chief Planning & Strategy Officer, Alchem Consulting, Egypt

14 JULY 2017

Mohammed Al-Ghamdi Director of Performance and Programs, Saudi Telecom Company’s Enterprise Business Unit, Saudi Arabia

Jorge Castellote Founding Partner, Innoway ME, Saudi Arabia

Muhammad Farhan Head of HR & OD, Dollar Industries Ltd., Pakistan

INTERVIEWS

You need to have those types of employees who are decision makers and problem solvers, and who enjoy to reach high levels of performance.

MANAL MULLA

Practitioner Manal Mulla General Administrative Manager, KSUMC, Post Graduate Medical Education Center In 2017, the Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Manal Mulla, General Administrative Manager of KSUMC, Post Graduate Medical Education Center, Saudi Arabia. His thoughts and views on Performance Management are detailed below.

Which were the 2016 key trends in Performance Management, from your point of view?

I believe that the focus will shift away from annual performance evaluations to continuous evaluations, and that the dialogue on performance development and coaching will focus more on talent management than on management against objectives.

What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at the organizational, departmental and employee level?

Performance management at the organizational level will experience an increase in talented strategic planners, who will create and effectively lead the organizational change trend towards a higher and more competitive level.

Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future?

I think there will be major changes in talent management, leaders creation and coaching, and with the rapidly changing business environment you need to have those types of employees who are decision makers and problem solvers, and who enjoy to reach high levels of performance.

What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research?

Motivators, creators and people who are an inspiration, those are the ones we need as sub-owners of a business, rather than the typical salary driven employees. This kind of employees are risk managers, creators of a strong business flow and business developers.

What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management?

A best practice in performance management would be engagement. When employees are engaged in all the processes within the organization, they will perform better.

Employees should be part of the strategic plan and participate in executing its tasks.

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 organization that people need to look at more closely is Barry-Wehmiller, for its human oriented leadership style along with its great success.

Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs?

When it comes to education, I think employees should be taught risk management in business school. Risk management should include overall thinking and creativity, establishing the big picture regarding competition, business and economic rapid changes and employee management.

Which of the existing trends, topics or particular aspects within Performance Management have lost their relevance and/ or importance, from your point of view?

Annual evaluation or managing performance by orders and threats have completely lost their relevance because people nowadays understand their rights and have their own way of managing their work.

Which are the main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today?

I think employees would be more motivated by having them work for the institute/ organization as owners and not just as workers, as a way to insure alignment and engagement.

What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes In my opinion, the main tools and processes that are in need of improvement are: selfdiscipline, engagement, alignment, as well as lean processes.

What are the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management?

The limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management are the range of authority, transparency in policies and procedures.

What is your opinion on the emerging trend of measuring performance outside working hours?

I hate to be stuffy or suffocating but yes performance outside working hours should be measured. Working overtime is one of the costs employees have to pay to speed goals achievement, therefore performance should be measured for best cost effectiveness analysis and measurements, as well as for staff planning, etc.

What personal performance measurement tools do you use?

Some of the methods or say tools that I usually JULY 2017 15

INTERVIEWS

Having proper integration of performance management at the organizational, departmental and employee level brings focus on the strategic objectives driven by each level.

MOHAMMED AL-GHAMDI use are moral engagement, by encouraging people to be proud of being members of our leading educational center, alongside looking to align all efforts to reach the goals and objectives, as well as planning to implement talent management and leader creation strategies.

A best practice in performance management would be engagement. When employees are engaged in all the processes within the organization, they will perform better.

Practitioner Point of View: Which were the recent achievements in generating value from performance management, in your organization?

We generated value through alignment. When I first started working in my office, I noticed that the employees had no understanding of the work flow. To achieve the center’s objectives, we needed to implement the center’s vision and mission, to cascade our goals, to draw the executive plan, flowchart, proper working pathway, to cascade objectives and distribute tasks and align all efforts to achieve the goals of the center’s vision.

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Practitioner Mohammed Al-Ghamdi Director of Performance and Programs, Saudi Telecom, Enterprise Business Unit In 2017, the Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, Director of Performance and Programs at Saudi Telecom Company’s Enterprise Business Unit, Saudi Arabia. His thoughts and views on Performance Management are detailed below.

Which were the 2016 key trends in Performance Management, from your point of view?

Data analytics are becoming a crucial input for management decision-making processes that are at a risk of losing the balance between using KPIs and analytics to drive actions and decisions. This emerged as a direct result of the real-time data dearth and information hunger that began to exist between company executives. Availability of data such an important topic, that is even driving performance measurements not only during, but also outside working hours.

What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at the organizational, departmental and employee level?

Having proper integration of performance management at the organizational, departmental and employee level brings focus on the strategic objectives driven by each level. A well-established performance process would allow managers to: Align employees’ actions on the micro level to the entity’s strategic objective; Provide visibility and leverage accountability on the granular level;

Document performance; Enhance focus on what matters; Enhance productivity through optimized goal setting and management.

Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future?

I believe performance management is being revolutionized, to keep on track with the changes in data analytics and business intelligence trends as we have more reliance on automated real-time dashboards, which I expect will grow exponentially.

What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research?

Performance management is a group of policy derived processes that aim to maintain focus and engagement, as well as help the entity perform.

Carefully planning, monitoring and rewarding the implementation for such processes and consequent outcomes plays a major role in their success. One other important aspect is having balance between the performance management process and the goal management process.

Which organizations would you recommend to be looked at, due to their particular approach to managing performance, and their subsequent results?

All industries plan and implement performance management processes, but some like the air transportation, industrial manufacturing, O&M, and Telecommunications industries benefit more than others.

Which of the existing trends, topics or particular aspects within Performance Management have lost their relevance and/

INTERVIEWS

Business Intelligent tools will have a key role in managing performance.

Online Analytical Processing and managing performance will not be limited to quarterly reports, it will be daily/real time based.

AHMED A. MUSTAFA or importance, from your point of view?

Having an adaptive performance planning process, as industry pace shifts are accounted for in years rather than decades.

are: how to properly plan for performance management, crucial success factors for performance management and how to maintain performance.

Which are the main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today?

One very relevant challenge of performance management in practice today is maintaining the link between performance management and rewards, as the existence of this link is essential to achieving one’s planned goals.

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 include: data availability, management engagement, linking performance to rewards, cultural differences, and economic factors i.e. costs of implementation.

What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes?

There are two aspects that should be improved when using performance management tools and processes, namely the introduction of new mechanisms for selecting proper KPIs, and the proper integration of data analytics tools and performance management tools.

What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management?

The practices introduced and advocated by the leading KPI body - The KPI Institute help unify all efforts towards a more holistic performance management view across different industries and cultures.

One important approach is to keep communicating the monitoring process results to the entire entity, to gain support and maintain engagement.

Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs?

In my opinion, the three aspects of performance management that should be emphasized during educational programs

What is your opinion on the emerging trend of measuring performance outside working hours?

I think that measuring performance outside working hours could provide valuable inputs for different industries, as it would assist in identifying patterns affecting performance during working hours.

What personal performance measurement tools do you use?

I mostly use Micro-strategy, Excel, business objects, and Tableau business intelligence tools.

Practitioner Point of View: Which were the recent achievements in generating value from performance management in your organization?

The recent achievements in generating value from performance management in my organization have been: cost optimization, enhancing profitability (EBITDA), and delivering strategic initiatives and programs on schedule and on budget with the intended benefits fulfilled.

Consultant Ahmed A. Mustafa Consultant, Mobily In 2017, the Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Ahmed A. Mustafa, Consultant at Mobily, Saudi Arabia.

His thoughts and views on Performance Management are detailed below.

Which were the 2016 key trends in Performance Management, from your point of view?

One key trend in 2016 that I believe was very important was the prevalence of Financial KPIs and that of other KPIs related to them, as opposed to other performance measures, due to multiple external factors influencing them, which had to do with the general economy and the degradation of oil prices.

What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at the organizational, departmental and employee level?

The integration of performance management should always start from the board level and be based on the company’s strategy, vision & mission. Performance management should not be limited to achieving certain goals and objectives, it should rather work in parallel as governance for these goals & objectives, which mainly translate the enterprise’s strategy.

A common mistake that is made in large enterprises is that they ask each manager to develop a set of KPIs for his employees without connecting them to the strategy.

Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future?

Business Intelligent tools will have a key role JULY 2017

17

INTERVIEWS

One main challenge of performance management in practice is getting SMART KPIs. When dealing with KPIs you have to know what the chosen KPI is indicating and you have to identify the process that is needed in order for that KPI to reach the standard norm.

in managing performance. Online Analytical Processing and managing performance will not be limited to quarterly reports, it will be daily/ real time based to accompany the technological and virtual revolution.

What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research?

I believe that Developing scientific methods to set KPI thresholds by taking in consideration the internal & external factors impacting enterprise performance and not depending only on benchmarking, are some of the main aspects of performance management that should be explored more through research.

That is why a KPI should always be SMART specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time phased.

during educational programs is how to determine a strategy's goals and objectives for each KPI.

What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes?

One aspect that needs to be improved in the use of performance management tools and processes is automation. An automated system can ensure that an organization's performance management is built on best practices. Apart from that, such a system can also encourage management and employee participation and it can operate more efficiently.

What are the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management?

There are two main issues that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in performance management, namely poor management support for performance management and a lack of appropriate data & data custodians.

Which organizations would you recommend to be looked at, due to their particular approach to managing performance, and their subsequent results?

I think that there are many international companies that have achieved great performance and gained customer satisfaction.

One such company, which can be taken as an example due to its successful approach and great results, is Apple.

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 strongly believe that all performance management aspects remain important for the enterprise and are eligible for improvement.

Which are the main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today?

One main challenge of performance management in practice is getting SMART KPIs. When dealing with KPIs you have to know what the chosen KPI is indicating and you have to identify the process that is needed in order for that KPI to reach the standard norm.

18 JULY 2017

What is your opinion on the emerging trend of measuring performance outside working hours?

Currently the business is not limited to a specific geographical area, and most of it requires to be covered 24/7. That is why performance management should measure performance at all times.

What personal performance measurement tools do you use?

I mostly use Business Inelegant and dashboard tools.

What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management?

In my opinion, a best practice in performance management is building KPIs by using a topdown model. By adopting a top-down approach, one can have better insight into the selected KPIs, and he/she can manipulate them easier.

Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs?

I think that one aspect of performance management that needs to be emphasized

Consultant Point of View: What are the processes and tools you look at, in order to differentiate a successful performance management system, from a superficial one?

I usually look at three processes and tools to differentiate a successful performance management system from a superficial one: the capability to reflect automatic and onspot forecasts on the revenue and profit enhancements when changing certain KPI targets; the capability of the system to integrate multiple data sources and provide a clear interface to multiple data custodians, and last but not least, the capability to do automation and OLAP.

INTERVIEWS

Managing performance will become more objective and purpose driven if people are more free to find their way to get it. This means more freedom, flexibility and accountability.

JORGE CASTELLOTE

Consultant Jorge Castellote Founding Partner, Innoway ME In 2017, the Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Jorge Castellote, Founding Partner at Innoway ME, Saudi Arabia.

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 my opinion, some of the key trends in Performance Management in the last year were: OKRs- Objectives and Key Results, neuroleadership applied to performance, and the difference between measuring business performance - execution, and business discovery - innovation.

What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at the organizational, departmental and employee level?

I strongly believe that this process of integration shouldn't be a control mechanism to track past performance, but a tool towards a better and clearer future.

Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future?

Managing performance will become more objective and purpose driven if people are more free to find their way to get it.

This means more freedom, flexibility and accountability.

What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research?

I think that one very important aspect

Which organizations would you recommend to be looked at, due to their particular approach to managing performance, and their subsequent results?

Among the many organizations out there that deserve to be recognized because of their approach to managing performance and their subsequent results, I would like you to take a closer look at Google, Facebook and Dropbox.

What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management?

In my opinion, a best practice in Performance Management is the use of Objective Key Results, most commonly known as OKRs. By using OKRs, an organization can set the strategy and goals over a specified amount of time for its employees or teams. This way all employees have the chance to evaluate how well they executed their objectives, and to identify what they must change to align themselves with other teams and with the company.

Which of the existing trends, topics or particular aspects within Performance Management have lost their relevance and/or importance, from your point of view?

There are a number of existing trends, topics and aspects within Performance Management that have lost their importance, but for me the two most significant aspects that have lost their relevance are top-down targets and fixed annual objectives.

Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs?

Educational programs should place more emphasis on setting targets and on changing management. I believe these two aspects have not been thoroughly covered and future employees should better understand their importance, as well as the best ways to approach them.

Which are the main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today?

One vital aspect that has proved to be a challenge is the process of approving targets.

While setting targets can sometimes be a difficult process,

What are the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management?

In my opinion, many practitioners misunderstand the purpose of control vs. direction, and how to properly manage this phenomenon.

that needs to be thoroughly explored is neuroleadership, namely the use of neuroscience to improve performance.

I believe that approving them is even more challenging, because the success of the whole process is balanced upon their relevance and accuracy.

What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes?

I think that all tools and processes that are used in Performance Management should not be used to control, but to create a forward thinking process.

What is your opinion on the emerging trend of measuring performance outside working hours?

Working outside working hours is becoming the norm, which is affecting work and life balance. My personal opinion is that to avoid this dilemma, performance must be measured based on achievements, as opposed to the number of hours someone has worked (e.g. Netflix endless vacation JULY 2017 19

INTERVIEWS

When we cascade down to the employee level, I believe that more attention should be paid to the human aspect. The need for building a loyal, supportive and happy team.

MAHADI OSMAN days). In the long term, new regulations must be put in place to avoid conflicts (e.g. France regulation on emails after 6pm).

While setting targets can sometimes be a difficult process, I believe that approving them is even more challenging, because the success of the whole process is balanced upon their relevance and accuracy.

What personal performance measurement tools do you use?

I mostly use the Balanced Scorecard and OKRs. Consultant Point of View: What are the processes and tools you look at, in order to differentiate a successful performance management system, from a superficial one?

A successful performance management system links to the organization’s strategy, does not employ more than 6 KPIs per department/person, has a forward thinking, quarterly performance appraisal, has informal periodic conversations, analyzing the authority vs. responsibility of the KPIs. 20 JULY 2017

Consultant Mahadi Osman Consultant, Independent Consultant In 2017, the Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Mahadi Osman, Business Planning Consultant, United Arab Emirates.

His thoughts and views on Performance Management are detailed below.

Which were the 2016 key trends in Performance Management, from your point of view?

I believe that the utilization of technological advancements has shaded over all performance management stages, starting from designing goals, through performance data collections/analysis and ending with performance reporting.

What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at the organizational, departmental and employee level?

At the organizational and departmental levels, there is a lot to be done regarding goal congruency, that is why integration needs to be evidenced. However, when we cascade down to the employee level, I believe that more attention should be paid to the human aspect. The need for building a loyal, supportive and happy team means that issues like the behavioral implications of a performance management system or the need for motivating and building a strategic mindset are of paramount importance.

Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future?

I think that Big Data and data analytics will enable performance reporters to reach

deeper levels, and I also believe that we will see more detailed performance reports.

What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research?

In my opinion, the relationship between leadership styles and performance management should be a subject of more research.

Which organizations would you recommend to be looked at, due to their particular approach to managing performance, and their subsequent results?

I have no specific name, but any organization that invests in a performance management system, gives leadership commitment and continually improves the system outputs, could be regarded as an excellent example.

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 the periodical or cyclical view of performance is slowly going to lose the spotlight. The business environment has become more dynamic and more vigilant, and the need for an accurate and on-time piece of information would be more imperative.

Which are the main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today?

The need to align KPIs with the appropriate performance objectives is still a challenging task and I think that it will continue being so.

What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes?

With the increasing shift in business models from a brick base to the click base, there is an inevitable need to improve all performance measurement techniques.

INTERVIEWS

From my point of view, past performance reviews have lost their importance because of real time performance dashboards and scorecards, whilst objective setting exercises have lost their relevance because of Big Data helping us.

MUHAMMAD FARHAN What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management?

Regardless of the way in which we do that, I think that one of the best practices so far is the change in performance management from a restriction or a punishment tool, to an improvement and a growth re-invention tool.

As this practice became more concerned with unlocking the potential of an organization, it led to more collaboration between different functions evidenced by roles like Chief Information/Technology Officer(CIO/CTO), Strategic Finance Business Partner, etc.

Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs?

I urge people to place more emphasis on the field that is concerned with the behavioral aspects of performance and the meaningfulness of KPIs. What are the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management?

I think that the lack of technological acumen and the superficiality with which data from different sources is integrated represent the two main obstacles here.

What is your opinion on the emerging trend of measuring performance outside working hours?

I agree to measuring performance outside working hours for the sole purpose of career or leadership development and coaching rather than accountability or compensation.

What personal performance measurement tools do you use?

I mainly use Excel spreadsheets as a personal performance measurement tool, and so far it is enough to do the work.

Consultant Point of View: What are the processes and tools you look at, in order to differentiate a successful performance management system, from a superficial one?

I believe that the quality of system outputs, namely reports with less errors and less rectifications, the effective use of external data sources and the costs of running the system, are the main features of any successful performance management system.

Consultant Muhammad Farhan Head of HR & OD, Dollar Industries Ltd. In 2017, the Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Muhammad Farhan, Head of HR & OD at Dollar Industries Ltd., Pakistan.

His thoughts and views on Performance Management are detailed below.

