PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
PROCESS – PuMP®*
Most organizations measure performance — but not sure their measures are truly linked to their strategic goals. Reports are prepared, KPI tables are filled in, reviews are done. Yet the answers to these critical questions remain unclear:
- How closely connected are our measures to our strategic goals?
- How do we know whether performance is truly improving?
- Do our teams own these measures, or do they see them merely as a reporting obligation?
- Are our measures making our decisions easier?
If the answers are unclear, the problem is not with the measures themselves or with your team — it is with your measurement process.
What is PuMP®?
PuMP (Performance Measurement Process) is a practical, step-by-step performance measurement methodology developed by Australian performance measurement expert Stacey Barr through more than 20 years of experience and research.
What distinguishes PuMP from other approaches is that rather than simply seeking an answer to ‘Which KPIs should we choose?’, it covers the entire measurement process: from clarifying the goal to designing strong and actionable measures, from collecting data to interpreting it with the right techniques, and from reporting results to achieving permenant performance improvement.
PuMP is not a piece of software or a KPI library. It provides you with a thinking framework and a practical process for designing meaningful measures tailored to your organisation’s own strategic goals — and for using those measures to drive lasting improvement.
Common Struggles:
We lack a shared understanding across the organisation of what our measures (KPIs / metrics) serve and why we need to measure in the first place
We struggle to identify strong measures that meaningfully track our strategy and monitor targeted performance
We struggle to get people to truly buy-in and own the measures
Different departments use different measures, but how these align to the strategy is not clear
We do not know how to measure our intangible goals
We cannot produce performance reports that trigger the right actions. We have dashboards full of data, but we struggle to understand whether performance is really improving
We struggle to use our measures to drive real improvement in business performance and to reach the targets we have set. We cannot be sure whether we have reached our targets or not
There are some very common practices in how people develop KPIs and performance measures. The reason for having such struggles is bad KPI habits that became common practice of which we are usually not aware of!
Which of the below are familiar to you?
These are all bad KPI habits! They became common practice with the lack of a proper and deliberately designed measurement methodology. Their becoming a common practice unfortunately does not mean they are the right practice.
PuMP® (Performance Measurement Process — Up to you) is a process of practical steps designed to eliminate the widespread mistakes organisations make with their measures (KPIs / metrics).
PuMP is a repeatable process of 8 practical steps. Each step builds on the previous one, and together they cover every step that a measurement process should contain.
It can be used as a standalone corporate performance measurement process, or it can be seamlessly integrated into a system already in place.
The benefits of implementing PuMP® would be:
STRATEGIC CLARITY AND FOCUS
Your strategy becomes measurable and results-oriented. It becomes clearer for employees at every level and easier to cascade into meaningful team-level goals.
MEANINGFUL, ACTIONABLE MEASURES STRONGLY LINKED TO GOALS
You can identify measures (KPIs / metrics) that are far more meaningful and owned than anything brainstorming or benchmarking methods could produce
TEAM OWNERSHIP
All employees and stakeholders genuinely buy-in and own the measures (KPIs / metrics)
CONSISTENT AND RELIABLE DATA
With the right owners and data you can trust, your measures (KPIs / metrics) come to life consistently.
REPORTS THAT MAKE DECISIONS EASIER
Meaningful reports and dashboards are designed that focus discussions on improvement.
EVIDENCE-BASED DECISIONS
Real signals of whether performance is improving or not are detected in your measures. Instead of relying on intuition, assumptions, or the wrong techniques, you use the most accurate method of tracking performance to distinguish real changes from natural fluctuations. This way, you can take action in the right areas at the right time without wasting resources.
SYSTEMIC AND LASTING IMPROVEMENT
An approach that improves the system rather than blaming people. Performance improvement becomes lasting and sustainable. Targets are reached, and measurement becomes a tool for learning and transformation — not for blame or hiding mistakes.
Ultimately, when you implement PuMP®, you achieve your goals sooner and with less effort, and in a way that’s engaging and practical. PuMP® changes beliefs, attitudes, knowledge and skills about measuring performance. And that’s how to create a high-performance culture.
Are you interested in applying the PuMP approach in your organisation? Would you like to explore more?
Let us schedule a free discovery call to assess your organisation’s current measurement process and discuss how PuMP can help: