Service KPIs: Measuring Unmeasureables

How do you got about measuring those things that are more elusive than counting the output of your Widget Factory?  Join Jed and Bob as they discuss how to tackle this common problem.

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Service KPIs: Measuring Your Unmeasureables

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Measures in service businesses have some fundamental differences from those found in manufacturing or production businesses.  Below we discuss Service KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in the following context:

  • What is a service business?
  • Why measure Service KPIs
  • How service businesses differ from a widget factory.
  • Four steps to measuring the seemingly unmeasurable

What is a Service Business?

People most often associate Service Businesses with those that have a retail facing customer service offering.  In fact, the definition is broader than that:

  • One where the product or outcomes are less tangible than other goods.
  • Businesses where work is performed, or expertise is offered.
  • Often are information based.
  • Can be temporary in nature – for example, when you buy a lamp, you keep that good for some period of time – perhaps indefinitely.  When you buy a massage, you pay for the service, and afterwards all that is left is your memory of the service.
  • Service sector businesses are much faster growing in advanced economies than are the manufacturing and/or resource sectors.

Why Measure Service KPIs

  • To know how your business is doing, and how to improve it.
  • To build a business case for a course of action, or additional resources.
  • To determine the impact on clients or customers.
  • To improve objectivity, and reduce reliance on opinion and rumor.
  • To establish accountability amongst teams or team members.
  • To celebrate success.

How Service KPIs Differ From Other Business KPIs

  • There are typically longer cycle times in service businesses.
  • There are more complex process maps in many cases.  There may be many more boxes, and many more decision points.  As such quality metrics become less clear.
  • The criteria for success and progress is more subjective.
  • There is usually a need to go beyond numbers, and to also use descriptive qualifiers.

Four Steps to Establishing Service KPIs

  1. Identify Desired Results.
  2. Identify Behaviors That Drive Those Results
  3. Quantify and Qualify both results and behaviors and actions wherever possible.
  4. For each metric establish the BATT.

Identify Desired Results When Establishing Service KPIs

  • In a manufacturing setting, you count how many widgets you make in a given time period.  Your Service KPIs should be based on the ultimate desired outcomes of your efforts.  In some cases, this can only be measured in years or perhaps even decades; which is why you need to also look at process, activities and behaviors.
  • If you are having trouble identifying your results or outcomes, ask the following questions:
    • Who are your “customers”, and what do they expect from you?  Do not get caught up in a retail definition of customer.  A customer is anyone who relies on you to provide them with something.
    • If you got hit by a bus, who would notice, and what would they miss?

Identify Behaviors That Drive Results

If your outcomes or results are several years removed from what you do daily, then you need to determine what steps lead to those outcomes:

  • What are the behaviors, actions or activities you suspect drive the results or outcomes you produce?
  • What is the change or effect of those behaviors?

Quantify & Qualify to Establish Service KPIs

Quantify

In some cases, you will be able to count the output of your results, actions or behaviors.

Typical Service KPIs fall into the categories of:

  • Cost
  • Cycle Time
  • Timeliness
Qualitative

In many cases, your Service KPI will be harder to count.  In such cases, you need to evaluate or judge the output or behavior:
  • Quality or satisfaction.  What is the perceived quality, or level of satisfaction of the service provided?
  • Sometimes a descriptive statement can take the place of a hard metric when establishing Service KPIs:
    • Describe in detail the desired outcome, and then
    • Compare against current performance.

BATT

  • Baseline – what has performance historically been.  The baseline (as well as Actual and Target) can be:
    • a hard metric
    • a perceived level of satisfaction
    • a perceived level of performance
    • level of quality.
  • Actual – what is the current performance?
  • Target – what is the desired performance?
  • Timelines – over what period of time are these things measured?

Three things to remember about Service KPIs

  1. It’s definitely harder to measure in service businesses, but don’t give up.
  2. Don’t count stuff for the sake of counting.  Your Service KPIs should help you better run the business, and make better decisions.
  3. Don’t spend more time measuring than doing the work.  It is easy for Service KPIs to take on a life of their own.  Make sure you keep it simple.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Service KPIs (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

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Measuring the Unmeasureables

How often have your heard someone say that what they do defies measurement?  Join the Wily Manager guys this week, as they talk about how to measure the seemingly unmeasurable.  This will be of particular interest if you are one of the many millions of people involved in service businesses.

Monday’s Tip: Identify Desired Results.  Even if you work in the deep depths of the Ministry of Excessive Bureaucracy, there is some reason you are there – what is it?

Tuesday’s Tip: Ask what would happen if you stopped. If you unsure of what your outcomes are, what would happen if you stopped doing what you do?  Who would notice?  What would the impact be on them?