Which were the 2016 key trends in Performance Management, from your point of view?

Over the 2 to 3 years including 2016, trends have begun to change as companies are replacing their old performance management processes and looking for ways to evaluate job performance faster, more efficiently and more accurately. Performance management software packages, designed to be used in performance management are a reality now. Specifically, software with real time performance evaluation.

What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at organizational, departmental and employee level?

It is critical for motivating employees and aligning mutual efforts towards the achievement of organizational, departmental and employee goals. However, it is extremely effort oriented and only feasible for smart organizations i.e. technology companies, telecom companies. Traditional organizations need extreme effort and change management to implement this integration. In my observation, alignment between strategic action plans, business action plans and individual performance JULY 2017 21

INTERVIEWS

Nowadays, Performance Management is used for measuring lagging performance, for designing reprimand strategies, lay-off strategies, not so much as a change management tool, which makes it more difficult to implement and it creates more anxiety at the workplace.

was often questionable in a few departments e.g. service departments i.e. HR, Facilities Management, Information Technology, Supply Chain, Research & Development, Maintenance.

Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future?

Reinventing Performance Management is one, by integrating Big Data analytics into performance management processes. For both business and employee performance, predictive analysis based on Big Data supports decision making and accurate forecasting for business managers.

Reinventing Personnel Effectiveness is another, and this is due to technological disruptions that create lots of distractions for an individual, which affect personnel effectiveness. This is nothing new either, since we know that strong and positive correlations exist between personnel effectiveness and an employee’s on the job performance. Therefore, reinventing personnel effectiveness is critical to using technological disruptions effectively and subsequently, increasing the effectiveness of employees.

What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research?

The impact of PM on Human Behavior The impact of PM on Conscious Biases The impact of PM on Unconscious Biases The impact of PM on Employee Engagement Which organizations would you recommend to be looked at, due to their particular approach to managing performance, and their subsequent results?

I would recommend to look at 3M, a global science company that never stops inventing.

22 JULY 2017

They always inspire me due to their Innovation Culture and Performance Reinforcement strategies. And just look at the organization’s results: FY 2016 $30 billion sales, EPS $8.16, 7.7% year on year increase. I think this is only because of continuous improvement in their Performance Management Processes, where they connect Strategic Plans, Department Plans, Tactical Plans and Operational Plans seamlessly and achieve results in innovation and R&D, which is a tough one.

Which of the existing trends, topics or particular aspects within Performance Management have lost their relevance and/ or importance, from your point of view?

From my point of view, past performance reviews have lost their importance because of real time performance dashboards and scorecards, objective setting exercises have lost their relevance because of Big Data helping us, where objectives can be derived and managed during execution and results are visible through performance dashboards.

Performance based TNA is no longer needed because of social learning platforms, where problem solving and training needs are fulfilled extremely fast e.g. WhatsApp groups, Facebook messengers, Mobile Video Messengers etc.

Which are main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today?

The main challenge is the way companies look at Performance Management. It is one of the most powerful talent management and development tools. But nowadays, Performance Management is used for measuring lagging performance, for designing reprimand strategies, lay-off strategies, as a change management tool, which makes it more difficult to implement and it creates more anxiety at the workplace.

What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes?

For improvement, first things first, we have to simplify Performance Management processes by using the latest software and a number of new tools that are readily available. These are quite easy-to-use performance measurement and goal management tools. Furthermore, performance coaching, understanding developmental needs and providing regular feedback are must haves for continuous improvement.

What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management?

A high-performing organization’s best practice, defined in 5 stages, would be like the following: Creating the means and environment for performance results Making expectations clear and timebound Finding solutions to problems by practicing problem-solving processes Maximizing the employee’s strengths and developing strengths and new skills Ensuring you have Accountability and Authority management offices/services active, to ensure expected outcomes Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs?

Since Social Media and the Internet of Things represents the disruptive future, “Personnel Effectiveness” refreshers should become a must in educational program. It is important to cope with a disruptive environment and change quickly, which is only possible when this is part of performance management education.

INTERVIEWS

I think that in the future, the major changes in managing performance will be a movement towards dropping performance ratings, more emphasis on shorter term objectives, and on instantaneous feedback.

NABIL BOULOS What are the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management?

A lack of strong integration between enterprise performance management, financial performance management and employee performance management knowledge. All parts are important and integration is a must if one is to achieve higher levels of proficiency in performance management.

Reinventing personnel effectiveness is critical to using technological disruptions effectively and subsequently, increasing the effectiveness of employees.

What is your opinion on the emerging trend of measuring performance outside working hours?

Real time performance management is a simple and engaging tool, and due to this, measuring performance 24/7 is possible. Real time feedback, social learning, 360 feedback is here and represents the future as well. In my opinion, we need to learn it and enjoy it.

What personal performance measurement tools do you use (i.e. gadgets that track blood pressure, steps taken, heart rate, burnt calories or tools that help with one’s finances or personal skills)?

Well, I use “samsung health� as fitness application and Excel based KPIs modeling for finance and personal skills development.

I have been a user of the Balanced Scorecard tool for quite a while, but now I have moved on to KPI based Scorecards.

What are the processes and tools you look at, in order to differentiate a successful performance management system, from a superficial one?

Business & Operations Key Performance Indicators The value flow analysis and KPIs bifurcation to understand the Cause & Effect relation Personnel Effectiveness Assessment Which were the recent achievements in generating value from performance management in your organization?

Alignment of Strategic KPIs, Financial KPIs, Functional KPIs and Employee Objectives/KPIs, which has helped us understand the focus area of improvement i.e. cross functional alignment, clear expectation management, creating means and environment, capacity building and proactive planning.

Implementing Big Data Dashboards for the Sales, Production and HR departments, which help us see the whole business management picture and highlight areas of improvement, where we can create more value by putting in more effort and resources.

Consultant Nabil Boulos Chief Planning & Strategy Officer, Alchem Consultant In 2017, the Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Nabil Boulos, Chief Planning & Strategy Officer at Alchem Consulting, Egypt. His thoughts and views on Performance Management are detailed below.

Which were the 2016 key trends in Performance Management, from your point of view?

I believe that the key trends in Performance Management in 2016 were professional development, increased communication and interactions at the expense of yearly reviews, as well as rapid development of software tools.

What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at the organizational, departmental and employee level?

Integration is gaining more importance as it focuses on aligning all the levels of an organization towards the corporate strategy, to put more emphasis on strengthening the link between personal and organizational performance.

Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future?

I think that in the future, the major changes in managing performance will be a movement towards dropping performance ratings, more emphasis on shorter term objectives, and on instantaneous feedback.

What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research?

JULY 2017 23

INTERVIEWS

Two aspects of Performance Management that have started losing their relevance are performance ratings and yearly appraisal. Both are starting to be replaced by newer and more efficient trends and aspects.

The aspects of Performance Management that should be explored more through research include systems, tools, metrics that have to do with integration within the organization.

These should be in focus for more exploration through research, while also keeping in sight the increased dependency on Big Data and how to properly use this.

Which organizations would you recommend to be looked at, due to their particular approach to managing performance, and their subsequent results?

A few organizations that I think have had an interesting approach to managing performance, as well as great results due to it are Siemens, Vion (Vimplecom), Vodafone, and Telecom Egypt.

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 believe that two aspects of Performance Management that have started losing their relevance are performance ratings and yearly appraisal. Both are starting to be replaced by newer and more efficient trends and aspects.

Which are the main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today?

One very difficult obstacle people face when working in the area of Performance Management is integrating Performance Management at the different levels of an organization.

What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes?

I came to the conclusion that metrics and accessibility need much more improvement in order to ensure accuracy, relevance and above all else, employee engagement.

24 JULY 2017

What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management?

Two best practices in Performance Management are related to adapting the frequency and methodology to a business’s nature, and achieving stakeholder engagement through well-designed systems and tools.

I came to the conclusion that metrics and overall accessibility to information are two aspects that need much more improvement in order to ensure accuracy, relevance and above all else, employee engagement.

Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs?

In my opinion, the main aspects to be emphasized during educational programs are close monitoring and strengthening of collaborations.

What are the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management?

Some of the main limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management are: a lack of stakeholder engagement and of integration at the organizational level, as well as failure to build proper data and an inflexibility of their company’s structure.

What is your opinion on the emerging trend of measuring performance outside working hours?

It's an interesting topic, but I believe that it needs to be further explored, as its metrics and correlations have not matured yet.

What personal performance measurement tools do you use? mainly use performance appraisal management dashboards.

Consultant Point of View: What are the processes and tools you look at, in order to differentiate a successful performance management system, from a superficial one?

The principal processes and tools I look at in order to differentiate a successful performance management system from a superficial one are the ability to manage data and the ability to integrate it throughout the process of linking performance to compensation.

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PORTRAIT EVENTS

REZA SHARIF Improvement is Performance Management’s endgame.

ANDREI COSTEA

W very standard fashion, graduating, possibly attending

hile many managers and CEOs start their careers in a

a Master’s Degree and sometimes getting a Ph.D., Reza Sharif ’s story was quite different.

From his early 20s, he was thrown right into the frying pan, as he grew up with his family’s business. In 2005, when he moved to Dubai, he was tasked with managing their Dubai branch, which for a 20-some year old individual is worlds apart from what his regular experience would be at that age bracket.

Reza, as General Manager, was responsible for the growth and profitabilit of the business, driving performance so that whatever objectives and desired results were put in place, they were always achieved. This position allowed him to experience firsthand the concepts of strategy & performance, which proved highly insightful for the rest of his professional career onwards.

His family business was not the only one which he led, having held numerous Business Development Executive and Chief Strategy Officer positions, in several companies that allowed him to continuously build on his previously acquired experience and knowledge. In 2014, he founded Parsian Strategy, his very own consulting company, with the intent of helping organizations define their strategies, 26 JULY 2017

“An employee is there to help the organization, but an organization will only remain competitive if it helps the employee as well.”

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Being responsible for strategy formulation and execution is a great feeling, but kind of a critical one as well. One needs to be a great observer of trends and changes in the macro and micro environments of the organization. take actions to realize their vision and achieve performance excellence by building a performance culture. In his words, ”at Parsian Strategy, we help companies by providing consultancy and training services based on the best global practices in the field.”

Drivers of development – The making of an individual When asked about what were some of the key elements that he believes shaped him the way he is today, he noted that one of the first key turning points for him was when he was appointed Chief Strategy Officer for a manufacturing company. It was at that moment he knew the whole future of the company lied in his hands and he was the one that could make or break it. ”Being responsible for strategy formulation and execution is a great feeling, but kind of a critical one as well. One needs to be a great observer of trends and changes in the macro and micro environments of the organization and be able to identify any noteworthy trends in the market and overall industry.”

Even more so, Reza states that simply knowing all this information is not nearly enough. You have to know and when to act upon it. Data analysis, making the right calls, swiftly and decisively and knowing when to take a certain path and when to avoid it are key factors, which further add to such a position’s importance. On top of all these, when you include the fact that every single employee has to be aligned with the

company’s mission, values and statements, whilst performing at peak levels, this creates a breathtaking symphony of synergy and balance that is quite bewildering.

A second key element that drove Reza’s development was his mentors. As he stated, “we all have people close to our hearts who inspired us along our way. Fathers are every kid’s hero […]” and for him, his father Mahmoud Sharif, was his hero and also his first boss. A very diligent and agile entrepreneur, his father’s way of managing his 40-year old business was an inspiration for Reza, as he learnt how to always maintain an entrepreneurial mindset and perform as such no matter how many years of experience he acquires. If you do not stick to your root learnings, experience alone will not help you out in every single situation.

Professor Mik Wisniewski was Reza’s second mentor, and his teachings made him fall in love with Performance Management.

Professor Wisniewski taught him how to maintain a positive attitude in any given circumstance and be passionate about learning. Furthermore, Dr. Alan Fell was the person who showed Reza the ways of the Balanced Scorecard and how to best maximize its use. Reza considers Dr. Fell a role model for him when it comes to professional conduct and managing even the smallest details of a project, in order to see it pull through.

Other individuals, which have inspired him over the years through their works, are John

Kotter, Michael Porter, Norton and Kaplan, Gary Cokins and Alexander Osterwalder.

As the saying goes, you can learn something new from anyone, anywhere, and Reza feels that all of the aforementioned individuals have contributed to building his love for Performance Management and its constituting elements.

Aside from books, another source of inspiration for Reza were a few movies which he taught him quite a few useful life lessons when it comes to business: Peaceful Warrior, which taught him how to be a goal achiever and a high performer, regardless of the conditions and barriers you face; The Social Network, which showed him how to stick to an idea and make it happen no matter what; We Were Soldiers is another movie depicting the performance of a soldier in extremely severe conditions and his way of collaboration with others, while striving to maintain a strong human relationship with the other individuals who were in the same situation; lastly we have The Boy in Blue, which showed Reza the value and importance of individual performance, competition and leadership.

Performance Management – Improvement above all else Reza Sharif ’s venture into the world of PM began with strategy development. His main focus was on creating and implementing BSCs, but Performance Management had already become an integral part of any JULY 2017 27

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business management system. This meant that he had to be educated on this topic and become knowledgeable enough to design an effective PM system. This was his entry into Performance Management, after which he began working on several elements within the field, such as selecting KPIs, designing the structure of a PM system, running said system on different levels in order to see performance numbers, or auditing them.

Having experienced in full this field, our interviewee believes that improvement, as a concept, is the most important thing when it comes to PM. No matter how small or large it is, improvement always has to take place, because it is what drives businesses forward.

The entire purpose of managing our performance has to be improvement, as he does not see any other purposes begin relevant enough to warrant the kind of investments companies make just to be more proficient at what they do. A systems-based, outcome-focused improvement scheme, that centers heavily around its drivers, is what any company should look to integrate in its structure, if it wishes to remain relevant and competitive.

Performance Management brings two massive benefits, when implemented properly: 1. It allows you to plan for constant development and improvement, at all points and levels. It essentially creates a long-term view of the organization, helping managers think of the results they really want and showing them how to focus on them.

2. It brings everyone together. PM, in Reza’s words “keeps everyone staring at one point, which is the company’s vision”.

This essentially means alignment; people are aligned when their performance is aligned. Having goals and results closely tied together to the company’s operations means you have an optimized system in place. Alignment equals unity – everyone is brought together to contribute to the company’s development & improvement, since realizing its vision is a series of inter-related achievements and on-going processes, rather than a one-time event.

28 JULY 2017

Strategy shows you the shape of your company’s future, Performance Management – through data and analyses, shows you how far you have managed to get from where you were and what you need to do in order to progress even further.

Challenges, improvements, best practices For Reza Sharif, the individual is the very center of the system and as such, anything that has to do with him is above and beyond difficult. People are very wary, they do not like being constantly measured or feel like they have to look over their shoulders because someone is watching them work, expecting mistakes.

This makes getting their buy-in for PM quite the Sisyphean task.

Therefore, the single most important aspect when it comes to convincing employees that Performance Management is not a punishment tool, but one to help them sort out whatever is making them underperform compared to their peers, is how you implement & introduce it to them.

Reza notes that in Iran, this task is just as hard to achieve as it is in any other place on Earth, because people generally look only at the negative side of the system, feeling as if a witch hunt goes is organized every time someone underperforms.

The way he does this is to usually introduce it as part of a bigger strategic management integrated system, with the aim of measuring the entire organization’s performance against its vision.

Having to work around mindsets like this has made PM for Reza quite the entertaining activity. For him, it is fun and he would like to get more people that want to be actively involved in the system, not only as another measurement target, but as an active contributor, someone who wants to develop and improve the system.

However, this would require a few changes to Performance Management itself.

First off, he believes we need more effective methods of setting personal goals and better performance measurement tools.

We need to connect personal interests with organizational goals. You can find

I cannot simply see some personal KPI or metric being there just for the sake of measurement being done. Measuring performance should be about showing one’s progress towards achieving certain goals, in relation to the organizational ones.

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this topic being written about in numerous publications and articles, but very little is done in actual practice.

Secondly, concepts like gamification or non-financial rewards for performance drive competition, which in his view, is exactly what is needed to make the system feel closer to individuals. Humans are, by nature, very competitive, so having elements that bank on precisely that aspect is what a business needs to make managing performance fun.

When people are stimulated to feel like they are in a small-sized competition with each other, of who can do better, and you introduce gamification and non-financial rewards in the mix, PM suddenly becomes a lot more attractive to them.

Thirdly, automation and software solutions.

Today’s business environment is in a state of constant change.

This makes the decision-making process within a company very stressful, which is why people have adopted numerous software solutions to counteract this situation.

However, today’s generation of workers are more into software than ever before, expecting more complex and fun solutions to use. This is once again an aspect that can be maximized to ease in the perception of PM. We need software solutions with more intelligent features, which can be used by both individuals who are not very software-savvy, as well as tech enthusiasts.

You cannot design a software solutions that only caters to one side, because you do not work with only half of your workforce, so adaptability is key here.

Now, when it comes to best practices, Reza’s opinion is that Performance Management is at its best when it is linked to the organization’s strategy.

In doing so, the entire company thrives on a clear purpose and mission, with people being able to see how their individual contributions add up to the business’ overall gains against its competitors. But you will not be able to achieve this unless your leadership and communication skills are up to snuff, Reza adds.

