Let's Talk KPI's (Yes, really!)

Are your team members crystal clear on what success looks like in their role or are they just showing up and hoping for the best? In this episode, Nicky Miklós cuts through the fear and confusion around KPIs and Benchmarks of Success, and makes the case for why transparent, measurable performance standards are the backbone of every high-performing team. Whether you've been avoiding the KPI conversation or you've had one in place for years, this episode will challenge you to take a hard look at whether your numbers are actually moving the dial. It's time to stop guessing and start measuring. 

Learn more about Nicky  at nickymiklos.com

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Music by Jules Miklos-Woodley

Transcript

Nicky Miklós (00:27)

Hello legend, and welcome to the Smart Business Growth podcast. This week, with me, Nicky Miklós. As always, I am thrilled, grateful and super excited to be having this conversation with you.

Can you believe that we are already in March? I had a realisation that this is the last month of the first quarter of the calendar year, and the last month of Q3 of the financial year.

I don't know about you, but I feel like in some ways it's still January, but then in others it's like we've already had a full year in the last couple of months. And so this time of year — the end of the first quarter of the calendar year — March is a really good time to pause and reflect on the systems and structure that we have set up in the business, particularly around benchmarks of success, or another way to call this: KPIs, Key Performance Indicators.

It's really interesting to me because there are a couple of key clients that I'm working with who are in the process of introducing KPIs or benchmarks of success. This isn't new — there's always at some point one or two clients that are really revisiting or looking at implementing these structures. And if you haven't got KPIs or benchmarks of success in place, then I highly recommend that you listen closely to this episode. If you already do, this could be your reminder to review and check in — are they actually working?

Some of the biggest barriers that I see to businesses not just putting these things in place, but also measuring them and bringing transparency around results — it could be team dashboards — include:

• Not wanting the team to feel awkward if there's a team dashboard and everybody can see results
• Not understanding how to put particular benchmarks of success or KPIs in place
• Knowing what to do once they're in
• Fear around how the team will react — do they see KPIs as "I'm doing bad and I'm going to get into trouble?"

All of these things are really worth getting curious about, because they're indicative of what could be holding your team back from truly stepping into a high-performance, peak-performing team.

Let's think about it. Stats are important. Stats are the data — the data that shows the results. Are we moving the dial towards the outcomes and the goals that we want to achieve? Why wouldn't we want individuals within the team to have their own data, their own number to chase? And what that also gives them is the opportunity to celebrate their success. It gives them the opportunity to know and to own what success looks like in their role.

This is why it matters so much — because it's not just for the overarching business success, but for the individual to have that sense of achievement as well.

Now, I can say this and I truly believe this, but oftentimes the culture of the business is saying something different. Again, it's that fear of how will they react if we give them a number to own and hold them to account.

I really appreciate that there's a transition period if you've gone from really loosey-goosey numbers or KPIs. A key performance indicator is simply a metric that shows the important numbers that will move the dial in our business and achieve the overarching goal. If every individual achieves it, we will get there as a bigger team. That's all that it is, right? But it is a transition if that hasn't been clear, if people have been let off the hook, if people can just kind of rock up and do whatever they want.

So yes, we need to get our head around it. We need to nurture our teams whilst we're actually putting those things in place. Sometimes, as in the case of some of my clients, they'll steer clear from calling it KPIs because it feels too old school or too sales-metric-focused, especially if you're not in a sales business. So for them, they might call it a Benchmark of Success — a BOS — or there are other ways that you can bring it in and rebrand it, but we're not changing the core of what it is, what its purpose is, and how you're measuring and managing it.

We've got to not only think about what those three to five KPIs are — no more than five, three is solid — but also: How are we rolling it out? How are we giving people the opportunity to meet them? And then having regular catch-ups — fortnightly, monthly, or if you can, weekly check-ins. How are you tracking to your monthly BOS or your monthly KPI? How can we support you? What are the barriers, and what's supporting you in getting there? So you can help pivot and help them achieve that by the end of the month.

