Endue University Business

Previously we discussed about how to develop partnership programs, and, in this article, we will dive inside to understand what is needed to create a culture of measurement of success. KPI (Key Performance Indicators) is an industry standard term for measuring performance of each aspect of your partnership. It is important to create a culture of constant monitoring, reporting, and improvement. The KPI’s are in place to allow people to create a path of constant improvement, so it is important to engage the resources as early as possible and motivate them to adopt to the culture, which will make their overall performance consistent, transparent and create a sense of achievement.

Before we dive deeper, it is important to understand some key terminologies:

• What is an Indicator: It is simply a measure used to capture a measurement of your business with your partner organization.
• What is a Performance Indicator: It tracks and measures key aspects of your business with your partner organization.
• What is Key Performance Indicator (KPI’s): It is the subset of performance indicators that are most critical to sustain the business with your partner and ensure a growth path. It is the measurement that truly reflects the trend of, where you were, where are you now, and what it will take to reach the highest achievable target.
• What is “SMART” KPI:
  KPI’s should be:
  a. Specific
  b. Measurable
  c. Attainable
  d. Realistic
  e. Timely
  

When you are dealing with any partner organization, there are four pillars that supports the entire business portfolio:

a. Financials: The backbone that supports everything
b. Customers: The final point of acceptance, without whom everything fails.
c. Process: A defined blueprint of actual work pattern that should work without constant modification.
d. People: The catalyst between Process and the Customers, who will ensure success.

Important to know and remember before any KPI’s are drafted.

a. Behavior Based KPI Model: If you have drafted a defined set of KPI’s for your partners, that may not work with every partner. It all comes down to the customers that your partner services. The end user behavior is different for every partner and your KPI’s should be defined based your strategic goal.

b. Simple vs Strategic: Strategy always wins over simplicity. Try to focus and define KPI’s which are strategic to your goals and do not try to just use KPI’s which are simple to measure but have no specific outcome.