You cannot generate performance unless you constantly communicate. You need to tell people information, in order to receive information, it is only natural. Therefore, clearly communicating expectations and desired milestones is paramount for success, as well as providing constant, constructive, on-going feedback. People need to do what they are doing right and wrong, and keeping that information for yourself or delivering it without offering any improvement suggestions is not going to help anyone.

In addition to this, leadership plays just as much of an important role as communication. A visionary can inspire people to follow his path to success, whilst a skillful leader will highlight urgencies when they arise, whilst being the first one to propose practical solutions. Even more so, such a leader is the first in line to accept change and try to fit it in with the company’s profile, mission, vision and goals. He will strive to align his performance with the organization’s and will be a role model when it comes to performance. PM shines when true leaders, that combine vision and skill, drive it.

Achievements, Individual Performance Management and Buy-In When speaking about achievements, Reza mentioned that regardless of their size and scope, as long as they happen, they are valuable. Sometimes, you will manage to achieve large-scale improvements, whilst in other cases, you will only see incremental developments; regardless, as long as improvements keep rolling, all is well. He notes that in many cases, PM was the reason why a company experienced massive revenue growth or immense gains via saves and efficiency.

His current consultancy case is the exact opposite – their assignment is to ensure that people are committed to achieving the company’s strategy.

This meant that they implemented several new objectives, changed some of the old ones, which caused the sales team’s performance to go up, showing a slight increase in sales revenue. He believes this could be further improved in the near future, meaning the company would be able to sell even more at lower costs.

Truthfully, none of this would happen if it had not been for the human factor, which is why the first step was to ensure everyone’s commitment to the strategy. Just as he mentioned earlier, humans are the key to basically everything in a company, so understanding individual performance management is a must.

Individual Performance Management or IPM is effective when personal goals/ strategies are linked to the organizational ones, Reza notes.

“I cannot simply see some personal KPI or metric being there just for the sake of measurement being done. Measuring performance should be about showing one’s progress towards achieving certain goals, in relation to the organizational ones.

Someone’s career, professional and selfimprovement goals should be clear and represent necessary actions to achieve any other goals. I strongly recommend managers to look at the human side of things as well.”

One needs to sit down with their employees, hear their needs and requirements for growth, understand the reasons behind their willingness to improve and find methods of tying that in with the organizational goals. An employee is there to help the organization, but an organization will only remain competitive if it helps the employee as well. This is not an easy feat, as pleasing every single person is not usually feasible – you go for the best possible trade-off, as with anything in life. Ultimately, this is the biggest challenge managers face – knowing how to connect the business with its employees.

One way of doing it, says Reza, is by linking benefits and appraisals to individual competencies, past performance results, to the current level of improvement, the quality of one’s personal goals and their relationship to the organizational ones.

Now, this last point is generally the leader’s job. He/she is the one who would clearly communicate the company’s strategy and set clear & precise organizational goals which are easily discernible by all employees.

Our interviewee also mentioned on this point that based on his experience, going for a dictatorial style of leadership usually ends up in failure. People do not put up with such JULY 2017 29

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leadership styles. What he tried and worked out was integrating people right from the get-go. ”We tried to get people involved in the process of designing the system itself. We asked them to map their relationship, as an employee, with the organizational & departmental objectives. This way, they saw how their very specific, individual objectives impacted the company, which made them relate a lot more easier to the company’s vision. This made them believe in it, consider it their own.”

When such a process happens, employees are more willing to set their objectives and indicators and try to align them as best as they can to the organizational ones.

Let people set KPIs, guide them through the process so that they are relevant for the company and simply start observing their performance. Like it was mentioned previously, humans are competitive by nature. If people have indicators with which they are comfortable, they will enjoy measuring their performance, because they can use the results to show off, which will only contribute to the company’s success.

Personal Performance & Career Advice ties to his company, which increases buy-in process and you can fail at that balancing act Personal Performance has gained traction in recent years and has become one of the biggest raves. Reza’s of the opinion that as long as people want to do it, they should be free to. Managers should not try to second guess this process, as many times, what an employee does in his free time can impact his work performance. So if an employee wishes to measure his performance outside working hours and report it back to his manager, he sees no issue with this.

Moreover, companies should be very aware of such trends and try to adapt to them. For example, people are very inclined to measure their health performance, meaning they spend a lot of time exercising, to get in peak performance and closer to the condition they aim for. A visionary leader would know how to maximize this opportunity, by providing the necessary facilities/discount subscriptions for employees to do their exercises either on company grounds or on behalf of the company. This would only serve to increase an individual’s emotional 30 JULY 2017

even more.

quite easily.

Other people take a different approach, such as keeping a journal with all their daily activities, one such individual being our very own interviewee, Reza Sharif.

He uses a journal to plan and monitor his performance, by establishing daily, weekly, monthly and annual goals.

“I remember days when I was in the office 7 days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Was I happy? Honestly, I cannot recall. I learnt that there is no such thing as work and life. There is one thing called life and work is simply one of the activities that we keep ourselves busy with. So to me, work is a sub-process of life, like any other activities we do in our daily lives. People should learn to change their views accordingly – if you spend 10 – 12 hours a day in the office, this is your life, it is not just your work anymore.”

Aside from this, he has a second journal, in which he writes down any interesting reading materials, the more the better, as he always want to stay abreast of everyone else by being the first to find out about any new changes, concepts, best practices, expert opinions and such.

He uses the second journal to keep track of his readings and the first one to keep track of any improvements his readings may have generated.

Furthermore, his journals act as a work-life balance tool, as he writes down anything that spurs his personal interests as well. On this point, of work-life balance, Reza admits that he does in fact live to work. It is not an easy

By prioritizing things as best as he can, Reza says that working smart, instead of hard is what keeps him going. He uses technology a lot, which makes things easier, faster, cheaper. Anything, from virtual assistance, virtual office technologies, to smart-lists and reminders, just to make sure that he stores up all the information he can get on something else alongside his mind. The most important tool is the aforementioned journals, as these give him a clear outlook on

PORTRAIT

Do not to try to be the very best, rather strive to be unique

Don't think of PM as a system of control

Understand humans better

Be innovative

Read, read, ead

Develop and grow your critical thinking

Do not to try to be the very best, rather strive to be unique. Duplicating someone who is really good at what they do is easy, everyone can be the best. Doing that with someone who is genuinely unique is very hard.

the entirety of 2017, what will happen, what he is supposed to do, what his team has to do and so forth. Respecting everyone, from coworkers, to clients is mandatory if you want to achieve success and you will only be able to do that if you have your plans in order, in a scheduled fashion and a clear outlook on the year ahead of you.

Be innovative. Break the rules (not the organizational policies or culture) and find new ways of doing things.

Work is usually done with limited resources, you do not have access to an infinite supply of everything, so during work hours, we have to maximize them, by allocating each where it is most needed. Make sure you know what each client requires, so that you are always prepared for any scenario that may come your way, even if sometimes you have to sacrifice some of your personal time.

Read, read, read. Read on the subject you aim to be an expert on. Go beyond traditional sources and read as much as you can find about anything related to PM. Most importantly, read about humans and behavior, about the human way of thinking, strive to understand how we analyze different situations, what goes on through our heads.

Keeping a balance between the two is more art than science, Reza believes. The best KPI in his opinion is happiness. If you are happy with what you are doing, then everything is in sync in your life. For those who are not sure how in sync their work – life balance is, Reza has a few tips for improving the former, whilst also developing the latter. If you become better at what you do professionally, you become better as a person in general. So for anyone looking to improve, here is some advice:

If you understand humans better, you will know how to manage and work with them better. Also, do not forget to actually put this into practice. Simply reading, but not doing anything will not yield any improvement, and improvement is the ultimate goal of PM.

Do not to try to be the very best, rather strive to be unique. Duplicating someone who is really good at what they do is easy, everyone can be the best. Doing that with someone who is genuinely unique is very hard.

Don’t think of PM as a system of control, look at it as one that is designed to help you get out of your comfort zone and improve your competencies.

Develop and grow your critical thinking.

Everything you read and hear should be critically interpreted. If you are unsure how to go about doing this, try reading Browne and Keeley’s book, Asking the right question: a guide to critical thinking. This should be a quick, but very insightful read into how you can develop your critical thinking & analysis skills.

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JULY 2017

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AROUND THE WORLD

GLOBAL E-GOVERNANCE INDEX THE SINGAPORE CASE TEODORA OLTEAN-GOCAN

G info-communications

lobalization and the rapid progress of technologies are bringing about fundamental changes in all aspects of our society. Besides redefining the way nowadays society works, technology’s rapid development has brought numerous opportunities for further improvements and a solid ground for innovative solutions. The changes were so deep that they have completely changed the game in today’s economic world.

This calls for a fundamental rethinking of and transformational shifts in the way governments work. Governments must take on the roles of a facilitator and enabler – to collaborate with the public, private and people sectors in creating new solutions, new businesses, and new wealth.

Thus, during past years, one could notice a major focus on initiative for e –governance or citizen self-service. The particularity of e-Government consists in the fact that is a tool meant to increase the performance of governments.

Reliable and relevant e-government measurement can offer crucial signposts to point policy makers and practitioners in the right direction. Thus, The United Nations 34 JULY 2017

has developed a methodology for measuring e-government development performance, via an index. Being the most recognized and widely-used index of this type, it provides a unique perspective on the efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector from a particular country. As a composite indicator, the EGDI is used to measure the readiness and capacity of national administrations to use ICT to deliver public services. This measure is useful for government officials, policymakers, researchers and representatives of civil society and the private sector to gain a deeper understanding of the relative position of a country in utilizing e-government for the delivery of public services.

Methodology: The value of the index was calculated by weighing the average normalized scores on the three most important dimensions of e-government: online service, telecommunications infrastructure and inherent human capital.

For each category there are several Key Performance Indicators measured as follows: Telecommunications Infrastructure Sub metric % Individuals using the Internet

% Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions % Wireless broadband subscriptions % Fixed-telephone subscriptions % Mobile-cellular subscriptions Human Capital Sub metric # Average years of schooling # Expected years of schooling % Adult literacy % Gross enrolment For the third sub-metric, online service index, the evaluation was made by 2 UN experts per each country. They evaluated the percentage of digitalized services and the online presence of the public services.

While measuring this index relevant information on related topics was revealed, such as the citizens participation in decision making, E-consultation and E-information.

Now, measuring this index is not for award-winning purposes. It is actually about finding a better way to serve people and achieve objectives. Moreover, it also provides a tool which can be used by people to be involved in the design and use of public services to ensure the wellbeing of all.

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E-Government Development Index Top 10 Countries 2010 Country

Index

Republic of Korea United States of America Canada UK and Northern Ireland Netherlands Norway Denmark Australia Spain France

0.8785 0.8510 0.8448 0.8147 0.8097 0.8020 0.7882 0.7863 0.7516 0.7510

Civil Service Computerisation Programme

eGAP II 2003-2005

eGAP I 2000-2003

Index

United Kingdom Australia Republic of Korea Singapore Finland Sweden Netherlands New Zealand Denmark France

0.9193 0.9143 0.8915 0.8828 0.8817 0.8704 0.8659 0.8653 0.8510 0.8456

eGovernment Development Index, Available at https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/enus/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2016

When comparing the results from the 2010 top to the ones from 2016, it can be easily seen that Singapore has registered an outstanding evolution.

Thus, in the following part, we will highlight the process they have implemented. A step by step analysis will be made in order to provide a holistic perspective on how a successful recipe looks like.

Study case – Singapore The development process was extended for a period of almost 20 years, during which multiple adaptions and improvements have been brought to the initial project. Thus, nowadays Singapore is the country with some of the fastest broadband services available and smart digital services that enable seamless transactions, with the Republic of Singapore being recognized as a leading light in the digital world.

iGov 2010

Results Automation of public service Basic IT infrastructure and data hubs Online service delivery (1,600 e-services deployed) Integrated services

2016 Country

eGov 2015

Integration of data, process and systems for Government agencies 300 mobile government services deployed Collaboration tools within and outside Government

eGovernment Masterplans, Available at https://www.tech.gov.sg/About-Us/Corporate-Publications/eGov-Masterplan

First of all, in the Telecommunications Infrastructure matter. Singapore was among the first to have broadband links nationwide, via the deployment of a fiber broadband network and wireless hotspots throughout the island.

When it comes to online service, the services deployed are meant to ease citizens’ activities related to government matters. Thus, citizens have access to hundreds of digital services provided by more than 60 government agencies. They can also receive support on any of the administration’s agencies websites, from a chart robot that can guide their steps in finishing the tasks they have to solve. Timeliness is not a problem anymore for Singaporeans.

MyInfo, the service implemented for solving this matter, pulls users’ personal data across participating Government agencies to fill out digital forms, which helps citizens save time, and will eventually remove the need to provide supporting documents as verifications during transactions. MyInfo is also currently being piloted within the banking industry, and will be integrated with most SingPass digital services by middle 2018.

Moreover, a portal has been implemented for crowdsourcing activities, which leverages on the public’s knowledge of solving problems and issues that Singapore may be facing and

providing feedback on municipal issues. When it comes to business, one of the priority areas for Singapore’s Smart Nation vision is Open Data sharing. Thus, by releasing data, the government aims to unlock economic value, enable quality research and deepen public participation and engagement. Furthermore, a number of platforms that serve as a catalyst for transforming problem statements into innovative solutions has been developed. The project is called InnoLeap and it includes workshops, sharing sessions, clinics and virtual exchanges.

Last but not least, the services developed for governmental usage contain a centralized data sharing platform (for agencies to exchange information conveniently and securely) and the “Courts of the Future“ project, which is meant to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the Judiciary system through data analytics and artificial intelligence. This initiative also offers self-help solutions for litigants and lawyers.

Over the years, Singapore has been awarded top marks in prestigious studies such as the World Economic Forum’s Global Information Report. The country’s infrastructure as well as government digital services are often recognized for its technological readiness, having long surpassed many other country contenders.

JULY 2017 35

AROUND THE WORLD

KAMIKATSU THE TOWN THAT PRODUCES NO WASTE MARIA JUNCU

B Stories, we now know there is a town in

ased on a short documentary by Seeker

Japan that produces no waste. It might seem like wishful thinking, but the small Japanese town of Kamikatsu, with a population of just over 1,700, seeks to become the country’s first ‘zero-waste’ community by 2020.

What is more, they seem to have almost accomplished this amazing feat.

According to the video, Kamikatsu already recycles about 80% of its trash, with the last 20% going into a landfill. However, this progress has not happened overnight. It has been in fact 12 years in the making.

In 2003, Kamikatsu declared its desire to produce zero-waste, after the town gave up the practice of burning the trash for fear of endangering both the environment and the population. Today, the town aims to completely eliminate the use of both landfills and incinerators, and rely solely on three principles: Reduce Reuse Recycle All residents abide by strict guidelines for recycling, reusing and reducing consumption, albeit things weren’t so simple at first.

36 JULY 2017

In the beginning of it all, most citizens were not happy with this intense program, but now according to Katayama, one of the town’s residents, “I don’t think about it. It’s become natural to separate trash correctly.”

Kamikatsu’s recycling strategy The recycling process starts with the composting of all leftover foods. Next, it’s reusing bottles, and jarring cans, along with anything else considered reusable.

Then the real recycling begins. For this process to be accomplished successfully, the whole town has to work together. Elderly citizens volunteer to clean the recycling facility, while others sort and separate recyclables.

They don’t skip any steps, as they remove lids from plastic bottles, rinse and clean all recyclable plastic containers, or remove plastic labels from bottles.

In the video, Hatsue Katayama admits that “classifying garbage for recycling can be difficult. To wash the containers thoroughly so there are no remains is hard work.”

Residents take the sorted recyclables to the waste collection center, where they have to sort their trash in 34 categories. There are

AROUND THE WORLD

Recycling in Berkeley, California, which is several hundred thousand people, is close to 80%; San Francisco reports 70%; and there are several cities in the U.S. that are over 70%

separate bins for different types of paper products like: newspapers, magazines, cartons, flyers. Then there are separate ones for cans, such as: aluminum, spray, steel.

There are even individual bins for plastic bottles and caps and many, many more.

Going through all the steps to recycle and reuse materials provides huge incentives to reduce consumption. What is more, there are signs that inform residents what the materials they drop off will be made into, and how much it costs.

Recycling on a larger scale However, Kamikatsu is not the only town that’s making progress. Neil Seldman, Cofounder and President of the Institute for Local Self Reliance stated that: “Berkeley, California, which is several hundred thousand people, is close to 80%;

San Francisco reports 70%; and there are several cities in the U.S. that are over 70%…

In Italy, they do it similarly to [Kamikatsu] where they have many different separations and drop off.”

Even though California and San Francisco are in the green, the U.S. only has about a 34% recycling rate, according to the latest estimates from the Environmental Protection agencies. Even worse, Washington, D. Conly has about a 16% rate.

Seldman believes that the low rate is the result of the fact that 60% of the waste market is controlled by two companies, Allied and Waste Management, Inc., which stand to gain quite a lot from landfills.

The other thing he believes is causing these low recycling rates is politics. “You’ve got the Republicans who don’t think the oceans are rising, and they don’t care,” he says.

“And with the exception of Bernie Sanders, the other two Democratic [presidential] candidates are status quo candidates.”

On the other side of the fence, Japan has applied itself entirely to the task of producing less and less waste.

Businesses are required by law to recycle, and the country’s sorting systems are among the most extensive in the world.

In Yokohama, Japan’s second-largest city with a population of 3.7 million, citizens are given a 27-page manual on how to sort more than 500 different items.

