As Peter Drucker is quoted as saying, ‘what gets measured gets done’.

Welcome to step 7 of PROJECT ‘it’. Step 7 is all about measuring not only the success of your ‘it’ but also the implementation of your ‘it’.

If you’ve skipped ahead and haven’t gone through the previous 6 steps, you can revisit these here. For those of you who haven’t been through the steps, your ‘it’ in your business can be either an idea, concept or even a business model.

Every business is different. Every ‘it’ is different. So coming up with the KPI’s for your business is a very individual thing – there is no one size fits all. Whilst it’s important to come up with KPI’s to suit your business strategy and objectives, here are some things to consider when determining your KPI’s.

don’t forget the financial statements

These are the ultimate KPI [review on a timely basis to stay on top of the success or not of implementing your ‘it’]

sales are vanity. profits are sanity. cash is reality.

Take more of a forward looking view of your cash position by preparing rolling cash flow projections.

break your data down

Break down your data into segments – whether it be sales, profit or simply activity, segment your data into smaller more manageable chunks.

make the team accountable

Make your team accountable for what they said they were going to do when they were going to do it. Use your one page plans as an easy way to monitor progress. Download a copy of the one page plan template from step 5 here.

new ways to measure

Not everything can be counted but everything can be tracked. Challenge yourself to come up with new ways to measure success with tools like customer surveys and 360 degree scorecards.

too many kpi’s

Don’t get hung up on too many KPI’s [sometimes fewer can be better if it provides more focus on the right behaviours.

measures in intervals

Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually. Try having different measures at different intervals.

k.i.s.s. – keep it simple stupid

Make sure the agreed measures are simple to calculate and easily accessible.

Next up, we have the final step in the 8 step PROJECT ‘it’ cycle. The final step to review your strategy and whether you need to make any adjustments along the way. This may then introduce you back to step 1 of the cycle where you determine what your new ‘IT’ is – whatever it may be!

To stay in the loop and receive all the latest tips, tools and resources, simply subscribe at businessDEPOT.com.au/subscribe, and you’ll receive everything you need to #MAKEITHAPPEN within your business directly to your inbox. Of course we’re always happy to chat further so if you have any questions, feel free to call any of our friendly team members on 07 3193 3000.