Wednesday’s Tip: Identify actions, behaviors and activities that you think generate outcomes. Sometimes we need to measure those things and processes we believe lead us to results.  How are you doing at those things?

Thursday’s Tip: Use Descriptive Statements when hard measures are illusive. A well articulated description of the desired results when compared to the result you are producing can often be more useful than a hard measure.

Friday’s Tip: Don’t let your measures overwhelm your organization. Metrics are only useful if they help improve the business, and enable better decision – otherwise, they are a waste of time.

The Myth of Work-Life Balance

I was out for lunch recently on a weekend with an old family friend.  Our lunch, on a beautiful autumn afternoon, overlooking the ocean was repeatedly interrupted by a Blackberry – and not the thorny cane-fruit type.  I finally asked if my friend’s wife was eleven months pregnant, and if he was waiting on the call to rush to the hospital.

“No”, he replied without looking up.  “We’re well beyond our child-rearing days”.

Apparently, my attempt to diffuse the situation with some sarcastic humor had failed.

Some people find themselves in jobs where they really are on call over a weekend.  For the vast majority, however, they voluntarily place themselves on constant standby regardless of their position.  They then have the nerve to whine about not getting any time to themselves.

Suck it up, Princess, you’re doing it to yourself.

My friend above is a public school teacher.  I have great respect for the work that teachers do, but I’ve got to think that one of the perks of the job has got to be the fact that outside of the occasional basketball game, you are largely left alone on the weekends.  Does a public school teacher really need to be monitoring email messages on a Saturday afternoon?

The honest answer is “No”.  People, like my friend, end up doing so for a variety of reasons.  First, it makes us feel important if we believe we are indispensible.  Second is the addictive nature of being continually connected – what if we are the last ones on the block to know that the Joneses are having ice-cream with their apple pie for desert tonight?  Third, it fits right in with what we’ve always been taught to do – not to hold your attention on anyone or anything for more than 30 seconds.

The myth of work-life balance is not that it doesn’t exist, but rather that most people do not allow it to exist.  It is true that organizations need to reduce explicit and tacit pressure for employees to be connected at all times, but employees have some accountability here too.

The reality is that people love to complain that they work long hours, and never get a break, when in fact a large portion of the dysfunctional behavior is entirely self-imposed.  If you want work-life balance, then turn off your phone, and be completely present with whomever or whatever you are dealing with at that moment.  Unless you’re on call for the next space shuttle launch, nobody is going to notice anyway.

 

 

 

Top 10 Work-Life Balance Tips

Every one loves Top 10 lists.  Join Jed and Bob as they discuss the things that any employee can do to improve their work-life balance.  Also learn why they believe much of the discussion about this subject is flawed.

Watch the ‘Top 10 Work-Life Balance Tips’ Video (15 mins 49 sec):


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Top 10 Work-Life Balance Tips

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In addition to the Top 10 Work-Life Balance Tips, we also address:

  • What is Work-Life Balance?
  • Why what you usually hear about Work-Life Balance is inadequate.

What is Work-Life Balance?

Quite simply, Work-Life Balance is successfully reconciling the demands made upon you by your work, and the demands made upon you by other aspects of your life.

 

What Work-Life Balance is Not

Contrary to much of the discussion out there, Work-Life Balance is NOT about figuring out how to cram more leisure activities into your already busy schedule.  The most balanced people find themselves happier doing less, not more.

What You Usually Hear About Work-Life Balance

 

  • “Work-Life Balance will enhance workplace productivity”. This is true in many cases, but such statements imply that sole responsibility for achieving Work-Life Balance is that of the employer.  This is not true, and irresponsible, as employees need to share accountability to make it happen.
  • “Many people self-identify as workoholics”. This is true – in fact a 2011 General Social Survey (StatsCan) revealed that nearly one-third of people self-identified as workoholics.  The problem here is that this is the very last form of self-destructive behavior that people still admire.  You don’t hear people bragging about their drinking problem, or their gambling addiction, but people will entertain others around the water cooler with their self-perceived status as a martyr because they worked 80 hours last week.  Employers definitely have a responsibility here, but the employees’ accountability is definitely often over-looked.
  • “There are increasing demands on people to take care of children and elders, etc.” This is also true, but no more so than in previous generations.  It is true that many households have two people working outside the home, which creates more challenges, but it can only be perceived as a conflict, if taking care of one’s family is considered “work” rather than “life”.  Such statements reinforce the fallacy that the opposite of work is leisure, when in fact that is not true.

