Archive for the ‘Free Templates’ Category
Hello All
I’ve used the enclosed, or variations on it, many times now.
It clearly sets out the background material that anyone thinking of investing in your idea, business plan, corporate change, new product development either financially, operationally or emotionally will need.
Please note this doesn’t try to do the detailed number modelling, though I plan to provides some templates for this in the future it is my experience that each business has their own preferred template for the detailed modelling.
This is designed to set you apart from your competition by making the decision to go with you easy!
Please remember I provide this for free, this means it is;
- free for you to download, use, change, pass on (please mention the website) and use
- free of any liability on my part for how you use them and any consequences that arise as result of using them or any derivative you might create themselves
- free of any warranty on my part for any errors and omissions contained in them
- I hope you enjoy using them and I hope they help you make better decisions.
Share and Enjoy!
The Value of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Key Performance Indicators, also known as KPI’s or Key Success Indicators (KSI’s), are essential in helping organisations define and measure progress towards organizational goals and objectives. Once an organization has identified its specific objectives and key stakeholders in support of those objectives, it is better prepared to develop a systematic approach to measure progress towards those predetermined goals.
Alongside this article which has been reproduced from (http://facilitiesmanagementadvisors.com/2011/09/15/the-value-of-key-performance-indicators-kpis/) I have provided a free template business ‘Nerve Centre’ which I hope you will find useful.
Key Performance Indicators, or KPI’s, if implemented AND sustained correctly, allow us specific advantages including but not limited to the following:
- Create organisational clarity with regard to specific performance objectives in relation to the company vision and values;
- Effectively monitor progress towards goal with viable performance metrics;
- Conduct periodic analysis as a means to evaluate whether or not short-term objectives, or milestones, are being met in support of the primary performance target;
- Foster an environment of improved performance, employee motivation, and continuous improvement strategies;
- Ensure that the business is properly aligned with the agreed-upon objectives with the client, thereby ensuring improved collaboration and visibility over all areas of the business, including contractual compliance.
When implementing an effective KPI program, at a minimum it is crucial to consider the following:
- Measurements must be “quantifiable” – if you cannot measure specific data relative to key areas of your performance, it becomes difficult to both track and monitor progress towards goal, which impacts one’s ability to more effectively manage the business;
- Measurements must be agreed upon with both the client and primary stakeholders in advance of implementation – without question, this is one of the most critical steps in the process. Ensuring that one is fully aligned with the client in all areas of the business helps create a transparent and increasingly effective partnership, most especially when client objectives are met;
- One must ensure complete alignment and understanding of the specific performance metrics within their organizations; employees must understand what is being measured, why it’s important, how it benefits them individually and as a department, and how best to contribute to the objective as a whole;
- Repetition is key! Communicate progress to goal within the organization, and communicate frequently – it is much easier as an employee and/or senior stakeholder to implement specific strategies and performance behaviors designed to contribute towards short-term milestones, most especially when they are continuously kept abreast of progress. The ability to work towards something achievable within a manageable or compressed timeframe tends to be more motivating and viewed by the employee as something they can achieve. According to Forrester Research, this contributes to employee satisfaction while increasing motivation toward meeting the specific objective(s);
- Incentivize It – be creative in implementing incentives to reward short-term contribution towards objectives designed to meet the ultimate company goal; add energy to the process by creating an enjoyable environment and backing it with specific incentives designed to both recognize and reward performance.
Key Performance Indicators must be viewed as Critical to Organizational Success
If everything is important, nothing is important. Clearly, we simply can’t measure everything! In selecting the appropriate KPI’s, it is very important that we limit them to those indicators that are essential to the organization reaching its full potential. At the same time, I strongly believe that it is critical to keep the message simple, with only a short list of very specific and equally measurable objectives. I would further argue anything more than five key company objectives may, in fact, defeat the purpose in creating added confusion within the company. However, to be clear performance goals can be customized to individual departments or product lines.
Through proper communication, frequent updates regarding progress to goal and continued positive reinforcement and recognition of efforts towards meeting specified goals, a business can most certainly achieve organizational success. To be sure, it is important to move quickly, identify both positive and negative performance trends, and respond with the appropriate gap analysis and strategies necessary to improve performance. According to Jack Welsh, “An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.”
So What Do We Measure?
Which KPIs are best for a particular organization depends on several factors:
- Where is the organization today with overall performance?
- Where does the organization want to be tomorrow?
- Who receives the KPI data and what do they do with it?
