#34 Zen, And The Art of Performance Measurement

I just love the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M. Pirsig, in part because I love philosophy, in part because I love trail bikes and in part because I am keenly interested in the issues of Quality versus Quantity (a major theme of this book). I'm just about to start reading it for the third time, because each of the last two times I drew new and different meaning from it. Anything philosophical awakens in me the almost overwhelming awareness that we are each part of something bigger than just ourselves, bigger than our day to day activities, our beliefs, our intentions and dreams and fears and penchants. Everything we "know" is relative - relative to the experiences we have had, relative to what we believe about the world, relative to our assumptions about the intentions of others, relative to what we have noticed and learned through our lives (and relative to much more too). Our "knowledge" is a mud map, not a satellite image from Google Earth and most certainly not the territory itself.

It's not hard to see then, why different people behave differently in response to the same performance measurement activity. And that's one of the big reasons why buy-in is such an elusive state to attain.

how people can react to performance measurement

Someone's map of reality influences the way they feel and act around performance measurement. Someone who is used to being blamed for things will feel defensive and fearful around performance measurement. They may throw up unlimited objections as to why performance measurement isn't needed or how they haven't got time to collect all the data. Someone who has put a lot of time (perhaps even blood, sweat and tears) into collecting performance data and never seen anything come from it will feel cynical and frustrated by performance measurement. They will at best bring their body to any new performance measurement initiative, leaving behind their heart and mind. Someone who has been frequently rewarded for outstanding performance would feel very comfortable and engaged around their existing performance measures, but may feel very nervous at the prospect of changing those performance measures.

These are just simple examples. And I'm sure you can imagine a selection of the these people in your own organisation. I've seen a selection of these people in just about every team I have ever facilitated through performance measurement activities. But getting these team members to a state of buy-in is something I seem to consistently achieve. How do I do this?

the art of performance measurement and buy-in

Performance measurement certainly does have (and need) a substantial technical base. Our performance measures would be a waste of time if they weren't linked to strategy, clearly defined, calculated consistently and using good quality data, or presented in a way that encouraged valid interpretation. However, our performance measures are also a waste of time if people involved in the measurement process (selecting measures, bringing them to life, or using them) don't buy-in to their measures, don't have a strong sense of owning those measures. This is the non-technical or human base to performance measurement, and without it, the technical base isn't enough.

Getting buy-in is, to me, more an art than a science. It's not about following a set of steps that will lead you to a state of buy-in. It's about creating and holding the space for people to safely explore what performance measurement can mean for them, personally. And creating and holding the space for this can mean adopting attitudes and behaviours like:

• don't educate people in performance measurement - facilitate them through an action learning cycle that combines a little theory (such as techniques) and a lot of implementation (or even pilot testing)

• don't tell people what they should measure - do show people a process to follow that can help them decide what is worth measuring themselves

• don't be the judge, jury and executioner of people's measures - do suggest that people invite open feedback from all stakeholders about their chosen measures

• don't micro-manage performance - do give people the time to use their measures to understand their performance and take the initiative to improve it themselves

• don't blame people for poor performance results - do encourage people to analyse the causes, take corrective action and learn from this

• don't assume that performance measurement is about control - do believe that performance measurement is about connecting people to something meaningful for themselves as well as the organisation (better control is a by-product of this)

How people respond to performance measures has a huge amount to do with how they connect themselves to a bigger picture. I'm curious about your ideas on this notion. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Do you have more ideas for how to create and hold space for people to buy-in to performance measurement? If you do have something to say, please send me an email!