Even though it’s not easy and the recycling process takes time and knowledge, the Japanese are aware of the fact that if they don’t want to endanger both the environment and the population, they need to sacrifice a bit of their time for the greater good.

JULY 2017 37

AROUND THE WORLD

THE WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT MEASURING COUNTRIES’ WELL-BEING MARIA JUNCU

T published in April 2012, in conjunction

– their well-being … this report gives evidence that happiness is a result of creating strong social foundations. It’s time to build social trust and healthy lives, not guns or walls.”

This report, which ranks 155 countries by their happiness levels, has slowly gained global recognition as governments, organizations and civil societies have started relying on happiness indicators to make informed decisions.

Happiness is determined both by the individual and the society he/she lives in. The research tries to measure this by analyzing eight main variables, or how we would call them, KPIs:

he first World Happiness Report was

with the U.N. High Level Meeting on happiness and well-being.

This year, on the 20th of March, better known as World Happiness Day, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network – SDSN, supported by a three-year grant from the Ernesto Illy Foundation, has published its fifth World Happiness Report.

Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, stated that: “The World Happiness Report continues to draw global attention around the need to create sound policy for what matters most to people

NORWAY

38 JULY 2017

Gross Domestic Product or GDP per capita This was taken from the World Development Indicators – WDI, released by the World Bank in 2016, and uses country-specific forecasts of real GDP growth.

Healthy Life Expectancy Based on time series data sets from the World Health Organization. The time series are constructed by generating the ratios of healthy life expectancy to life expectancy in 2012, and by applying country-specific ratios to other years to generate data.

DENMARK

Social Support The national average of the binary responses ”yes or no”, to the Gallup World Poll question, or GWP for short: “If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them, or not?”.

Freedom The national average of binary responses to the GWP question: “Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?”

Generosity The residual of regressing the national average of GWP responses to the question: “Have you donated money to a charity in the past month?” on GDP per capita.

Perceptions of corruption The average of binary answers to two GWP questions: “Is corruption widespread throughout the government or not?” and “Is corruption widespread within businesses or not?”

ICELAND

AROUND THE WORLD

SWITZERLAND

Positive affect The average of previous-day affect measures for happiness, laughter, and enjoyment for GWP waves 3-7 (years 2008 to 2012, and some in 2013).

Negative affect The average of previous-day affect measures for worry, sadness, and anger for all waves.

Unsurprisingly, this year’s ranking shows that, once again, Nordic and Western European countries dominate the top 10 happiest countries in the world. After ranking fourth for the last two years, Norway climbed three spots and took the title of “world’s happiest country” for the first time.

Denmark dropped to second place this year, followed by Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden.

As you might guess, the countries that scored lowest are those that are experiencing great social and economic loss due to war.

All 10 bottom scoring countries are subSaharan African countries, namely Central African Republic, Burundi, Tanzania, Syria, Rwanda, Togo, Guinea, Liberia, South Sudan, and Yemen.

As mentioned above, this year Norway occupies first place, succeeding to do so despite its declines in oil prices. This proves that real happiness depends on much more than income.

Nonetheless, some of financially-performing top countries in the world have not fared as well, as is the case of the United States of America, which grabs the 14th spot, dropping one spot from last year.

The final chapter of this year’s report focuses on “Restoring American Happiness”, which attempts to explain why happiness in the

FINLAND

US is paradoxically falling despite increased economic growth.

The report emphasizes the fact that America’s crisis is a social one, due to deepening divisions and angst, rising social inequalities, and the rocketing mortality of middle-aged white men and women as a result of drugs, alcohol-abuse and suicide.

Other superpowers that have been found lacking in this regard include Germany, which came in at the 16th place for a second time in a row, the United Kingdom which occupies the 19th place this year, and Russia which moved up seven spots to the 49th place.

As for the top Asian countries, Japan moved up two spots to the 51st place, while China moved up four spots to the 79th place.

Singapore occupies the 26th spot, Thailand the 32nd, South Korea the 56th, and Hong Kong the 71st place.

The report also measured the changes in the level of happiness from 2005-2007 to 2014-2016. These measurements have revealed that of the 126 countries with data, 95 had significant changes, 58 of which were significant increases and 38 showing significant decreases.

Among the 10 top gainers, Nicaragua takes the lead, followed by Latvia, Sierra Leone, Ecuador, Moldova, Bulgaria, Russia, Slovakia, Chile and Uzbekistan. One might notice from this ranking that the countries that experienced a positive change in regards to their social well-being are spread across the entire globe.

The top gainers are from Central and South America, from Central and Eastern Europe, from sub-Saharan Africa, as well as from Central Asia.

NETHERLANDS

At the other end of the scale, the 10 largest countries with the biggest losses are Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, India, Yemen, Jamaica, Ukraine, Botswana, Greece, Central African Republic, and Venezuela.

These 10 countries with the largest declines in average life evaluations typically suffered some combination of economic, political, and social distress.

In the World Happiness Report 2016 Update, Greece, Italy and Spain figure as some of the largest losers, as they were among the four hard-hit Eurozone countries. Of the three, Greece is the only one still ranked among the ten largest declines.

It is important to keep in mind that all these countries are typically marked by low values of all six variables used to explain international differences – GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, generosity and absence of corruption, as well as being subjected to violence and harm from disease.

This year’s World Happiness Report has shown us that social factors, as supporting pillars for happiness, are prevalent and encompassing.

No matter if we talk about income, health, everyday life, or life at work, the importance of social factors is becoming increasingly pronounced.

Despite the many setbacks some countries have experienced in these past few years, John Helliwell, Haifang Huang and Shun Wang believe there is still hope “that simply changing the focus from the material to the social foundations of happiness will improve the rate at which lives can be sustainably improved for all, throughout the world and across generations.”

JULY 2017 39

AROUND THE WORLD

STEP UP IN SOCIAL INNOVATION TO STAND OUT ALINA MIERTOIU

I in the private sector, where it is constantly nnovation is a key driver for performance

used in order to gain competitive advantages by increasing the range of products or services of the company, managing the resources more efficiently, reducing the environmental footprint or in order to increase their employees retention and motivation.

If the benefits of innovation in the private sector are well known, what about its relevance for the public sector? Should governments start looking at innovation as a tool to increase their overall performance and effectiveness?

Due to the complexity of the issues that the government is dealing with, innovation could help the public sector find new and more resource effective ways of tackling with some of those issues. Hence, The Economist Intelligence Unit created the # Social Innovation Index, which aims to assess the ability of countries to drive social innovation and to pinpoint ways in which countries can stimulate social innovation. The index is divided into four main areas Policy and institutional framework, Financing, Entrepreneurship and Society, each sub-divided in sub-categories. A more complex calculation formula of the index could be expressed as: A*44,44% + B*22.22% + C*15% + D*18.33%, where: A= Existence of national policy on social innovation*25% + Social innovation research 40 JULY 2017

and impact*20% + Legal framework for social enterprises*20% + Effectiveness of system in policy implementation*20% + Rule of law*15%; B= Availability of government financing to promote social innovation*50% + Ease of getting credit*25% + Total public social expenditure*25%; C= Risk-taking mindset*25% + Citizen’s attitude towards entrepreneurship*25% + Ease of starting a business*25% + Development of clusters*25%; D= Culture of volunteerism*20% + Political participation*20% + Civil society engagement*20% + Trust in society*20% + Press freedom*20%.

In 2016, out of the 45 countries analyzed, the top performers were the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, while the less performant three were Saudi Arabia, Paraguay and Philippines. Moreover, Saudi Arabia is ranked 49th in the measurement of businessfriendliness environment conducted by the World Bank.

Although the # Social Innovation Index does not assess the inputs of the private sector, which usually has great involvement, nor the actual achievements, the instrument can be considered a starting point and can draw the necessary attention on the subject.

Saudi Arabia is well-known as one of the largest oil exporters, but since the price of oil dropped all of a sudden, Saudi Arabia had to find other measures to support its development. One alternative for the country was to create a more knowledge and service-based economy, by stimulating innovation among its citizens, thus increasing entrepreneurial activities. The potential for Saudi Arabia to do so is quite high as a there was a notable increase in Saudi applicants for the MITEF Arab Startup competition – a 15% increase, which was due to the fact that more than half of the successful entrepreneurs in the KSA are under 35 years old. Saudi Arabia has seen this opportunity and has integrated it in its National Strategy for Transformation into a Knowledge-based Economy by 2030 and took additional steps for implementing the strategy, such as: Investing in education and research to foster innovation; Creating 40 business incubators; Developing a financing network for startups.

Although these measures are a good start, they only address the issue in a general manner.

Our recommendation is to start addressing particular issues based on the sub-metrics of the Innovation Index, such as working on streamlining the country’s legal framework.

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Strategy Communication Content Strategy Communication Internal Newsletter Targeted Strategy and Performance Emails Cartoon Series Mascot Design Fact Sheets Team Engagement Strategy Communication Information Sessions Strategy Ambassadors Network Strategy/Performance Internal Community of Practice Resources Library Strategy and Performance Portal Organisational Performance Library Best Practice External Resources Strategy/Performance Tool Redesign Personalised Strategy Maps Scorecard/Dashboard Design Performance Reports Design

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GET SMARTER AT BUILDING A STRONG PERFORMANCE CULTURE

CUSTOMER SERVICE PERFORMANCE

USING AWARENESS TO ANALYZE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION MAGGIE HAMMOND

W manning the phones while paying your hether you work in customer service

way through college, or take a lot of pride in personally solving all of your customers’ issues, there is always more to learn and plenty of room for improvement.

First and foremost, business professionals are human too, and it is simply not possible to solve all customer grievances amicably.

Even so, that doesn’t stop New Jersey Institute of Technology graduates with online MBA degrees from looking for ways to increase customer satisfaction.

Although asking customers about their experiences can give business professionals better insight in real time, technology is a much better predictor of satisfaction trends.

What Your Customers Aren’t Telling You Research shows that dissatisfied customers will, on average, tell at least 10 different people about a recent negative experience they have had with a company. Comparatively, satisfied customers rarely say a word when things go their way or even better than they expected. So why exactly is this happening?

First, you have to understand that shoppers truly hope for uneventful buying experiences. They 42 JULY 2017

might be happy or even surprised to come across discounts, but they are also the ones who are at a clear advantage.

Remember that you need customers more than they need you, and that is why they aren’t generally in a rush to tell their friends about every good interaction they have had with retailers.

Why Surveys Aren’t All Encompassing Many times, customers are told that they can participate in surveys for a chance of winning either money or goods at the close of a sales transaction. Those with online MBA program degrees know that most times the receipts that give shoppers access to satisfaction surveys end up trashed before the shoppers get home.

That happens because people do not place a lot of value on chances and opportunities. Instead, customers are mainly interested in the real deal.

They want to receive loyalty coupons that they can redeem immediately. Even though it is a good idea to put effort into offering satisfaction surveys, you aren’t going to get the complete picture.

How to Make Customers Comfortable When Discussing Shopping Experiences If your company employs a limited number of people, it might be more difficult for your clients to get through to the top of your company. Of course, you don’t want to give customers your email address and tell them to stop by whenever they have something to discuss, but that doesn’t mean that it is ideal to leave everything up to lower level management.

It takes only one under-performing manager to bring customer satisfaction rates down. You can make your customers comfortable by giving them anonymous channels of communication that don’t identify senders.

Consider this – if your customers aren’t complaining too much, they are likely fairly satisfied. If you have their email addresses, you can periodically ask them about any concerns they have regarding your business.

Otherwise, don’t make any drastic changes and you will discover that customer satisfaction is not as time consuming as you think.

CUSTOMER SERVICE PERFORMANCE

HOW TO BENCHMARK THE PERFORMANCE OF YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT ANDREIA FERARU

a company is interested in attaining superior performance W hen in customer service, sometimes it’s useful to peak into other

companies’ “kitchen,” so that they can get an idea on where they stand in comparison to them. Benchmarking with the companies who provide exceptional customer service will offer insights about best practices in this field and nurture ideas for innovation.

The process of benchmarking is a complex one, and it implies multiple resources. Therefore, a company must clearly trace the goals of such a study. There are several steps to be taken in order to benefit from the best results offered by benchmarking with other organizations.

The main phase when deciding to compare with other professionals in customer service would be to choose what will be benchmarked – the processes, the competencies or the performance.

Afterwards, the decision must focus on what will the customer service department be benchmarked against – against other functional departments from successful companies, or against standards – e.g.

International Standard ISO 10002:2014. Finally, how will the results of benchmarking be used? To evaluate the current state of the CS department, or to improve and innovate it?

Let’s suppose we are interested in comparing the performance of our customer service department with the one of another company. The following recommendations are intended to help you design a plan on how to make the comparison and gather useful data for the activity of your company: 1. Analyze the internal state of the customer service department and define the encountered problems. For example, after performing the annual customer satisfaction survey, it becomes obvious that customers are dissatisfied with the support they get from the customer service representatives.

2. After deciding to benchmark the performance of one team with that of others, a selection of the benchmarking partners must be done. It is recommended to establish some criteria against which the comparison will be made, and then find some organizations who proved to be outstanding in their activity.

JULY 2017 43

CUSTOMER SERVICE PERFORMANCE

SUPPORT

ONLINE SUPPORT

3. In the preparation phase, the members of the benchmarking team must be designated as well. There are some aspects to be taken into consideration when composing the team, such as: the team size, the skills, and accountability of each team member. A benchmarking team should be formed out of: A program coordinator who will be responsible for monitoring and tracking the project; A process owner who will have knowledge about current processes and can identify opportunities for improvement; Data collectors and data analysts who will be in charge of designing the questionnaires, gathering and analyzing data; Support staff who will assist the team in research, legal or technical issues; Facilitators who will facilitate the achievement of project’s tasks and ensure the objectives are met.

4. In the following phase, the decision must follow the processes and KPIs that should be compared in order to get an overview of the performance gap between the current status of the customer service department, and a performant department from a successful company.

Examples of customer service processes that can be compared are: Complaints handling process; Inquiry Responses process; Orders processing workflow.

Examples of KPIs in customer service that worth being benchmarked are: % Customer complaints due to poor service or product quality # Call handling time % First contact resolution rate % Complaints resolved # Longest call hold % Customer satisfaction with service levels % Call abandon rate # Complaints received # Longest delay in queue % Customer calls answered in the first minute 44 JULY 2017

CALL CENTER

QUESTION AND ANSWER

% Timeliness of issues resolution # Speed of answer (SA) # Orders processed % Resolution of queries the same day % Calls answered within service level time 5. After deciding what to compare, a research must be performed and data must be collected. Information can be accessed directly by conducting interviews with the benchmarking partners, or by making site visits at the benchmarked companies, or indirectly by getting feedback from the competitors’ customers, or by performing mystery client interactions with the customer service department.

6. Once the data is collected, the benchmarking team should analyze the processes and strategy and be able to identify the best practices of a performant customer service department.

7. The next phase would be to conceive some improvement measures for the customer service department that are aligned to the processes of the company and its strategy.

8. The implementation of the improvement measures may be the most challenging from the whole benchmarking project. Usually, employees are resistant to organizational changes, and managers should be able to coach people and help teams overcome the obstacles that appear due to improvement measures. Employees’ engagement can be acquired by organizing meetings with the involved staff, a transparent communication, and sometimes a reward program for the efforts of adapting to the new strategy.

9. The final phase refers to the monitoring process of the project’s progress. There are some tools which can facilitate monitoring, such as: dashboards, scorecards, portfolio of initiatives and review meetings.

It is worth investing resources in performing comparisons with successful organizations, even if they are activating in totally different industries, because their methodologies can prove to be fruitful for your company, if applied appropriately. A customer service benchmarking will offer an overview on the current level of customer service and encourage the improvement of customer experiences provided by your company.

BENCHMARKING

DE F

VE O

MEASURE

ANALYZE

E IN

IM PR

CONTROL

BENCHMARKING’S ROLE WITHIN THE SIX SIGMA METHODOLOGY ALINA MIERTOIU

S constantly ince

stakeholders’ expectations are increasing and they expect better and better products & services at a lower price in a shorter time, organizations must thrive to improve and innovate all the time.

One of the best known methodologies used by organizations for constant operational performance improvement is the Six Sigma methodology, which has its roots in statistical engineering and is an “integrated, disciplined and data driven approach for reducing defects and producing measurable financial results.” Through the use of 5 core stages, a cycle generally known as DMAIC - define, measure, analyze, improve and control - Sig Sigma aims at generating

continuous improvement, optimization and stabilization of a business.

Benchmarking plays an important role within the Six Sigma methodology as it enables Six Sigma practitioners to drive improvement by helping them obtain the measurements or the standard for the data they want to analyze.

Better said, in the analysis phase of Six Sigma, benchmarking helps set the “what” that needs to be measured in order to identify performance gaps. Moreover, benchmarking enables Six Sigma specialists to shape the strategy and set targets for the benchmarks selected according to the industry standards.

When using a benchmarking project for choosing the benchmarks against which to measure the current performance of an organization with the purpose of generating improvements, Six Sigma practitioners have to take into consideration several aspects.

Firstly, the selected benchmarks need to align with the strategy of the organization.

Comparing the strategic objectives of the benchmarking partners with your own organization’s strategic objectives is the first step in choosing the benchmarks correctly.

