Performance Measurement for Results

Stacey Barr: Practical Performance Measurement

Stacey Barr is a specialist in strategic performance measurement and evidence-based leadership. She is the creator of PuMP®, a performance measurement methodology that routinely transforms measurement cynics into its greatest advocates.

Stacey is also the author of two books, Practical Performance Measurement: Using the PuMP® Blueprint for Fast, Easy, and Engaging KPIs*, and Prove It!: How to Create a High Performance Culture and Measurable Success*.

In this conversation, Stacey and I discussed some of the common mistakes that leaders and organizations make with performance measurement. We also explore what well-formulated performance measures have. Plus, Stacey has kindly made her book available for free to our listening audience.

Key Points

Common mistakes in performance measurement:

Initiatives are not performance measures
Events or milestones are not performance measures
Measures of activity completion are not performance measures
Sources of data are not performance measures
A few vague words don’t make a performance measure

Well-formulated performance measures have:

A method of comparison that we can use to tell whether performance is good or not
A base of objective evidence that gives a reasonably accurate and reliable picture of current performance
A sufficient degree of granularity to detect small but important changes in performance to which we should respond
Relevance to the organization’s priorities
The ability to show changes in performance levels over time, giving us enough context to avoid short-sightedness