When asked why they were reluctant to use qualitative measures, the managers replied, “Because we don’t trust our staff not to lie to us.” Do you find this as shocking as I do? Unfortunately, it is a quite common response, though not often said as openly as this.
When measures are discussed and designed, we are often reluctant to use subjective and qualitative measures. Yet at the same time we employ people for their experience and pay them to use their judgement. So it should be no surprise that approaches relying solely on quantitative measures don’t tell the whole story.
In this session, Phil Jones will explore how our beliefs about performance management affect our approach, and how you can incorporate judgement alongside evidence to improve performance. He will cover:
- how our self-imposed rules and beliefs affect our view of Performance Management;
- why measures alone confuse, distort and fail to communicate intent, and what you can do about it;
- how you can use apparently subjective scores to tease out the qualities you wish to measure;
- how subjective measures improve the quality of conversation amongst managers about performance and its underlying drivers;
- how judgement and evidence, together, allow you to build a rich understanding of performance;
- and examples of how this has been applied in both commercial and public sector organizations.
This audio seminar will be useful to anyone managing staff using, and those designing and choosing, measures in their organizations. It will help anyone interested in creating a culture of performance. It will include examples from organizations as diverse as multi-nationals, those in the public sector, and charities and the third sector.
About Phil Jones
Phil helps organizations get results by developing and articulating their strategy, and creating a culture of performance in which to implement strategy successfully. He has been designing and developing strategic balanced scorecards since 1996 , and helping organizations develop and implement their strategy for far longer. He worked for Norton & Kaplan between 1996 and 2000, rising to head of the UK strategy consultancy. While there, he helped to develop the approach and methodology, work that continues with his current company, Excitant.
He has also worked for KPMG, Price Waterhouse and had proper jobs. He has helped organizations in the US, UK, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Ireland and Singapore.
He is author of “Communicating Strategy,” published by Gower and has a forthcoming book, “Strategy Mapping.” Phil is a BSC, MBA, MBCS, CITP and CEng. His website is http://www.excitant.co.uk, and for Communicating Strategy, is http://www.communicating-strategy.com.