One has to ensure that the indicators measured reflect what they want to improve, not what other companies focus on. For example, if an organization’s strategic objective is to improve JULY 2017 45

BENCHMARKING

BENCHMARK

CURRENT RESULTS

% CUSTOMER RETENTION their performance within the customer service department and their benchmarking partner’s objective is to optimize production it is common sense that most of the indicators measured by the benchmarking partner will reflect production measures and fewer will assess the customer service department.

Hence, when choosing the benchmarks for a particular functional area, an organization has to ensure that the indicators compared reflect directly their focus areas, as well as to make sure that their benchmarking partners do perform at an optimum level in that area, even though they focus on a different one.

Secondly, as already discussed above, improvement specialists will have to take into consideration the profile and strategy of their benchmarking partners when deciding on the benchmarks upon which to base their improvement process. Going beyond just the strategy, if a new comer on the market is benchmarking itself with the best in class, the company profile and features need to be taken into consideration because the benchmarking partner will most likely face different challenges. For the newcomer, the biggest challenge might be to secure their place on the market, while for the best in class to innovate in order not to lose market share. This implies that the indicators and the targets set by each organization for the indicators will be different.

46 JULY 2017

Moreover, Six Sigma specialists should make sure they understand what their benchmarking partners measure through a particular indicator. Given the fact that the name of the indicators might not be standardized within the entire industry and most organizations use they own way of formulating the name of indicators, one has to check the definition of the indicators as understood by the other organization and standardize or normalize the results as to make them comparable.

We also argued that benchmarks can be a helpful tool for shaping the strategy.

This is because all functional areas within an organization are interconnected and change, be it positive or negative, in one of them triggers change in other areas as well. Going back to the previous example, although our focus is on the customer department, a benchmarking project with partners which have a different strategy can pinpoint to greater issues in other departments. For instance, low performance in the production department can lead to unsatisfied customers and negatively affect the customer service department. This will make the improvement managers to shift focus to the performance of the production department in order to address the root cause and so it will force them reshape the strategy and its objectives.

Thirdly, benchmarks can help the target setting process and the graph below shows how benchmarking can help Six Sigma practitioners with target setting in the case of % Customer retention.

However, when setting the target, it is important to know the resources available and be able to set a target according to the resources.

For example, a new organization on the market will surely not have the financial and human resources needed to set their targets according to the performance results of the best in class, but they can aim to set the target according to the industry average or to the average of the best performers among organizations which entered the market in the last two years.

In conclusion, the benchmarking process can be a real help for Six Sigma practitioners, especially in the analysis given the fact that it helps them: Chose what they need to measure; Shape the strategy in order to make sure it is relevant and fosters improvements; Set realistic targets aligned to the industry standards.

EVENTS INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

THE 3 RULES OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT REWARDS, COMPASSION, INSIGHTS MAGGIE HAMMOND

E that is simply “nice to have.” It is a crucial mployee engagement is not something

component that can make or break a company.

Keeping workers motivated and engaged with the work they do and the growth of the company can lead to many great things, not only for the employees involved but also for the company as a whole.

Fortunately, employee engagement is something that can be developed. The right corporate culture and the right approach can help motivate employees to contribute more to the company. Here are the three basic strategies you can use to get started.

A Rewarding Reward Tim Erblich, an expert in Human Resources, as well as many other experts in this field, have concluded that rewarding employees who are already disgruntled – in an attempt to boost morale and get them motivated – is not a good thing to do. This approach will only form a culture of entitlement and will make it more difficult to reward high-achieving members of the team.

Instead of giving perks and facilities, you need to focus on rewards that bring more rewards in the future. Encouraging employees to pursue a higher degree, for instance, is a good way to help employees grow and grant them access to future promotions and more rewards.

Many healthcare service providers are using this approach to keep up with market demands.

Medical institutions are working together with reputable universities such as ADU Online and courses like the online Master of Healthcare Administration in Strategy and

Innovation to allow more practitioners access to master’s degrees. The online MHA degree is particularly popular because it is the perfect degree for healthcare professionals wanting to fill managerial positions.

Compassion Works The older style of leadership, particularly one that uses a lot of force and fear to keep everyone performing superbly, is now considered less effective. Compassion is the way forward.

Managers and business owners who are good at showing compassion on a more personal level tend to have better-performing team members.

Compassion leads to a series of traits that many – if not all – team members look for from a leader. Through compassion, you can be an authentic person with a strong view of the future. It is also easier to lead with integrity when you know how to show empathy at the right moment and be fair to all team members.

Act on Insights Last but certainly not least, it is also necessary to listen to employees. The best way to show employees that you listen is by acting on the insights you receive from them. Acknowledge good ideas and find ways to integrate them with the business’s operations. Make small changes that improve employees’ working conditions based on the input you receive from them.

These are small things to do, but they work great in boosting employee engagement. Aside from a boost in everyday performance, you will also see an increase in employee participation in other forms – including greater willingness to convey ideas and take initiative – from the best members of your team.

JULY 2017 47

EVENTS BALANCED SCORECARD

STRENGTHS OF THE BALANCED SCORECARD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE PAUL ALBU

W focusing

e live an era where organizations are their efforts on several key pillars, namely on gaining more market share, attracting more customers or making more profit. In other words, organizations try to be more proficient in achieving their goals.

This is when Performance Management kicks in, including sub-processes such as: The formulation of a plan; Actively monitoring its implementation; Readjusting the plan; Performance measurement; Capability development.

Performance Management Systems integrate all the above-mentioned sub-processes. Artelly explain: “the performance management system is the heart and soul of the performancebased management process. Flowing from the organizational mission and the strategic planning process, it provides the data that will be collected, analyzed, reported, and, ultimately used to make sound business decisions”.

Many Performance Management Systems assist organizations in a number ways, each having its strengths and weaknesses. In this article, we will focus on comparing the Balanced Scorecard Management System with other Performance Management Systems: Balanced Scorecard Management System and Total Quality Management (TQM) Even though the role of these two systems is to improve business performance, the biggest difference lies in what is the primary focus of each system, as emphasized by Salem et al.: while the Balanced Scorecard Management 48 JULY 2017

System approaches performance in a more integrated manner, TQM focuses on the internal business processes.

In order to achieve performance in an organization, all areas (perspectives) must be taken into consideration, as one without the other is reductionist.

Balanced Scorecard Management System and Performance Prism The Performance Prism consists of 5 interrelated facets (perspectives): Stakeholder satisfaction, Strategies, Processes, Capabilities and Contributions. An advantage of the prism is that it focuses on the reciprocal relationship between the stakeholder and the organization, but the downsize is that it neglects issues regarding how the performance measurements are going to be realized.

In contrast, the BSC Management System can easily measure the performance of an organization by using Key Performance Indicators and, if necessary, it can also focus on the relationship between stakeholders by having specific objectives.

Balanced Scorecard Management System and the European Foundation Quality Model The EFQM allows organizations to assess their current level of excellence (performance) and the areas they need to improve. In addition, the model ensures that business decisions take into account the stakeholders’ needs and that they are aligned to the organization’s objectives. The BSC Management System design starts with the articulation of a shared strategic vision specific to the organization, and backwards to define the objectives and initiatives that need to occur in order to succeed.

On the contrary, the EFQM assesses performance against a standard of activities, the generic so-called “best practice” standards. Taking into consideration that each organization is unique and has different objectives compared to another organization from the same field, the BSC Management System is much more customizable.

Balanced Scorecard Management System and Management by Objectives (MBO) Management by objectives represents the system in which the objectives of an organization are agreed upon by the managers and employees so that all stakeholders understand the same thing.

There are several limitations of MBO in comparison with the BSC Management System: It is hard to identify and define objectives, as there is no specific method to formulate the objectives; It does not take into consideration the environment in which objectives are set, like available resources, stakeholders, competitors etc.; Because the system focuses on individual objectives, employees could not be motivated to look beyond their own targets to help others.

In comparisons with other systems, implementing a Balanced Scorecard Management System in any type of organization will offer way more benefits, as it measures the performance of an organization from four core perspectives: Financial, Customer, Internal processes and People, learning and growth, which represent key areas for the success of any organization.

EVENTS SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE

SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING SHOULD YOUR ORGANIZATION IMPLEMENT THE GRI STANDARDS? ANA MARIA SABAU

S in scope over the past years, given that the

ustainability reporting has been increasing

number of organizations worldwide issuing sustainability reports has been growing yearly, driven by several major trends, reflecting shifts in the regulatory, community, investor and consumer landscapes.

harmonization of the sustainability reporting process. Among the non-financial reporting tools on the market, the guidelines issued by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) have stood out during recent years, being increasingly adopted on a global scale by companies and

Regulatory bodies worldwide are starting to place more emphasis on transparency regarding corporate sustainability practices, mandating environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures for certain types of organizations. The 2014/95/ EU Directive on nonfinancial reporting, which addresses public interest companies with more than 500 employees and is estimated to affect around 6,000 organizations, was implemented at the EU member state level starting with January 2017.

In addition, with companies being under constant scrutiny regarding their operations from investors, employees and consumers alike, sustainability reporting has become an expected component of stakeholder relations, as a tool for promoting transparency and ethical business practices.

At the same time, the proliferation of internationally recognized and utilized sustainability or corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting tools is helping improve the consistency, and thus comparability of the said reports, contributing to the gradual global

of the GRI Standards, the most recent nonfinancial reporting guidelines issued by GRI and the first global standards for sustainability reporting.

The Global Reporting Initiative The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), founded in Boston in 1997 and headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, represents an independent international standards organization focused on understanding and communicating the impact of business on important sustainability issues, including human rights, climate change and corruption.

GRI launched the first version of its sustainability reporting guidelines in 2000, which have continuously evolved until G4, the fourth generation of guidelines, published in 2013. The GRI Standards were launched in October 2016, having been developed by the Global Sustainability Standards Board, established as an independent entity under GRI and comprising 15 members with varied fields of expertise, who provide a multistakeholder perspective.

non-corporate organizations alike. The GRI online repository shows a dramatic rise in GRI reports containing ESG disclosure, from only 48 in 2000, to over 5,300 in 2016.

In the next part, we will explore the structure, implementation requirements and advantages

The GRI Standards The GRI Standards are structured as a set of interrelated, modular standards, comprising: Universal standards: GRI 101: Foundation (starting point for using the standards), GRI 102: General Disclosures (contextual information about the organization) and GRI 103: Management Approach JULY 2017 49

SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE

UNIVERSAL STANDARDS Foundation

General Disclosures

Management Approach

GRI 101

GRI 102

GRI 103

Topic-specific standards: GRI 200: Economic, GRI 300: Environmental and GRI 400: Social

The GRI Standards suggest considering the following sustainability-related topics when reporting:

Each topic-specific standard is designed for use with GRI 103: Management Approach, to report the organization’s strategy for tackling the respective sustainability-related issue.

Economic: economic performance, market presence, indirect economic impacts, procurement practices, anticorruption and anti-competitive behavior

There are two options for preparing a sustainability report in accordance with the GRI Standards, based on the degree to which they have been applied: Core Comprehensive If an organization uses only a handful of individually selected GRI Standards, without complying to the entire sustainability report, it can include that its material references specific standards.

Areas of sustainability GRI Standards focus on the impacts of an organization on sustainable development, rather than on the sustainability of the organization. The aim of the report is to describe how an organization, through its strategy, contributes to the improvement or worsening of economic, environmental and social factors within its operating context, presenting its performance in relation to broader sustainability concepts.

50 JULY 2017

Environmental: materials used, energy, water, biodiversity, emissions, effluents and waste, environmental compliance and supplier environmental assessment Social: employment, labor and management relations, occupational health and safety, training and education, diversity and equal opportunity, nondiscrimination, child labor, local communities, customer safety, marketing and labeling etc.

KPIs, materiality and specific disclosures A GRI report should cover issues which reflect the organization’s significant economic, environmental and social impacts, or that substantively influence the assessments and decisions of stakeholders.

When assessing the materiality of a topic, organizations should take into account both internal factors (mission, competitive strategy) and external factors, such as the interests of different stakeholder groups and broader social, environmental and economic interests, at the societal level.

The GRI Standards provide specific key performance indicators (KPIs) to be measured, managed and reported for each suggested topic, together with additional breakdown, explanation and references, including authoritative intergovernmental instruments.

Industry guidance The G4 Sector Disclosures, developed for use with the G4 Guidelines, remain available and valid for reporting with the GRI Standards, as guidance material, without being mandatory.

Currently, there are industry-specific disclosures for ten sectors, including airport operators, financial services, oil and gas, media and NGO, with more to follow starting in 2017. These documents contain additional guidance and references for the disclosure of topic-specific standards for specific industries, based on the challenges encountered.

Reporting organizations The GRI Standards are aimed at all types of organizations, including for-profit companies, NGOs and governmental organizations, irrespective of their size.

In 2016, around 59% of the reporting organizations were large, 31% were multinational companies and 9% small and medium enterprises.

SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE

TOPIC SPECIFIC STANDARDS Economic

Environmental

Social

GRI 200

GRI 300

GRI 400

Reporting organizations are required to apply the GRI Standards starting with 1 July 2018, however earlier adoption is encouraged.

Currently, there are over 27,500 GRI Reports recorded in the organization’s repository and, of the 92% of the world’s largest companies that report on their sustainability performance, 74% use GRI’s guidelines. Similarly, research carried out during 2016 by The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) on the sustainability reporting practices of 163 member companies from more than 20 sectors and 35 countries, revealed that 87% of the reporting organizations used GRI guidelines, up from 75% in 2013.

Region-wise, the biggest number of reporters are headquartered in Asia and Oceania (36%), followed by Europe (35%) and the Americas (25%).

Stakeholder focus The GRI Standards were developed to meet the broader sustainability reporting needs of all stakeholders, including business, civil society, labor, accounting, investors, academics, governments and sustainability reporting practitioners.

Why should your organization implement the GRI Standards?

Among its main benefits, the largest one

is the wide range of sustainability topics which get measured, factoring in aspects such as economic, environmental and social disclosure, as well as the inclusion of topicspecific KPIs (together with definitions and references), which many internationallyused reporting frameworks do not provide.

By including KPIs and by making its standards modular and interrelated, GRI facilitates sustainability reporting at a strategic level.

In addition, GRI reporting is developed in such a way as to address and be comprehensible for a wide range of stakeholders, meaning that organizations reporting in accordance with GRI Standards manage to reach a wider audience and gain greater visibility.

Unlike other non-financial reporting frameworks, the GRI Standards manage to provide both a qualitative and a quantitative aspect to reporting, through the detailed guidelines and focus on materiality and stakeholder dialogue, on the one hand, and detailed KPI examples, indications on KPI selection and industry guidance, on the other hand.

Due to its comprehensiveness regarding sustainability areas covered and stakeholder categories addressed, as well as inclusion of KPIs to be used and industry guidance, the GRI Standards appear to be the framework

with the highest applicability and ease of implementation, being suitable for all types of organizations, whether companies of any size or NGOs. Thus, it is not surprising that the previous version of the GRI Standards, the GRI G4 Guidelines, have been the most widely-used sustainability reporting framework worldwide, used by corporate and non-corporate organizations alike.

For some organizations, the inclusion of certain sustainability subjects is vital due to their strategic role, while others place emphasis on the inclusion of KPIs to measure outcomes.

At the same time, reporting burdens and expectations differ based on the organization’s type, size, ownership and history of sustainability reporting. Nevertheless, it is important for organizations to find a balance between meeting stakeholders’ expectations for sustainability-related information and managing the reporting burden, which oftentimes amounts to significant financial and time resources expenditure, particularly for smaller organizations.

Beyond selecting an adequate reporting framework, companies should direct their focus towards enhanced implementation processes, higher data quality and inclusion of performance measurement tools to generate more relevant and quantifiable sustainability disclosures to their stakeholders.

JULY 2017 51

KPIS

INNOVATION MANAGEMENT THROUGH KPIS TEODORA OLTEAN-GOCAN

T

oday’s world is constantly changing. Markets change, grow, or shrink, consumers change and expect more for less. Technologies change and they are changing at an ever-increasing rate, as is stated in Moore’s Law. In a world of change and competition, firms must adapt to an ever-changing environment in order to survive.

As Milan Kundera said, business has only two functions innovation and marketing. These interconnected areas depend on each other’s existence. If we think of this as the organizing elements of a firm, it can be considered that marketing represents the business line, while innovation represents the key to evolution and development. Thus, the business line provides financial resources for investments in research and innovation, while each innovative product launched on the market gradually transforms into a business line.

By analyzing the latest trends in innovation, it can be seen that even in this area the perspective has changed. Normal innovation has gradually become sustainable innovation.

Innovators traditionally design for systems to source, produce, sell, and use their products or services, making them cheaper to make, easier to sell, or better to use. Sustainable innovation looks further up and downstream to a wider set of lifecycle stages – considering resource extraction, distribution, waste and disposal issues too. Moreover, today’s innovation has been reoriented towards the needs and benefits of the society rather than serving only development goals.

The most notorious case when it comes about innovation is the Amazon case study. At a brief glance, it can be seen that Jeff Bezos has been totally customer-centric from the beginning.

From Kindle, to personalized delivery options, movie studio or restaurants, this company tried everything just to assure a continuous development process. This happened because Bezos has generally ploughed profits straight back into growing the company.

Even though the giant’s success might be impressive, it might be a little hard to achieve such notoriety from the beginning.

That is why in the following part, we will look to showcase a start-up recipe for success in innovation.