If they're not achieving it month on month on month, absolutely that is where performance management can come into place. But if they're achieving it, it is simply an opportunity to acknowledge the work that they've done — and it feels really bloody good as the individual. It doesn't feel so good when we're not achieving it.

So there are a couple of areas that the team can fall into:

1. Fear from past experiences — they've been in an environment that wasn't a coaching culture, wasn't about winning and hitting goals and celebrating successes, but was more of a punitive scenario.
2. Fear of being found out — deep down, or maybe consciously, they know they're not doing the right thing and they're about to be found out.
3. Discomfort with transparency — it's kind of like when you first sit in an open office and everyone can hear your phone calls. It's that same feeling when people start to see your stats and see the work that you're doing.

But trust me when I say transparency is absolutely key in creating a high-performance team — and we get used to it, just like we get used to the open floor plan.

And so when you're rolling it out and you're in that transition: you're explaining the why, you're showing the positive side, you're still managing expectations that if numbers aren't being met there'll be further conversations — but that's not the core focus. You're giving a grace period, you're testing the numbers, you're tweaking the numbers. Usually it's not a case of "we've nailed it, we roll it out and that's it." You might want to revisit it quarterly. It's an open dialogue with your leadership team and with the team. And eventually, the team gets used to it — it becomes an everyday operating rhythm, the natural cadence within the business.

Where you end up is with a really strong cadence of high performance. People get used to the fact that their stats will be shared on a dashboard or discussed in an open forum. There's acknowledgement and celebration as a team. There are tough conversations sometimes around low performers, but that is needed — because if you truly want to hit your overarching bigger goals, these tough conversations need to happen.

Oftentimes, what I find is that businesses realise things actually aren't working the way they thought they were. There are some different behaviours happening, or misunderstandings. Sometimes teams think they're doing things the way they're meant to, and the process can highlight that new systems and processes need to be implemented, or that additional training and support is needed.

And so when we think about this from the point of view of the individual owning a number — that number feeds into the overarching number. The coaching conversations, the development opportunities, the check-ins are all centred around that number. We give people the opportunity to step up. We give them the opportunity to be autonomous and own their contribution to the business. We also create a culture where high performance and good performance is rewarded, and there's nowhere to hide.

That might mean that some people fall by the wayside — but that's okay, because if they're meant to be in your business and meant to be along for the ride, they will eventually get on board and embrace it, because you've rolled it out in a really effective way.

It might take time. It might take six months, nine months — but trust me, it's worth it. You'll have clarity and transparency. You will be able to, as a senior leader, step out of that business — whether it's for a half-day meeting, a conference, or a holiday — knowing that everybody knows what they need to do when you're not there, and you're giving them the pathways and support to get there.

I trust this has provoked some thinking. If you don't have KPIs or BOSs — Benchmarks of Success — it's time to start thinking about that. And at the end of Q3 of the financial year, what a great time to start, so you can potentially implement some key things ready for the new financial year in July.

If you already have this in place — some of you listening, I know you've got great KPIs and you review them quarterly, love it — this is just a reminder to continually check in and review. It's never a set-and-forget.

Maybe the numbers being driven are great and things are rocking along nicely. Perhaps the focus now is: How are you supporting your team in hitting those numbers? Do you have a good coaching culture, a good coaching cadence in place to continue to develop and support your team? Are you focusing on training? Do you have the balance of training and coaching? What other development opportunities are there?

So it's not just about getting the numbers and putting them in place — that's the first step. Then it's about what are the conversations needed to hit those numbers? And then it's about how do we continue to go above and beyond to support those team members? And we want that above-and-beyond to actually just become part of the everyday rhythm of your high-performing business.

Reach out to me and let me know what has come up for you. Is there something that needs to be tweaked, changed, or introduced? I'm really curious to see how this is going to play out in your business over the next three to four months as we start the run home to the end of financial year 2026.

I'm kind of nervous to even say we'll be entering 2027 — but it's so close, my friends, it's so close. Take it lightly, enjoy, and I'll see you in the next episode.