- How are KPIs and the conclusions that are drawn from the KPIs communicated to others?
Indeed, this is without question one of the most essential areas to be addressed by any business, regardless of market segment. Candidly, not all clients are created equally – what is important to some, may not be important to others. Understandably, every product and/or service is measured differently. Yet, it is commonly understood that if one can’t measure their performance, they can’t effectively manage it, nor for that matter, improve it. It is the simple premise of measure, manage, improve!
The performance measurement process attempts to measure various aspects of performance to determine where improvement is needed. Performance measurement tools provide a window into how every element of your business is functioning in an effort to meet both internal and customer specific objectives. Essentially, key performance indicators, or performance measurements, fall into two specific categories, lagging or leading. Lagging measurements provide analysis of past performance whereas leading serves to both evaluate and define future performance.
The reality is that every business strives to deliver their products or services faster, smarter, cheaper! Organizations that meet such objectives typically leverage work tools to help them better facilitate the process. There are many valuable tools that can be acquired within the marketplace to help organizations better manage all areas of their business, from field operations to sales performance. At the same time, many business owners and managers can also create their own tools, customized to both their individual clients and business methodologies. It is my belief that a healthy organization will maintain a balance between acquired business tools, as well as tools developed internally through innovation and adaptation to the evolving demands of the client, which often are a direct reflection of market conditions.
Keep the following points in mind when selecting KPIs:
- Quantity does not equal quality.
- Measure the most important things, not everything.
- Ensure field and line management buy-in.
- Consider piloting metrics before rolling them out company-wide.
- Don’t let the cost of measuring exceed the value of the results.
So what specifically should we measure? I believe that the basic foundation of any measurement program should at a minimum consist of the following partial list of performance indicators:
Quality Performance
- Quality Audits
- Client surveys
- Trend Analysis
- Corrective Actions
- Gap Analysis
- Root Cause Analysis
- Performance against Target
- SWAT analysis
Cost Performance
- Budget Performance against Goal
- Benchmarking
- Value Additions
- Material/Supply cost
- Value Additions
- Cost Savings & Avoidance
- BCWS (Budgeted Cost for Work Schedule)
- Purchasing Improvements
Delivery Performance
- Performance against Schedule
- Cycle Time Analysis
- Work Order Completion Rates
- Productivity Assessments
Safety Performance
- Recordables
- Lost time
- Accidents
- Near Misses
- Safety Tracking
- Safety Audits
Clearly, there are a variety of equally important indicators that should be evaluated as part of the process including sustainability or green performance, employee performance, technology, etc.
In reality, not all clients are created equally. While some may emphasize overall safety performance as their primary indicator, others may emphasize stringent objectives tied into quality performance, often further validated through third-party audits.
It is my belief that above all else, the keyword is “customization.” Clearly, not all customers, markets, nor facility environments are created equal. Often, suppliers of both materials and/or services try to fit a square peg into a round hole in that they implement a generic quality program that lacks focus and specificity on specific aspects of contractual compliance, and what the client at the local level ultimately wants to achieve as part of the partnership.
According to an article noted within the International Facilities Management Association’s website, facilities managers, procurement professionals, and end–users suggest that one of their continued concerns with suppliers of various commodities is that they either lack a substantive performance management program, or when they do it is either far too generic, and/or far to under utilized.
For KPIs to be successful, there needs to be a system for tracking, communicating, and improving performance. If data are collected but aren’t communicated to the appropriate audience, efforts will not be successful. In an effort to increase accountability, use periodic reporting to highlight performance for leading and lagging indicators in a simple and highly visible manner. This helps foster an environment for increased accountability and awareness.
Finally, KPIs will evolve as the organization changes. Business owners and managers should be prepared to continuously evaluate their progress in tracking performance and the benefits of the KPIs. When necessary and appropriate, KPIs should be modified to reflect changing circumstances or drive further improvement.
I’ve uploaded a new template designed to help you build a dynamic picture of how your business is doing. I am a fervent believer that continual monitoring of this sort is a practice which should be part of the culture of every business in all departments.
By doing this we look at personal and departmental performance with objective and subjective facts;
- emotion is removed
- you gain early identification of the problem before it impacts more widely
- neutralises the blame game and focusses people on jointly held targets
- leads automatically to the ‘how do we succeed again’ or ‘how far can we improve’ discussion
- and delivers acceptance of the plan with full team ownership.