Deliveroo – innovation is its middle name Deliveroo’s story began with a need, and someone patient enough to discover it. A while back, in the crowded business 52 JULY 2017

centres of London, there were lots of hungered workers chained to theirs desks in the noughties.

There were some players in the food-delivery game already but the quality of the food on offer was poor and customers had no idea how long it would take to arrive. That’s when Will Shu had his big idea – a delivery service so that smart restaurants could implement takeout, too. The model is simple: Deliveroo takes a fee from both customers and the restaurants they order from, and gets you your food within 30 minutes.

KPIs

customers or enable your business’s expansion. To ensure a deep understanding of your market and business, you must rely on a set of relevant Key Performance Indicators.

During one of the most important steps – KPI selection, it is crucial for any organization to connect its KPIs to the business value drivers directly.

Taking the example of Deliveroo, identifying a market need (lunch service delivery at work) was just the beginning, but setting the right value drivers was the secret to keeping them in the game. In this case, an important element of customer satisfaction is the timely delivery of food. To act upon this, the company needs to constantly monitor its service delivery time.

Possible KPIs to measure could be # Time from order to delivery, # Customer satisfaction with delivery time, # Complaints related to delays, # Average delay time in delivery, % On-time delivery.

To ensure the constant improvement of their KPIs, organizations nowadays have to find creative solutions to optimize processes. Monitoring the ability of a business to generate innovative ideas should be part of any organization regardless of its industry. Innovation management should rely on several KPIs that can provide visibility into how innovative the company or a certain department is.

Examples of possible KPIs that can be tracked at different innovation management levels are exemplified below.

Innovative Potential # Ideas for new services/ products # Ideas for improved services/ products # Ideas submitted per employee Innovation Investment % Employees involved in the innovation process # Hours spent developing innovations % Dedicated resources for radical innovation Innovation Efficiency # Time to market new products/ services(TTM) # New services launched % Idea conversion rate

The idea of delivering hot food was old, but still Shu came with something new. He linked the already existing restaurants with possible customer, thus increasing delivery speed significantly for new clients. As a result, the company raised a total of $475m – its latest $275 from Bridgepoint Capital is said to take the firm’s valuation over the magic $1bn.

This is all fine and dandy, but having the idea is only the beginning - then you need to identify ways to implement it and continue to innovate in order to retain your

Innovation Quality % Idea submissions rewarded $ Savings generated by improvement ideas % Customer focused innovations In order to achieve long term results, you have to constantly persevere and even more so, consistently evaluate your chosen set of KPIs. When we first come against an issue, we think of a way to deal with it, but we cannot stick to that manner of thinking for all of our issues henceforth. We must be constantly looking for new ways of solving dilemmas, in order to avoid clinging to the past. This may oftentimes seem like a comfortable solution, but comfortable does not mean it will achieve its intended purpose; sometimes, we need to be ready to step out of our way in order to fix a problem.

JULY 2017 53

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HEALTHCARE PERFORMANCE

THE NEW PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY ANDREEA VECERDEA

T

he healthcare sector is one of the most innovative industries as research constitutes the basis of constant advances in the field, in terms of newly discovered cures and new ways to treat chronic diseases.

The Improvement Foundation was established in Adelaide, in 2006, as a not-for-profit organization that provides expertise in the development and delivery of quality improvement techniques for the primary healthcare sector.

The organization delivers quality improvement training to a number of health services, in order to help them optimize processes and increase their efficiency. The results translate into better patient care.

What’s more, the Improvement Foundation developed a dashboard that tracks the impact of chronic disease treatment on patients. The dashboard fulfills two main objectives.

On one hand, it tracks the effects of the quality improvement initiatives implemented. Goals can be set and progress towards those goals monitored, especially for Diabetes, Kidney Disease, Cardiovascular Disease, Coronary Heart Disease and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

The dashboard allows health services to choose their own goals for specific KPIs. In this 56 JULY 2017

manner, it is possible to monitor the extent to which decisions taken in terms of treatment recommended were effective and led to clinical improvements for patients.

On the other hand, the dashboard facilitates comparisons between own initiatives taken and the ones implemented by other health services, at local, state, or national level. The KPIs used show the health service performance benchmarked against the average of more than 800 primary care health services which are also submitting the same quality improvement data to the portal.

Thus, health services can identify areas that need improvement and can put more effort towards reaching higher levels of performance.

Also, it is a mean to share with others the benefits of some treatments or, on the contrary – the failures, and come up with recommended actions meant to prevent them from happening in other cases.

The electronic dashboard can be accessed from the Foundation’s quality improvement portal by any organization that provides services involved in the quality improvement programs offered by the Foundation.

Mr Colin Frick, Chief Executive Officer of the Improvement Foundation, claims that: “maintaining the focus on quality improvement by healthcare services has never been more

important. This platform gives healthcare professionals access to powerful analytics that empower them to take more decisive action by providing the visibility needed to evaluate what is and isn’t working in their health service.”

Another initiative of the Improvement Foundation is the development of the Western Australian Vaccine Safety Surveillance System, a centralized place where data from citizens about adverse reactions to flu vaccinations is constantly gathering.

How does this system work? A web portal was developed to store data. How is data gathered?

Patients who opt-in receive a message 24 hours after they were vaccinated, and they simply have to answer with “yes’ or “no” to whether they have experienced any adverse reaction.

A positive answer triggers a second message, with a link to an online questionnaire, meant to evaluate the severity of the reaction. If needed, the patient will be directly followed up by a health professional.

In 2014, this idea won a South Australian iAward in the health category and it was ranked among the first four 2014 innovations by the Australian Doctor Magazine.

This is one more proof that technology advancements lead the way to performance and future development in the healthcare industry.

The future is about data and technology and the healthcare sector is no exception!

EVENTS PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

5 WAYS YOU CAN BOOST THE SALES VALUE OF YOUR GREEN BUSINESS ERICH LAWSON

A sized green businesses, you will be hoping

s the proud owners of small and medium-

to get a higher price when you decide to sell your businesses because of their exceptional brand value or reputation. But you will most likely be disappointed unless you make a clear business case to your potential buyers.

A lot of green business strategies have a detectable and positive financial impact on small and medium-sized businesses. The nonfinancial benefits of your business can also increase the value of it but only if you properly define and keep track of the metrics which you can use to highlight the benefits to your potential buyers.

The world is also demanding that you focus on sustainability in your business practices which makes sense as green business strategies lead to lower costs and higher sales. Environmental responsibility has become a common theme in large businesses, a lot of them invest heavily in programs to conserve energy and reduce their companies’ environmental footprints.

A trend towards greater environmental responsibility has also found a home in the small business community in the current market. Here are 5 ways that green businesses can boost your company’s value:

1. Increased Prices A lot of green business strategies improve your earnings. According to research, 42% of Americans have stated that they are ready to pay extra for products and services from companies that are committed to social and environmental impact, with the millennial generation being the most committed. If you are selling products from sustainable sources then you can sell them at higher prices than conventional products which will increase your earnings.

2. Energy Costs If your companies are focused on reducing their own energy consumption then they are not only helping the environment but you as well, by lowering your own energy usage.

According to a survey, small businesses that invest strategically can reduce their utility costs by 25% or more without compromising on quality.

3. Costs of Goods Waste has a negative effect on your company’s profit margin as any excess supplies and waste materials tend to increase the cost of your products. When the raw materials are not used properly and become waste then the manufacturing companies have to gather up the waste and dispose of it which will cut your profits. Preventing wastage of resources allows you to save more money.

4. Wage Costs Allowing your employees to actively participate in a good work culture leads to you having better and more productive employees. Your company may not provide better benefits to your workers but give them better, social and hygienic workplaces which they enjoy working in. Increased productivity helps green businesses become more competitive as well as lowering the wage costs for each product.

Replacing a single employee costs roughly 20% of that employee’s salary.

5. Capital Expenditures The government of your country can offer incentives to your business in the form of tax breaks and credits. You should take advantage of these government programs and invest more of your resources into their growth.

Implementing green business strategies has been proven to reduce costs, increase profits and improve your company’s overall financial performance.

Creating and implementing green business practices along with sustainable productivity will take some time and a bit of effort but eventually the fruits will come to bear as your company will result in having a higher market valuation when you decide to sell it. Bear in mind however, that the value of customer loyalty and employee retention will not be considered or recognized by your potential buyers.

JULY 2017 57

SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE

BUYER-SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIP NEGOTIATION AT ITS BEST MARIA JUNCU

I

n the past years, the buyer-supplier relationship has been skewed a bit, favouring the latter more often. There are a number of reason that have led to this shift. In some cases, suppliers have prevailed over their competitors by driving down costs or developing disruptive technologies, while for others, the growing demand for input has given them the opportunity to charge at their preferred rates.

No matter the reason, buyers need to have a strategic approach if they want to remain the stronger player in this exchange. To avoid weaknesses, they should not rely on hard negotiations through their procurement offices and before going through a strategic reappraisal, all buyers should take into consideration these four steps.

1. Provide New Value One of the easiest ways to re-establish the relationship with a strong supplier is by providing new value. By employing this strategy, you can gain the upper hand and transform a commercial transaction into a strategic partnership. You can do this in several ways, for instance: You can offer the supplier a market opportunity that he cannot pass up, in exchange for price concessions.

You can reduce the suppliers’ risk and in doing so, you can demand some concessions in return.

2. Change Your Demand Strategy If you cannot help the supplier create new value, you can try to change your method of demand. However, this strategy can influence other parts of the organization, that is why you have to closely collaborate with other functions that can be affected. There are three ways in which you can change the demand pattern: The option that involves the least risk and is the easiest to implement is to consolidate purchase orders. It is easy to implement, as it involves acting on an internal audit of procurement data.

The second option can be employed by those companies that cannot create large purchasing bundles within product categories or geographies. In such cases, companies should purchase across them.

The third and last option is to shift volume away from a powerful supplier by switching to a substitute or lower-cost product. By threatening the supplier with this, he can become more open towards negotiation.

3. Find a New Supply Source If the first two options are unsuccessful, you can try to create a new supply source. Like the other two strategies, by doing this you can shift demand away from powerful suppliers. This strategy is most useful in industries where price negotiations have driven most suppliers out of business, giving the survivors a monopoly.

Such cases demand careful panning as the actions you take can alienate your supplier and change your company’s business model. You can choose between the following options: You can create a new supplier by bringing in a competitor from another industry, one that

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otherwise might not have had the chance to enter the market.

You can create the new supplier yourself by investing in the required assets and capabilities, in a strategic partnership with a company that has some of those assets and capabilities. Such a threat could be enough to shift the balance of power.

4. Be More Forceful This last strategy is extreme, so it should be employed only as a last resort, when everything else fails. In such a case, you can try canceling all your orders, excluding the supplier from future business, or even possibly threatening litigation. This strategy can work but it is very risky and we do not advise pursuing it, accepting that it will only become viable if every other option has been expended, suggested or tried by that point.

As can be seen, there are plenty of ways for companies to wrestle the power away from suppliers.

However, before choosing an option, all companies need to clearly understand the problem they are dealing with, be open to a new course of action, have strong analytical capabilities and be ready to open the road towards a different kind of buyer-supplier relationship.

It is also very important for senior executives to employ strategic rather than so-called tactical gut instinct moves. By having all these elements in place and by following one of these four steps, buyers will find that the task of negotiating with suppliers can become less daunting.

ASK THE EXPERTS

ASK THE EXPERTS

DO WE REALLY NEED ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT TO GENERATE IMPROVEMENTS? CRISTINA MIHAILOAIE

P

erformance management, at least at the employee level, has received serious criticism from multinationals such as Microsoft, General Electric, Adobe, Goldman Sachs Group and Google, in the past 5 years. The traditional ranking system and KPI measurement used in the appraisal process provided little added value for the organization, for managers or for the individual. Practice has proved that a measurement system is merely a promise of improvement.

of every top management member, as well as the CEO’s.

Nevertheless, managing performance is part of the C-suite job, but developing a dedicated performance management capability, which doesn’t necessarily have to be represented by an entire department, but one single person, can ensure a more qualitative process management. Moreover, it can impose a certain approach towards what is performance management and the use of its tools.

Performance improvement will only take place when the right metrics are monitored, when data is used adequately in decision-making and when there is a good context or environment for healthy measurement approaches.

As competition becomes more aggressive, clients more sophisticated, information and technology more accessible, managing a business goes beyond the traditional management capabilities (finance, human resources, procurement, sales etc.).

The Performance Management Office nowadays stands side by side with other key functional areas.

In the midst of disagreement between different approaches adopted by several companies, frameworks recommended by consultancy companies and academic perspectives, questioning the actual assumption of whether we really need performance management comes naturally.

Performance management – a company-wide effort Performance management is among the most recent disciplines developed in business management, in spite of measurement being a process as old as time. Performance management has evolved side by side with strategy and quality management.

Critics may even argue the necessity to consider performance management a self-standing discipline, when in fact many of its methods and tools are part of other related disciplines.

One perspective is to claim that performance management should be without doubt everyone’s job in the organization, but when no clear accountability is assigned, not much progress takes place. Another point of view is to emphasize the fact that performance management is included in the responsibilities

Our latest research study (2016) – State of Performance Improvement and KPIs, revealed that 80% of professionals claim to have noticed a positive effect in their organizations after implementing KPIs, and the same percentage has dedicated a Performance Management Office/Responsible Person. When talking about using KPIs, selecting the right metrics is one of the most challenging tasks, in relation to improving performance levels, with building the right culture and implementing improvement initiatives highlighted as being the most common pitfalls for organizations.

In exploring the paradigm of performance management – do we need it or not?, we must look into the root cause of the issue.

Are the principles which govern these frameworks defectuous or is the implementation and use of tools less effective?

According to the same study mentioned above, only 98% of respondents admitted to having a performance management JULY 2017 59

ASK THE EXPERTS

Our latest research study (2016) – State of Performance Improvement and KPIs, revealed that 80% of professionals claim to have noticed a positive effect in their organizations after implementing KPIs

98% of respondents admitted to having a performance management system established in their organization

27% of the interviewed professionals feel like the decision-making process relies more on instinct than on data

According to an HBR article, 36% of the organizations included in their research practice unilateral decision-making.

80%

system established in their organization and 27% of these professionals feel like the decision-making process relies more on instinct than on data. Therefore, although most organizations have a measurement and reporting system in place, around a quarter of them still don’t know how to use data for improvement.

This is a very common performance management pitfall – to create a very wellstructured system in an environment which does not foster or nurture the key processes needed to generate value from KPIs.

98%

To make matters even worse, an article from Harvard Business Review pointed out that 36% of organizations are practicing unilateral decision-making, meaning decisions are taken top-down – the leader makes decisions alone, without consultations.

Frameworks, systems, tools, software – these are things we can easily calibrate or improve, especially in the case of large and prosperous organizations. Most companies struggle with changing mindsets and cultures, with integrating new technology & ideas and with integrating millennials’ energy with the business and work experience of seniors.

27%

36%

Nurturing essential processes, such as those concerning the use of data, decision-making and organizational learning, to ensure consistent performance improvement is quite the difficult task.

Optimizing these processes is key for performance improvement.

Performance improvement through reliable data analysis Converting data into knowledge – technology has enabled us to capture large volumes of data, about almost everything in the organization. However, few companies manage to generate the expected value from the technological investment, as they are facing difficulties in distinguishing between “not important”, “nice to know” and “very important” data.

The proper use of KPIs should enable managers to bring more clarity into this matter and ensure the right data makes its way into their executive reports.

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ASK THE EXPERTS

The advantage of capturing large volumes of data is that it enables data mining and predictive analytics. Reliable data analysis should provide high quality data (ontime, complete, accurate, consistent) to streamline decision-making. However, this is not enough because no software can make the right decision for your business, nor can it replace human reasoning. For this, we need to teach managers how to look at data with a critical eye, we need to make them curious about exploring root causes and always double check figures as well as initial assumptions.

Performance improvement through effective performance review meetings and decision-making Executives spend thousands of hours trapped in meetings – but how much of this time is used effectively? How many discussions are directed towards finding a solution? How much time is spent on root cause analysis of past events, instead of planning ahead and discussing future opportunities? How much time do we waste on solving operational matters, compared to developing strategic initiatives?

A key element to ensure all important aspects are captured in our performance review meetings is to create a clear calendar of meetings and to define the specificity of each meeting. Each meeting should be defined by 3 characteristics: frequency, audience and discussion focus. Once the discussion focus is clarified, the other two components can be easily established.

For example, short-term strategic matters can be approached during a quarterly meeting of top management. On an annual basis, medium and long terms perspectives can be discussed among top management and the Board (if the case of an upper hierarchical level). Moreover, monthly performance review meetings, to address operational issues, should take place at the departmental level.

Agile organizations must create reliable and fast decision-making processes in order to respond to market challenges and take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Decision-making can be significantly optimized by effective performance reporting. If data is accurate, complete and

readily available, you are more likely to quickly decide upon the next right moves.

A simple thing, such as the format of the performance report, can facilitate the use and understanding of data. When data can be accessed in real time, proactive decisions can prevent the occurrence of dire situations.

Furthermore, decision-making is a social process. In most organization, decisionmaking at the strategic level requires team effort. However, it is very commonly approached as a voting process, instead of a collective brainstorming process and analysis of potential solutions. The challenge of thinking together is making people put aside their egos, bringing everyone on the same page and making them ask the tough questions.

Effective decision-making should harmoniously combine fact-based decisions with the urgency to act, while using the collective knowledge and experience of the top management team.