Top 10 Work-Life Balance Tips

 

  1. Don’t be a Perfectionist. If you need to dot every “i” and cross every “t”, you won’t have a lot of extra time on your hands.  The most successful people are satisfied with 80% on most things, and save their need for 100% for the few, truly important things.
  2. Disconnect. Many people voluntarily check their work email at all hours, and find themselves “multi-tasking.”  For the vast majority of people, this is voluntary.  With the exception of when you are “on-call”, there is no need to bring work to your evenings and weekends on a regular basis.
  3. Say “No”. You don’t actually have to be on every project or committee, and you may want to be selective with your volunteer activities.  Contrary to popular belief, you CAN’T do it all.
  4. Minimize & Mitigate “Drive-bys”. If you work in an open office, or are otherwise prone to many interruptions, use headphones, or some other method to signal you are not available.  If you do not have an office door – create one.
  5. Delegate.  Many people, particularly in positions of leadership do not do this well.  Identify some things you can get off your plate, and get someone else to do them.  What might be boring and routine for you, could be a stretch assignment that someone else might be able to pour some real energy into.
  6. Reel Back Your Expectations.  The romantic notion of being a corporate executive working 100 hours per week, participating in the triathalon, and coaching each of your six children’s soccer teams works only on TV sitcoms.  In real life it is not possible, and people have to make adult choices about what is most important to them.  The most successful people make these trade-offs in a way that fulfills them.
  7. Don’t Think You’re Indispensible.  You may be very valuable to your organization, but no one is indispensible.  It may make you feel important, but any company that has an over-reliance on any one (or small group of) individual(s), is not properly managing its risk.  If you feel indispensible, consider it a business problem, not an ego boost.
  8. Block Your Time. Be completely present at your kid’s soccer game – block that time for him/her.  Most of the time multi-tasking doesn’t work, so don’t try.
  9. Indulge in Some Small Pleasure Daily.  This might be a simple as leaving your office for coffee for 20 minutes every morning, or perhaps going to the gym at lunch.  Whatever it is, find something that you love, or relaxes you, and try to do that thing daily.
  10. Exercise Discipline. Reading the above, it would easy to conclude that we’re suggesting it’s easy – it is not.  Just like being a performance athlete, it takes a lot of work to get into the shape you want to be in, and just as much work to maintain it.  Stick with it – it will be worth it.

3 Things to Remember About Work-Life Balance

  1. The people who say this is easy are lying.
  2. Much of this pressure is self-imposed.
  3. You can’t have it all – you will have to give-up something.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Top 10 Work-Life Balance Tips (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

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Work-Life Balance

A recent survey revealed that one-third of working people self-identified themselves as workholics. Are you one of them? Join the Wily Manager guys this week, as they tackle Work-Life Balance, and talk about the employees role in achieving it.

Monday’s Tip: Disconnect. Many people voluntarily check their work email at all hours, and find themselves “multi-tasking.”  For the vast majority of people, this is voluntary.    Think hard about when and how you want to be connected when outside of work.

Tuesday’s Tip: Reel Back Your Expectations.  In real life it is not possible to have it all, and people have to make adult choices about what is most important to them.  The most successful people make these trade-offs in a way that fulfills them.

Wednesday’s Tip: Say “No”. You don’t actually have to be on every project or committee, and you may want to be selective with your volunteer activities.  Contrary to popular belief, you CAN’T do it all.

Thursday’s Tip: Delegate.  Identify some things you can get off your plate, and get someone else to do them.  What might be boring and routine for you, could be a stretch assignment that someone else might be able to pour some real energy into.

Friday’s Tip: Exercise Discipline. Just like being a performance athlete, it takes a lot of work to get into the shape you want to be in, and just as much work to maintain it.  Stick with it – it will be worth it.

Improve Morale — Discipline People

So if I read all the management literature correctly, then to improve employee morale, I should hire a concierge, allow people to bring their pets to work, and every day at 3.00pm we should join hands in a circle and sing campfire songs.  Personally, I can’t think of anything that would make me start looking for alternative employment faster.

So what does impact morale, and should managers care?

First of all, they should care – just not about concierges and employee sing-alongs.  Morale is a key driver of attendance and retention both of which have a clear and immediate impact on costs.  Morale also creates and maintains employee discretionary effort — which has a clear and immediate impact on productivity, quality and safety.  Besides all of that, it’s just way more fun to work at a place where people are engaged.

There are several ways for leaders to impact morale.  Perhaps one of the most important is a consistent, fair, and well thought out progressive discipline process.  Yep, that’s right… I’m suggesting that progressive discipline and higher employee morale are highly correlated.  Here’s why:

When one member of a team consistently doesn’t pull his weight, it is rarely the boss that feels the impact of this.  Most often it is that laggard’s peers.  By addressing one person’s poor performance, others are both relieved and validated.  They are relieved that the discipline will either lead to the person beginning to pull their weight, or that the person will be replaced by someone who will.  They are validated by the demonstration that their effort is superior to that of the person receiving the discipline.