All free templates provided by The Business Beach Bum have been used in the course of my work and all of them have worked for me, I am sure you can make them work for you to. Feel free to change, add, edit and amend them. If you improve it and want to share with others let me know, or post on the Blog. Even better, if you have new ones to share let me know and I’ll make sure you get the credit (which is in kudos, not currency!).
They are provided for free, this means they are;
- free for you to download, use, change, pass on (please mention the website) and use
- free of any liability on my part for how you use them and any consequences that arise as result of using them or any derivative you might create themselves
- free of any warranty on my part for any errors and omissions contained in them
- I hope you enjoy using them and I hope they help you make better decisions.
I’ve uploaded a new template designed to help business understand where failure is happening, rank issues quickly and lead to an unemotional discussion about what plan is need to come back to a successful outcome.
It is very important to start the use of this on the basis of simple, undeniable, facts as there may be many reasons why a product isn’t selling, not all down to failure in sales or marketing! It could be being delivered late, or the market has changed and the product hasn’t – this discussion is about fact, then you assess the impact on the business, then you create a plan to succeed again.
By doing this with objective and subjective facts;
- emotion is removed
- you gain early identification of the problem before it impacts elsewhere
- neutralises the blame game all too often associated in senior meetings
- leads automatically to the how do we succeed again discussion
- and finally acceptance of the plan with full team ownership.
All free templates provided by The Business Beach Bum have been used in the course of my work and all of them have worked for me, I am sure you can make them work for you to. Feel free to change, add, edit and amend them. If you improve it and want to share with others let me know, or post on the Blog. Even better, if you have new ones to share let me know and I’ll make sure you get the credit (which is in kudos, not currency!).
Click here for the Success Review template
They are provided for free, this means they are;
- free for you to download, use, change, pass on (please mention the website) and use
- free of any liability on my part for how you use them and any consequences that arise as result of using them or any derivative you might create themselves
- free of any warranty on my part for any errors and omissions contained in them
- I hope you enjoy using them and I hope they help you make better decisions.
Performance management processes constitute:
- planning—deliberation of what to do and setting expectations;
- monitoring—continually checking on performance;
- developing—improving the capacity to perform;
- rating—periodically scaling performance in a summary fashion; and
- rewarding—compensating good performance.
I’ve introduced these key processes below, and a sample Annual Objectives Template you can build from to record objectives.
The first process, planning, means structuring mindsets of your managers on how performance should be channelled to achieve objectives that build towards the goals of the organisation. By involving employees in this process, there is improved buy in and comprehension on the goals of the organisation, what needs to be done, why it needs to be done, and the standards expected.
Employee performance plans should include establishment of elements and standards to be used for regular performance appraisals. It should be versatile, making adjustments in program objectives and work requirements easy.
The second process in performance management is monitoring. Your teams deserve a consistent assessment of performance and providing ongoing remarks to employees and work groups praising those helping the business in progressing in attaining its goals and making it clear to those who are not succeeding that their performance is not good enough and must improve or they will enter a performance improvement programme. Employees’ evaluation enables the supervisor to see if employees are meeting predetermined standards, to make revisions to problematic standards.
Developing, the third process can be defined as increasing the capacity to perform. This can be staged through training, seminars, and assigning projects that would introduce new skills or higher levels of responsibility, and improve work processes or methods. These developmental activities pave way to encourage good performance, strengthen job-related skills and competencies, and help employees keep up with changes in the workplace, such as the introduction of new technology.
From time to time, organisations find it useful to summarise employee performance. This requires the fourth process of performance management, rating. This enables comparison among a set of employees or individual conduct or productivity over a period of appraisal. The rating of record has a bearing on various other personnel actions, such as granting within-grade pay increases, and promoting or determining additional retention service credit in a reduction in force.
In a productive organisation, rewards are used frequently and profitably. Rewarding, the fifth process of performance management comprises this. It means acknowledging employees’ contributions to the agency’s mission as an individual or a team player through granting of awards, merits, benefits or bonuses. A basic principle of effective management is that all conduct is influenced by its consequences. This applies, whether the deed is positive or negative.
All five components or processes triumphantly result to a natural and effective performance management. Each key process should be executed in such a way that there exists coordination and support from these processes, to the supervisors, and to the subordinates. Practicing this should include setting goals; planning work routinely; measuring progress toward those goals and giving and accepting feedbacks to and from employees. High standards should be set but taking care to develop the skills required to reach goals and acknowledging productive deeds should never be disregarded.
All the best
The BBB