Performance improvement through better project management and organizational learning Project management is one of the disciplines that cuts through performance management, as it reflects the organization’s ability of getting things done. Companies can be very skilled at planning and measuring, but if they are unable to transform ideas into reality and generate the expected outputs, it is all for naught.

Large or small, cross-functional or independent, all initiatives deployed in an organization are experiences of planning and implementing decisions. “Better” project management, in this context, has two meanings.

On one hand, project management should be effective in delivering what is expected and on the other hand, project management should be relevant for the organization. Nonetheless, if isolated from the organizational context, all projects can be very important and valuable, but when they are analyzed in correlation to the rest of the organizational initiatives, perspectives may suddenly change.

Relevant project management should ensure that initiatives are handled similarly to an investment portfolio, looking for the maximization of the overall return, not for each and every single investment or project within that portfolio.

According to a Harvard Business Review research (2015), 51% of executives admitted that they invest too much in non-strategic projects. The lack of visibility over what projects are on roll ,at a certain moment in time in the organization, and their overall impact on strategy, leads to wasting resources on initiatives which would not be a priority otherwise. Developing a centralized Portfolio of Initiatives can bring great clarity to this process.

Organizational learning takes place as a natural process in businesses. However, when properly guided, it can maximize the non-tangible assets of the organization – the intellectual capital.

Every performance reporting cycle is a learning experience, it is an opportunity to assess what resources were used, what actions were taken and what were the actual results. The use of KPIs provides continuous feedback on the quality of the processes and interactions with the organization, as well as interactions with external stakeholders.

Capturing the lessons learned, building Communities of Practice, stimulating innovation and employee engagement can become competitive advantages which position the organization as a market leader. Better organizational learning implies conscious actions to nurture learning and improvement in the company, and you should look to embed this notion it into your organizational culture.

To conclude, Performance Management can drive and support continuous improvements, but in the end it is not about the framework – whether it is a Balanced Scorecard System or a Six Sigma approach – it is about the art of building the right context in which performance measurement and improvement can flourish and where methods, tools and techniques are rigorously and systematically applied.

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BRINGING YOUR FITNESS CLUB TO ITS BEST PERFORMANCE WHICH KPIS TO USE? CRISTINA MIHAILOAIE

D recent years, initiatives such as health awareness campaigns, ue to the increasing rates of obesity in many countries the

food labelling and physical activities improvement have been promoted worldwide. According to the Obesity Update 2017 Report, by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 19.5% of adult population across OECD countries was obese in 2015. In accordance with rising obesity levels, statistics show the rising number of fitness centers membership throughout the years as well, at least in the United States where obesity has become a major problem in the country.

As one of the most crucial industries to help reduce % Obesity rate, it is important for fitness club owners to understand how to manage the business of fitness club properly. First of all, every business owner including fitness studio owner should have key performance indicators established to measure its performance.

Otherwise, how to make sure that you are on the right track to achieve the goals of your business?

Measuring performance of your fitness club While financial reports strongly indicate the current state of a fitness club business, those financial indicators are not the only measure that matters. The processes, skills and competencies of your employees and how often your members would likely come back to your studio are also critical areas to measure. According to the Fitness Studio Benchmarking Study conducted by The Association of Fitness Studios, in 2015, the top three KPIs used to monitor the performance of majority of fitness clubs are: $ Revenue per client, % Average class attendance and % Client retention rate. To better understand these KPIs, let’s break them down into specific definitions. $ Revenue per client: Measures the value of total revenue generated per client. This indicator can further be broken down into the type of package or subscriptions offered.

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% Average class attendance: Measures the percentage of gym goers on average who attend the fitness class on a daily basis.

This class can be aerobic, yoga, Pilates and other typical fitness classes. % Client retention rate: Measures the percentage of total members retained at the end of the reporting period, from the total number of members registered at the starting period.

The rapid growth of the fitness industry makes every fitness or health club owner to continually seek better ways to retain members. There are still many aspects to measure and selecting the right KPIs can be confusing.

So, which set of KPIs are the best to measure the performance of your fitness club? Below are several options of KPIs to monitor the performance of your fitness club.

Other KPIs to measure the success of fitness industry % Lead conversion rate: Measures the percentage of leads that are converted into actual sales, from the overall number of strong or healthy leads. This KPI is useful to identify whether the marketing or sales process of the fitness club is effective. $ Revenue per square foot: Measures the average revenue per square foot available used in the fitness club. It is necessary to find out whether the space of your fitness club is maximized to its full potential. % Customer satisfaction: Measures the percentage of customers or members who expressed satisfaction with the services you offer, out of the total number of customers. This KPI is essential for every business, as it measures whether

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their customers are happy with the services or products the company provides. % Churn rate: Measures the percentage of members who discontinue or stop the subscription. Churn is obviously inevitable, but high churn rates indicate unhealthy performance within the business. # Average length of membership: Measures the average amount of time a fitness club retains its members. This KPI indicates the level of customer satisfaction, per membership. The higher the average length of membership, the happier the members are with the services provided by the fitness club. % Gross profit margin: Measures the percentage of sales the business owner makes, after paying the costs to run the fitness club. Measuring this KPI is important because it simply indicates whether the fitness club’s management is making profit out of the business.

There are still many KPIs to explore in regards to measuring the performance of your fitness club. Managing your fitness club to its best performance begins with selecting the right KPIs, meaning that these KPIs should be aligned with the organization’s strategy. Therefore, all initiatives taken should also be directly linked to the organizational vision.

ARE YOU EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT? HERE’S HOW TO TELL JANAE ERNST

Y It’s come into vogue in recent years, with numerous

ou’ve probably heard the term “emotional intelligence.”

books being written about the subject. Businesses are increasingly focusing on emotional intelligence and researchers are increasingly learning its importance.

But what exactly is emotional intelligence? How can you determine if you have those characteristics? And why is it so important?

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

The term “emotional intelligence” (EI or EQ) was coined by researchers Peter Salavoy and John Mayer. Author, psychologist and science journalist Daniel Goleman made the term mainstream in his book “Emotional Intelligence“.

Typically, EQ includes two related, but distinct items:

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They can recognize and understand the various feelings that sweep through them and are able to appropriately manage them.

Those with a low EQ find themselves unable to understand why they feel a certain way and unable to process the emotions they’re feeling.

David Caruso, American actor and producer, distinguished between EQ and IQ this way: “It is very important to understand that emotional intelligence is not the opposite of intelligence, it is not the triumph of heart over head—it is the unique intersection of both.”

The ability to recognize, understand and manage your own emotions The ability to recognize, understand and influence the emotions of others

Emotional intelligence is hugely important in terms of success. Those who want to excel in life and work need a high EQ. If you can’t understand yourself or others, you simply won’t be able to improve in specific, important areas.

Discussing the interplay between IQ and EQ, professors Michael Akers and Grover Porter write:

Those who have a high EQ are highly in tune with both their own emotions and the emotions of those around them.

“How well you do in your life and career is determined by both. IQ alone is not enough; EQ also matters. In fact,

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psychologists generally agree that among the ingredients for success, IQ counts for roughly 10% (at best 25%); the rest depends on everything else—including EQ.”

and being aware of negative thoughts. Reframing these negative thoughts allows you to be positive and thus move toward your goals.

The 5 Characteristics of Emotional Intelligence Emotional intelligence is characterized by the following 5 distinct characteristics.

#1 – Self Awareness Those with high EQ are able to recognize emotions in the moment. One of the keys to developing EQ is being aware of feelings, evaluating those feelings and then managing them.

Rather than letting emotions take over, you are able to take a step back and understand what is happening.

#2 – Self Regulation Everyone knows that emotions come quickly and with force. It’s rare that you have control over when we are hit by an emotional wave. Even the slightest thing can trigger something deep within you.

However, if you have a high EQ, you can control how long that negative experience lasts. This can be done through using various techniques (breathing, taking a walk, thinking positively, etc.) to minimize or effectively address negative emotions that may be plaguing you.

#3 – Motivation It’s very difficult to be motivated if you always have a negative attitude. Those who are full of negativity don’t often achieve their goals. Those with a high EQ are able to move toward a consistently positive attitude by thinking more positively

#4 – Empathy Empathy is the ability to recognize how others are feeling.

This is essential for functioning well in society and excelling in your career. A person without empathy will end up regularly insulting and offending people, while a person with a high EQ will be able to understand what a person is feeling and then treat them accordingly.

#5 – Social Skills The final characteristic of EQ is having and developing excellent interpersonal skills. It used to be that access to the greatest amount of information would allow you to succeed, but now that everyone has immediate access to knowledge, people skills are more important than ever. Those with a high EQ are able to wisely and skillfully navigate the various relationships that fill their lives.

How Can You Tell If You Have High Emotional Intelligence?

There are various tests that can help you identify your emotional intelligence level, such as the Emotional Intelligence 2.0 test. However, these tests have their limitations in that EQ is intangible, making it difficult to precisely measure.

There are certain ways to estimate your overall emotional intelligence that don’t involve taking a test (most of which aren’t free). There are a number of markers that accompany those with a high emotional intelligence, such as the following: I. A Curiosity About People Curiosity comes from empathy, which is one of the most significant elements of EQ. If you are curious about people, you will also care about what they feel and how they struggle.

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On the flip side, those with a low EQ don’t have any interest in others.

They aren’t interested in what others think or feel. Their primary focus is on themselves.

II. A Thorough Emotional Vocabulary Remember, EQ is the ability to identify and understand emotions.

Research done by Travis Bradberry, who is the author of “Emotional Intelligence 2.0“, suggests that only about 36% of people have this ability.

This is partially due to an inadequate emotional vocabulary that prevents people from properly identifying what they’re feeling. Every negative feeling is simply called, “Bad,” and every positive feeling is, “Good.”

However, those with high EQ can specifically name their emotions, which then allows them to deal with them in the most effective way.

III. A Holistic Understanding Of Themselves If you have high emotional intelligence, you have a holistic understanding of yourself that goes beyond just feelings. You know what you’re good at and what you’re not. You know the people and situations that frustrate you. You also understand how to avoid or effectively navigate situations that will hurt you emotionally.

This giving attitude allows emotionally strong people to build deep relationships with other people.

VIII. An Ability To Handle Toxic People Toxic, difficult people will often draw a reaction out of you. You feel surges of negative emotions when you are around them and often lash out, which then hurts both you and them. Lashing out also fuels their toxic behavior even more.

If you have a high EQ, however, you can keep your emotions in check when dealing with a difficult person. You don’t allow your anger to boil over. You’re able to see multiple perspectives. While most people are quickly flustered by toxic people, you can handle them calmly.

There are numerous other markers of high EQ, but this should serve as an effective baseline to help you determine where you stand.

Conclusion Emotional intelligence is absolutely essential. Your intelligence can only get you so far, especially in this day and age, where everyone has almost equal access to information.

If you have a high EQ, you can tap into your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.

IV. Not Easily Offended Emotional intelligence involves a thorough knowledge of yourself and the ability to control your emotions. Combined, this makes you difficult to offend. You are confident in who you are and are able to understand when someone is simply making a joke versus when they are degrading you. You don’t let people easily get under your skin.

V. An Ability To Judge Character EQ gives you the ability to read and understand people. You are in tune with their emotions, which then allows you to more readily understand their actions. You can tell the difference between someone having a bad day and someone who is a bad apple. The more you develop your EQ, the more skilled you become at making character assessments about people.

Daniel Goleman Author, psychologist, and science journalist

If your emotional abilities aren’t in hand, if you don’t have self-awareness, if you

VI. Not Haunted By The Past A low EQ makes it difficult to manage emotions when they appear unexpectedly. When a past mistake comes to mind, it’s easy to get dragged down into discouragement and despair.

are not able to manage your distressing

If you have a high EQ, you are able to think about past mistakes without letting the associated emotions overwhelm you. You can process the past in a way that is appropriate—not forgetting but not dwelling. You are able to learn from mistakes and prepare for the future.

no matter how smart you are, you are

VII. Giving Without Expecting Those with a high EQ are able to give without expecting anything back. Because you are constantly in tune with the emotions of others, you know the effect that a gift will have on someone. When someone needs something, you want to meet that need.

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emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships, then not going to get very far.

Being closely in tune with the emotions of others allows you to interact with them in ways that create positive outcomes, both for you and them.

This article has been republished with permission from cornerstone.edu

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Would you like to get more information about what we can offer your organization visit: https://kpiinstitute.org/solutions/

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HOW QUALITY SLEEP AND SLEEP DEPRIVATION AFFECT PERFORMANCE MARIA JUNCU

I

n the early 1930s, Nathaniel Kleitman, one of the most significant figures in the field of sleep medicine, discovered a daily pattern in the speed and accuracy of cognitive performance. This discovery revealed, for the first time, the existing link between sleep and performance.

Kleitman proved that each person experiences a decrease in performance sometime in the early morning and again late at night even after a restful sleep. These are normal fluctuations that everyone experiences even when they are well-rested.

Apart from these fluctuations, when a person does not get enough sleep, whether for one night or for weeks or months on end, that person will not be able to function properly. Sleep deprivation has negative effects on people’s moods, their ability to focus, their physical and mental health, as well as on their cognitive function.

A person’s mental performance results from a combination of all these factors, so when these factors are affected, performance is affected as well. It is imperative to get enough quality sleep at the right times,

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because through sleep people can protect their mental and physical health, as well as their quality of life and their safety.

Mental Performance Sleep recharges your brain. While you are sleeping the brain prepares for a new day, by forming new pathways to help you learn and remember new things.

Studies show that a good night’s sleep improves learning.

Concentration, memory, mathematical capacity, and logical reasoning are all aspects of cognitive function that can be strengthened through sleep.

Researchers have also discovered that after a period of sleep deprivation, a person’s brain activity changes. These changes include a lower level of alertness and a tendency to sleep.

What is more, someone who has not slept enough might find it difficult to make decisions, solve problems, control his/her behavior and deal with change.

Emotional and Psychological Well-Being The unseen effects of sleep deprivation can be extremely harmful and dangerous, and they can affect both the person

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suffering from sleeplessness, as well as those surrounding that person.

As mentioned above, sleep deficiency can alter a person’s behavior and emotions. That is why, it has often been linked to depression, suicide, and risk-taking behavior.

Among the most dramatic psychological effects of sleeplessness we can find: paranoia, hallucinations, mania, and memory loss, all of which have dire consequences.

Unfortunately, these are not the only effects of poor sleep.

Relationships can be strongly affected by this invisible enemy. The moodiness and lack of focus associated with a sleep deficit can put a big strain on social relationships.

People become irritable as a result of poor sleep, they have acute feelings of stress, anxiety and frustration.

What is more, they don’t feel motivated at all and they lose their optimism about the future. All these symptoms are proof of the strong relationship that exists between poor sleep and poor mental heal.

Physical Health Sleep plays a significant role in your physical health.

Poor sleep is always accompanied by a feeling of lethargy, and some people might even experience other adverse physical symptoms, such as heartburn and palpitations.

The immune system strongly relies on sleep to stay healthy. Ongoing sleep deficiency can change the way in which the immune system responds. According to research, people who sleep less than seven hours/night are nearly three times more likely to develop a cold.

Unfortunately, apart from these short-term effects of sleep deprivation, there are also a number of potential long-term effects that can completely change a person’s life. A chronic lack of sleep can lead to serious medical conditions such as obesity, heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.

Thus, remember - getting enough quality sleep at the right times helps you function well throughout the day, improves your emotional, mental and physical health, giving you the chance to achieve higher levels of performance.

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HARDWARE REVIEW

HARDWARE

Amazon Echo Dot

Apple Watch Series 2

AI assistants are the future, and the Amazon Echo Dot takes a step towards a future where every household will have at least one such assistant.

The Apple Watch 2, like its name suggests, is the successor of Apple’s first wearable. This gadget is not only a smartwatch, but a fitness tracker as well. It is the first of its kind and it sports quite a lot of upgrades compared to its predecessor.

The New Generation of Smart Assistants

The Echo Dot is Amazon’s second generation smart speaker, a smaller and more affordable alternative. The Dot is very similar to its predecessor, as it offers almost everything the first Amazon Echo does, however it has some additional features such as Bluetooth and 3.5mm output, which weren't available before.

The Amazon Echo Dot is a smart assistant powered by Alexa. In a nutshell, “Alexa” is Amazon's cloud-connected, voice-activated virtual assistant that lets you order items from Amazon, play music, ask questions, set timers, look up recipes, control your smart home and much more.

Concerning its design, the new Echo Dot resembles a puck with a ring of lights at the top. It has four buttons and a sevenmicrophone array – the exact system that allows the Echo speaker to hear you from most anywhere.

It has a shiny, reflective surface and it comes in either white or black. The previous Dot had a rotating disc on top to control volume, but the new model has clearer volume buttons, as well as a mute button and a voice-activation button. On the back, there's a micro USB port for power and a 3.5mm line-out jack.

Like all the other Echo products, the Dot is just an access point for the Amazon Alexa cloud platform so it does whatever Alexa can do. That means that it has the exact same Alexa features as its older sibling, the Amazon Echo.

Although the Dot has a slightly less powerful speaker, it makes up for it with its ability to connect with existing speakers and audio setups over Bluetooth or via line-in cable. This way, you can make an Echo out of whatever speakers you like.

The Amazon Echo Dot is a very clever Alexa access point that surpasses its predecessor in terms of sharpness, versatility and price.

