How KPI Success Can Mean Your Failure

This was the opening session topic at the NonProfit Pro Peer to Peer Conference in Philadelphia at the beginning of November. I was honored to participate with Sandra Hijack, CDO JDRF, and facilitated by Turnkey CEO Katrina VanHuss. You can read some of our pre-conference comments here:

https://www.nonprofitpro.com/article/why-your-kpis-could-lead-your-nonprofit-down-the-wrong-path/

My participation in this was precipitated by my experience in working on a transformation initiative within a non-profit. In my effort to connect with existing colleagues from other groups and departments, I realized there was a disconnect on terminology. Terms like goals, objectives, budgets, etc. had different context and nuance. This was beyond semantics as it was quickly identified difference that risked destroying value. Very simply, as long as an objective was met then this was a justification that performance was validated, as well as the associated behaviors and some of which were moving the organization away from its strategic objectives.

The photo below is from a trip I took to Pompei a while ago. Notice the "ruts" in the STONE path from years of carts going up and down. If you had a cart that did not fit, you were in trouble! Sometimes these ruts are good in that carts stayed in their lane, people walking by knew where to walk to avoid them in their tracks. However, it really is hard to get on a different path or change direction. Through collaboration and discussion various solutions might present themselves, such as repaving the road or making wheels wider, but if not then you will follow everyone else's path. Give me a call or drop me an email if you have some questions or would like to discuss some options.