The most highly effective workplaces have predictable and clear consequences for both good and poor performance, so it is not good enough for a leader simply to focus on discipline.  However, many managers put off uncomfortable discussions about poor performance using the excuse that any intervention will harm morale.  In fact, the opposite it true.

Oh No.  Now you’ve got to go do it.

Go ahead… discipline someone for poor performance, and improve your team’s morale.

 

Employee Discipline Procedures: Progressive Discipline

Join Jed and Bob as they discuss why and how progressive discipline should be undertaken in an organization.

Watch the ‘Progressive Discipline’ Video (15 mins 36 sec):


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Employee Discipline Procedures: Progressive Discipline

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Below we talk about the following aspects of Employee Discipline Procedures:

  • Setting the stage for Employee Discipline Procedures
  • Issuing Warnings
  • The Progressive Discipline Meeting
  • Taking Corrective Action

Setting the Stage for Employee Discipline Procedures

Many managers fail to do their homework prior to launching in to Employee Discipline Procedures.  There are some things to do ahead of time:

Articulate clear expectations.  You cannot take an employee to task on things they were not aware they are accountable for.  There are a number of mechanisms to articulate those expectations:

  • Job descriptions
  • Performance agreements
  • Regular one on one meetings

Document everything.  A key part of Employee Discipline Procedures is the paper-trail.  You should have a file on every employee, and that file should contain details of all communication pertaining to performance.

  • Notes about informal discussions
  • Any emails pertaining to performance.
  • Documentation from more formal interventions.

Ensure you are prepared to focus on the behavior, not the person.  If you make it personal, it will much more difficult, and you may incur needless legal risk.

Have a Progressive Discipline process.  You must being your Employee Discipline Procedures knowing the various steps, and how it might end.

Progressive Discipline Process

Your first step in Employee Discipline Procedures is to check with your HR department or person to fully understand what systems and processes are currently in place.  In the absence of any such tools, use the following as a starting point for your Employee Discipline Procedures:

  1. Ensure expectations are clear.
  2. Highlight the gap between desired and actual performance.  You need to be as specific as possible when describing this gap.
  3. Issue verbal warning – Tell the person specifically what you want them to change, and in what time frame.  If there is a knowledge or skill gap, you will need to assist the person in bridging this gap.  Write down the details of the verbal warning (date, time, discussion points, and any witnesses present).
  4. Issue written warning with consequences.  If the performance has still not improved, you need to issue a formal written warning.  This should include very clear consequences as to what will happen if performance does not improve.  Again you need to be very specific about the gap between desired performance and actual performance.  You also need to specify timelines for improvement, and the next meeting.
  5. Issue second written warning.  This will have all the elements of the first letter, but also include a much more urgent sense of the consequences of continued poor performance.
  6. Take corrective action – a demotion, a suspension, or termination.  At this stage it will be largely dependent on the circumstances, but you need to follow through on the promised consequences in the previous warnings.

How to Issue Warnings in the Employee Discipline Procedures

  1. Highlight the gap between the desired performance and the actual performance.
  2. Issue a verbal warning.  Be as specific as possible, and make suggestions for improvement.  You need to document the verbal warning with the date and time, the details of the conversation, the follow up actions discussed, and any witnesses to the conversation.
  3. Issue a written warning. Be specific.  Be clear on the consequences
  4. Issue further warnings after an adequate period of time has passed to allow him/her to make the required improvements.

The Discipline Meeting

What to say:

  • Clarify the process, and what is about to happen
  • Provide in as much detail as possible with behavioral examples the deficiencies of performance or transgression that has brought everyone to this meeting.
  • Point out the negative impact to the organization and to the people that the undesirable performance has.
  • Describe in detail the desired behavior or action, and reference when and where this has been made clear to the employee previously

How to Say It:

  • Present case in neutral language
  • Be calm
  • Be as specific as possible (when, where, how many, etc.)
  • Focus on the facts
  • Be professional

Ask the employee to reply

  • Listen carefully
  • Ask for clarification if necessary.
  • Ask the employee for comments or potential solutions to resolve the issue.

Taking Corrective Action

Corrective action as part of your Employee Discipline Procedures, can take a variety of forms.  You need to determine what will be most likely to solve your problem.  In some cases, it may be suspension, in others it may be termination.  One thing you need to ensure when you get to this stage is that there are no surprises to the employee.  There should have been adequate warning and notice before you ever advance to this stage of the Employee Discipline Procedures.

3 Things to Remember about Employee Discipline Procedures

  1. Document everything, every time, always.  You need this to mitigate the risk of harassment or wrongful dismissal claims.  It is also good practice.
  2. Don’t over or under react to a situation.  Ensure the action you take is commensurate with the nature of the transgression
  3. Don’t make it personal.  It makes it much easier for all concerned if you can adequately detach personalities from the situation

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Employee Discipline Procedures (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

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