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Amp up Your 2 in 1 Experience

If the first Apple Watch had limited health and fitness elements, wasn’t water resistant and the watchOS software had glitches, the Apple Watch 2 has a faster processor and a brighter screen, as well as a waterproof design for swimmers, and built-in GPS for runners. The watchOS 3 software is intuitive and useful and it has plenty of compatible apps. What is more, the activity app has been upgraded and the user can include his monthly goals, as well as additional exercises to the same workout.

The Apple Watch Series 2 is available from the 16th of September. In terms of pricing, the cheapest model, the 38mm version, costs $369, while the 42mm base model costs $399, with the highest-priced ceramic Edition model coming in at $1,299. The design of the Apple Watch 2 is simple and it is almost identical to the original. Apple has opted for a square look once again and the curved edges, the glass, and the quality of the spinning digital crown on the side of the Watch all make it look like a premium item.

You can opt for either stainless steel or slightly cheaper, aluminum chassis, and you can also choose from a range of colours: Gold, Rose Gold, Space Grey and Silver.

Although the screen has the same 1.65-inch display as the first Watch, it is much brighter than the previous model, at 1000 nits. Because the Watch 2 is water-resistant, the display includes a “wet mode”, which locks the display and disables touch functionality when activated.

The Apple Watch Series 2 successfully merges smartwatch characteristics with fitness features and it surpasses the original watch in terms of its brighter screen, faster performance and waterproof design. However, its high pricing and use limitations – limited to Apple users only, might determine you to think twice before buying it.

HARDWARE

Logitech MeetUp

Online Meetings made Easy Nowadays, huddle spaces have become quite popular in workplaces, as the open office plan has become the norm and meetings rarely take place in traditional conference rooms with kilometric tables and hundreds of chairs.

UltraHD 4K optics, and three camera presets that deliver a premium video experience. Not only that, but there are also three soundisolating mics and a voice-optimized speaker that help ensure everyone is heard as clearly as they are seen.

Smaller conference rooms, or ‘huddle rooms’ as they are known, are the ideal meeting places and Logitech's new MeetUp is perfect for these spaces, with a 4K camera with a 120-degree field of view, speaker and microphones suited to smaller rooms and a clutter-free USB plugging system.

Apart from a 16 foot USB cable, you also get a small remote, power supply, wall mount hardware, and user documentation.

This $899 device is designed to work with any video conferencing software application and cloud service, including Skype for Business, Cisco collaboration applications, and all Logitech Collaboration Program partners such as BlueJeans, BroadSoft, Vidyo and Zoom.

Apart from its wide 120-degree field of view characteristic, the MeetUp also has a Logitech-engineered, low-distortion lens,

Logitech has yet to provide software for the MeetUp the way it does for its Brio 4K webcam, but the company says an app similar to the Brio software will be available in the future. This is good news, as such an app is necessary if you want to adjust settings like focus, contrast or brightness.

The Logitech MeetUp is the perfect device for small workgroups that need to meet with remote colleagues in a confined space, on a regular basis. Although it’s a bit pricey, its excellent microphone and speaker audio, as well as its wide viewing angle are worth every penny.

Panasonic Tablets

Ready for the Worksite Panasonic has been researching in recent years a new generation of tablets, designed to be fully operational in any work environment, from the coziness of one’s office, to the steam-filled factory floor.

USB 3, USB 2, HDMI and a Smart Card reader, alongside the possibility of opting for a 2D barcode reader.Now, their Windows tablet does not come with the same durability, but what it lacks in that department it makes up for in processing power, boasting Their two latest products, categorized as “toughpads”, are now an impressive 6th generation Intel Core m5 vPro CPU, with 8GB available for purchasing – the FZ-A2, a 10.1-inch Android tablet, of RAM and a 128GB SSD. and the FZ-Q2, a 2-in-1 Windows tablet.

Furthermore, it comes with a fully-sized, spill-proof keyboard and The Android tablet is developed in such a way that they can withstand runs smoothly on Windows 10. The company also states that you extreme temperatures, water, dust, drops and even gunfire vibrations, on can safely sanitize it with disinfectant solutions for health and food top of coming with a 3-year warranty of business-class support. service applications, as its 12.5-inch 1920x1080 resolution display is waterproof, anti-reflective and supports pen input.

Their Intel Atom processor features software encryption and enterprise-grade security and manageability, while the battery Both tablets offer an option for 4G LTE wireless connections, on top will power it all the way to 9 hours of battery life. Moreover, as of Wi-Fi. So if this information has peaked your interest, head on far as ports are concerned, you have access to a USB 3.1 Type-C, over to Panasonic’s website and acquire your very own “toughpad”.

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SOFTWARE REVIEW

SOFTWARE

Qlik Sense

Reservio

Qlik Sense is the ideal tool for any business that needs a way to explore huge amounts of data and retrieve useful, high-quality insights.

Managing schedules and clients is a tiring, complicated and time-consuming process. Reservio is a smart and user-friendly appointment scheduling software that aims to simplify this process.

The BI and Visual Analytics Platform

This BI and visual analytics platform is a user-friendly tool that can create personalized reports and very detailed dashboards. It is perfect both for small and huge organizations, as well as for professionals who work individually.

This tool was designed to provide users with tons of information and the perfect way to analyze it, to create opportunities and generate smart decision-making.

Qlik Sense has a smart search and exploration system that gives users the ability to analyze all data by interacting with charts and visualizations, or even just by typing in keywords.

It supports data integration, transforming and combining multiple data sources to provide coherent analyses across them.

The platform also includes enterprise-class governance and performance-governed, centralized libraries for data and visualizations, rules-based security, simple, powerful management tools, a scalable architecture, and open APIs for customization and extension.

What is more, it can be fully customized to meet any business needs, offering a complete set of open and standard APIs for building rich analytic apps, embedding visualizations into existing solutions, and extending the functionality of Qlik Sense for new types of visualizations and objects.

Apart from that, with the help of Qlik DataMarket, users can access a comprehensive library of external data directly within Qlik Sense, which can be used to increase and cross reference their internal data to gain context on it.

All in all, Qlik Sense is a comprehensive business intelligence and visual analytics platform that helps you create intuitive and dynamic dashboards, and gives you the chance to explore data deeply and get accurate information in mere seconds.

72 JULY 2017

User-Friendly Appointment Scheduling Software

Reservio might surpass phones and scheduling books, as it aims to deliver a highly accessible cloud-based scheduling platform that can be used by anyone. What is more, Reservio offers its users the chance to monitor performance and promote business ideas, with the help of its advanced functionalities.

This app has changed the way people and companies manage their appointments and improve their business. Its success is confirmed through its widespread use, as it can be found in more than 60,000 companies and professional services providers from 35 countries.

Along with core appointment scheduling tools and capabilities, Reservio is backed up and secured with 128-bit SSL encryption, ensuring users that all their information is safe from hackers and scammers.

Reservio is not just an appointment and scheduling platform.

This app has certain features that help users track the performance of their business, as well as identify areas that need improvement.

By employing this platform, users can reach out to their clients and promote their business constantly, even when they are closed for the day, as Reservio gives its user the chance to accept bookings anytime of the day with its online booking functionality. Constant contact and communication equals more clients and more revenue.

It is a known fact that each and every business is different and due to this, each enterprise has its specific needs and requirements. However, that is no issue for Reservio, as the platform can be tailored to suit the needs of every enterprise, offering customized scheduling and booking solutions to help the user achieve maximum efficiency.

SOFTWARE

TimeCamp

Kaspersky’s New Secure OS

TimeCamp is a project management and time tracking software designed to help individuals, teams and companies increase their productivity.

Kaspersky has just unveiled their new secure operating system for network devices, IoT devices and industrial control systems, which has all the built-in functions of a regular OS, as well as providing a dedicated system for secure interaction among OS components.

A Solid Project Management and Time Tracking Tool

It has several features, including manual and automatic time tracking that tracks time by monitoring certain keywords on active computer applications.

By employing it, businesses can monitor not only time but also expenses, so they can be profitable at every moment. Individual users can also find it very useful, as it helps them keep track of their schedules and deadlines so they can be productive all the time.

TimeCamp helps users track & monitor time automatically, its interface offering a very neat and compact graphical timesheet. By providing quick information about profitability as well as risks for delays, users can easily track billable hours in projects for accurate implementation and customer satisfaction.

Users can create professional looking invoices with the help of this app’s time entries and billed hours. What is more, it has automatic invoicing based on hours, notifications when clients view their invoice, and integrated payment gateways.

This time tracking software increases productivity for users by giving them the chance to monitor their productivity, as well as know how their colleagues are spending their time. This way, users can check how much time they spend on a certain document, website or application.

TimeCamp works on Windows, Mac and Ubuntu. It has apps for iPhone and Android as well as a Chrome extension. It is better than other similar applications because it can be easily integrated with other productivity tools. It works well with Trello, Podio, Asana, Wunderlist, Basecamp, JIRA, Teamwork, Targetprocess, ActiveCollab, Redmine and more.

TimeCamp is a solid project management and time tracking tool that increases productivity and is essential in both project management and human resource operations.

Trusted. Flexible. Secure.

"It's a system that does what it's instructed to and is unable to do anything else. With traditional operating systems, that's impossible.

In order to create a secure environment, we need to enable global Default Deny at the process level and wrap it into a microkernel," said Eugene Kaspersky on his blog.

Kaspersky insists that this is not simply a redux of Linux, and is instead a differently-themed OS, with its main focus being security and safety.

In addition to the dedicated system for secure interaction among OS components feature and all the regular functions of an OS, the KasperskyOS also features a standalone secure hypervisor.

Any company intending to purchase it has the option of completely customizing the code, with the help of the company, so as to ensure that it is fully purpose-built and tailored to the customer’s needs.

The designer admits that it is indeed a niche system, which will stir the interest of a very specific market segment, but that is completely expected, as this was the intended purpose of the new OS. Kaspersky notes that ultimately, pricing will be tied to the level of customization that each client requires – the greater the amount of information a customer wants measured, the higher the final tag.

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RECOMMENDED

RECOMMENDATIONS

Must-haves for your 2017 reading list 1

3

2 1. Improving Project Performance: Eight Habits of Successful Project Teams

By Jerry L. Wellman

4

6

2. Beyond the Job Description: How Managers and Employees Can Navigate the True Demands of the Job

By Jesse Sostrin

The approach to project management is too often formulaic, describing what should be done, but not describing why those actions are important. This book outlines the what and how of project management, emphasizing why actions matter, the overall intention of the formulaic steps, and the strengths or weakness of various tools and techniques.

When work becomes messy and complicated, we stop getting good work done, we lose sight of the things that inspire us, and sometimes we disengage. This book helps you translate your challenges at work into useful insights that boost learning and performance, and make your time spent at work a little better.

3. Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership

4. Prove It!: How to Create a High-Performance Culture and Measurable Success

Reframing Organizations provides time-tested guidance for more effective organizational leadership. Rooted in decades of social science research across multiple disciplines, Bolman and Deal's four-frame model has continued to evolve since its conception over 25 years ago; this new sixth edition has been updated to include coverage of cross-sector collaboration, generational differences, virtual environments, globalization, sustainability, and communication across cultures.

Prove It! is the executive guide to improving organizational performance through the practice of evidence-based leadership.

More than ever before, the world is demanding transparency and accountability from organizational leaders, and there is a growing push to hold leaders responsible for the performance of their organization.

Many executives panic at the thought of what transparency might reveal and how they might be held accountable, but others relish the opportunity to showcase their organization’s performance.

5. How Good Policies and Business Ethics Enhance Good Quality of Life

6. Agile CCPM: Improve organizational performance significantly by making small changes in managing projects

By Lee G. Bolman, Terrence E. Deal

By Alex C. Michalos

This volume provides bridges from the social sciences to business ethics and from the latter to the quality of life, by connecting the research themes of quality of life, social sciences, including public policy-making, and business ethics or corporate responsibility. It builds on the premise that public policy making is essentially a species of good decision making.

The volume presents and examines ethical/moral problems arising in market economies since the first century BCE. 74 JULY 2017

5

By Stacey Barr

By Koichi Ujigawa

From fundamental knowledge of the Theory of Constraints, through a concrete practical method adapting Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM), its application for managing projects, Agile CCPM is introduced, an enhanced set of techniques intended to significantly improve organizational performance in software development and other "complex" environments, by making small changes in managing projects.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Office Space P programmer

eter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) is a computer working for Initech in Houston.

Every day, he and his friends Samir (Ajay Naidu) and Michael Bolton (David Herman as not THAT Michael Bolton), suffer endless indignities and humiliations in their soulless workspace from their soulless boss, Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole). For Peter, stuck in his cookiecutter apartment with paper-thin walls and IKEA furniture, every day is worse than the one before it -- so every day is the worst of his life. To cap it off, Initech has hired a pair of "efficiency experts" to downsize the company.

One Friday night, Peter's soon to be ex-girlfriend Anne (Alexandra Wentworth) forces him to go to an occupational hypnotherapist to relieve work stress.

While Peter is under hypnosis, the therapist keels over and dies. As he never snaps out of his hypnotic state, Peter has a new outlook on life. If something annoys him, he just ignores it or walks away from it. He is completely relaxed and enjoying life for the first time in a long time.

On Monday, Peter skips work and sleeps in. He gets up for lunch and drives down to a restaurant next to his office and asks the waitress he's had a crush on, Joanna (Jennifer Aniston), on a date. When Peter stops into the office to pick up his organizer, he's called in to talk to the efficiency experts. Relaxed and friendly, Peter charms them as he describes everything wrong with the office, including his boss.

Even as Peter now appears at work only as the mood strikes him, the experts decide he's management material and give him a promotion even as they lay off the hardworking Samir and Michael. Peter then convinces his friends to exact revenge on Initech based upon an idea from Superman III. Not everything works out quite as planned. Office Space originated from writer/director Mike Judge's first animated short of the same name, created in 1991. The short was about Milton (reproduced in the film by Stephen Root), a damaged office drone whose complaints and threats about his sufferings go unheeded.

JULY 2017 75

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Performance Magazine, Printed Edition. Ninth issue, July, 2017. Content: News. Commercial Graph – The Social Graph for Business. HNA Group – A New Predator in the Business World. Hyperloop – A Loopy Idea or the Future of Transportation.

The business idea that looks to tackle CO2. The Malls of the Future. The Startup Accelerator that Helps Launch Companies.

Cover story: Customer Experience – building relationships and generating loyalty. Expert Interviews: Manal Mulla, General Administrative Manager of KSUMC, Postgraduate Medical Education Center, Saudi Arabia. Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, Director of Performance and Programs at Saudi Telecom Company’s Enterprise Business Unit, Saudi Arabia. Ahmed A. Mustafa, Consultant at Mobily, Saudi Arabia. Jorge Castellote, Founding Partner at Innoway ME, Saudi Arabia. Mahadi Osman, Business Planning Consultant, United Arab Emirates. Muhammad Farhan, Head of HR & OD at Dollar Industries Ltd., Pakistan. Nabil Boulos, Chief Planning & Strategy Officer at Alchem Consulting, Egypt. Portrait. Reza Sharif. MD & Founder at Parsian Strategy, Iran. Improvement is Performance Management’s end game. Around the World: Global E-governance Index – The Singapore Case. Step up in social innovation to stand out. Kamikatsu – the town that produces no waste.

The World Happiness Report – Measuring Countries’ Well-Being. Individual Performance. The 3 Rules of Employee Engagement – Rewards, Compassion, Insights. Customer Service Performance. Using Awareness to Analyze Customer Satisfaction. How to Benchmark the Performance of your Customer Service Department. Benchmarking. Benchmarking’s role within the Six Sigma methodology. Balanced Scorecard. Strengths of the Balanced Scorecard Management System.

A comparative perspective. Sustainability Performance. Sustainability Reporting: Should your organization implement the GRI Standards?. KPIs. Innovation Management through KPIs. Healthcare Performance. The New Paradigm Shift in the Healthcare Industry. Performance Improvement. 5 Ways You Can Boost the Sales Value of Your Green Business. Supplier Performance. Buyer-Supplier Relationship – Negotiation at its best. Ask the Experts. Do we really need organizational performance management to generate improvements?. Lifestyle. Bringing Your Fitness Club to Its Best Performance: Which KPIs to Use?. Are You Emotionally Intelligent? Here’s How to Tell. How Quality Sleep and Sleep Deprivation Affect Performance. Hardware Review. Amazon Echo Dot – The New Generation of Smart Assistants. Amp up Your 2 in 1 Experience with the Apple Watch Series 2. Logitech MeetUp – Online Meetings Made Easy. Software Review. Qlik Sense – The Business Intelligence and Visual Analytics Platform. Reservio – The User-Friendly Appointment Scheduling Software. TimeCamp - A Solid Project Management and Time Tracking Tool. Recommended. Titles to include in your 2017 reading list. Improving Project Performance: Eight Habits of Successful Project Teams, by Jerry L. Wellman. Beyond the Job Description: How Managers and Employees Can Navigate the True Demands of the Job, by Jesse Sostrin. Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership, by Lee G. Bolman, Terrence E. Deal. Prove It!: How to Create a High-Performance Culture and Measurable Success, by Stacey Barr. How Good Policies and Business Ethics Enhance Good Quality of Life, by Alex C. Michalos. Agile CCPM: Improve organizational performance significantly by making small changes in managing projects,

by Koichi Ujigawa. Movie. Office Space. 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.

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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