Perspective is an externally facing concept. Our Perspective of events and goals shapes what we put out in the world. Our friends, family, colleagues, and teams then perceive those perspectives. The question is, do those perceptions match the Perspective that spawned them? All too often, in business, we find that the drive to meet requirements ends up corrupting the Perspective that spawned it.
In his book “Turn the Ship Around,” L. David Marquet describes multiple examples of when the Perspective that spawned a goal or objective then becomes corrupted by perceptions. He recalls that fire is one of the worst things that can happen onboard a submarine, so should a fire break out, it should be tackled as quickly as possible. A clear goal or Perspective is framed. The perception of how to train and assess leads to other focus areas. Someone must be “responsible” for fighting a fire, so the designated Watch Stander is given that role, and when the drill is executed, the first person on-scene with a hose has their name referenced against the Watch list, and they need to be there in under two minutes. Immediately, it is clear that two items are being injected into the drill; the Goal is to put the fire out as soon as possible, not within a timeframe or by a specific person. If the fire starts in or around a mess hall at a busy time, is it better for at least one of the people in the mess hall to grab a portable extinguisher and use it on the fire until help arrives?
Do your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) support the reality of a situation, or are they being corrupted by your teams to “make the numbers”? In many ticket-driven environments, i.e. an IT Service Desk, there are often stats that will drive toxic behaviours, for example, “On-Time resolution %” The Perspective here relates to lost hours of staff time and areas of the business being unproductive. Still, the perception side is “Well the more tickets I resolve on time, the more praise I will get”, does resolving the ticket equate to solving the issue? Anyone who has had to chase up an IT team will testify that rapidly resolving the ticket does not equate to matters solved. That experience then tarnishes the reputation of the IT service desk in question. The Perspective has been corrupted by perception.
KPI’s must be perceived so must be approached from multiple angles.
This is why it is so vitally important for us to consider the perceptions of others when we start to formulate the KPIs. What can make our KPIs great, however? We can only do that when we realise that the KPI is the tip of the iceberg; excellence in Performance Tracking is about Perspective and perception, meaning that we have to understand what is being measured from multiple angles. Looking back at our IT Service Desk, we should support the main KPI of “On-Time Resolution %”, with an “Average Customer Satisfaction Score” and a “Tickets Re-opened %” at the minimum. We may also want to cast our nets wider and consider if there are specific areas of “failure” or “success” or are we stacking the deck in our favour to hide our issues?
So, what needs to be done for us to progress? It sounds counter-intuitive, but stop idealising perfection as something that’s based on what you think you know. Perfection comes together when all your cogs are aligned, oiled and smoothly turning in each department, working with procedures that make sense to produce the best results. Perhaps the healthiest Perspective should be unique to you and your organisation; ultimately, you can’t take a mould and make it fit your business. Might it be too optimistic to say that you cannot fail? Even if you walk away from an idea or a process, it has taught you how not to do something, what might need to be adapted, and perhaps even give you some insight into how it might work better. It leads you towards perfection each time you work out a piece of the puzzle. It is a common perception that being in pursuit of perfection is a wasted effort, but this is why we feel otherwise. It is, after all, a relative concept. Evolve consciously with the changing environment and let the data guide the truth. What do you think?
