Number should be the Tool, not Goal
Number is widely used by the human being for quite a long time. It makes our life easier and more convenient. Nonetheless, sometimes it would cause some problems if people measure the things with number from the wrong approach.
Number is frequently used in KPI. Nowadays, many companies adopt the KPI system to evaluate the performance of the employee, but many of us just forget the purpose behind it. The KPI’s role is not only for assessing an employee’s performance but also for boosting the whole company to achieve the set goal. As such, it’s essential to put the purpose or the goal first in the process of designing the KPI or relevant review system.
Take number as the final goal to pursue can be dangerous sometimes. For example, sometimes the optimization of a division’s KPI can be opposed to the optimization of the whole organization’s. As the resource is limited and it may be allocated based on each division’s or team’s KPI, therefore, there can be internal conflict to compete with each other rather than cooperation to create a bigger pie for the whole organization. In addition, the organization’s goal can be changeable and if the division only targets on the KPI itself without thinking what the whole organization really need currently, this can cause negative impact to the whole organization as well.
The solution to that could be done by the approach of implanting the objective driven culture into the organization’s culture. The process of assessing the performance shouldn’t be just on number itself but also through qualitative assessment. Although this approach can be more time-consuming and require more efforts in the beginning, but this can be helpful for the whole org’s health in the long term.
Number should be the tool rather than the goal. It should be used to help us find the root cause of the problem and play the role to unearth our potential and fulfill ourselves.