Accountability starts with clarity.
If your KPIs don’t make people act, they’re merely numbers on a dashboard. Worse, they might be distracting your team from what really matters.
Over the years, I’ve developed and used a 6-step process for turning corporate goals into KPIs that hold executives accountable.
This approach ensures performance becomes a shared priority, not something discussed in quarterly reviews.
Want the steps?
Here they are...
Step 1: Select Your Focus Area
To start, you need to identify the right focus area.
Here are a 4 questions to guide you:
- What’s your company’s top priority this year?
- Which departments are most critical to achieving this goal?
- What challenges are blocking progress?
- How can you measure success in these areas?
Let’s say the company’s top goal is expanding market share.
From there, I’d zoom in on the departments most critical to achieving this: Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service.
By narrowing your focus to what matters most, you create alignment between organizational goals and team priorities.
Step 2: List Key Departments Contributing to the Goal
When you’ve picked your focus area, identify the departments that have the most direct impact on the goal.
For example, if the goal is expanding market share, key departments could include:
- Sales: Responsible for bringing in new customers
- Operations: Ensures scalability to support growth
- Customer Service: Retains existing customers and builds loyalty
Why is this step important?
Because not all teams will contribute equally to every goal. Focusing on high-impact departments ensures your efforts deliver measurable results.
Step 3: Pick One Department to Drill Down
After listing the key departments, choose one to work on first.
Let’s say we select Sales.
By starting with a single department, you avoid spreading your attention too thin and can create a clear roadmap for accountability.
Step 4: Break Down the Department’s Contribution
Here’s where you connect the dots between what the department does and the company’s overarching goal.
Ask:
- What specific actions can this department take to support the goal?
- How will these actions create measurable impact?
For Sales, the contributions could look like this:
- Increase the number of new customers
- Improve conversion rates
- Expand deals with existing clients
Each contribution ties back to the goal of expanding market share, making it easy to track progress.
Step 5: Turn Contributions into Measurable KPIs
Now, it’s time to transform those contributions into specific, measurable KPIs.
Here’s how:
- New customer growth: Sign 30 new clients per quarter
- Conversion rate improvement: Move from 15% to 20% within 6 months
- Customer expansion: Achieve $500,000 in upsell revenue by year-end
Notice how each KPI is clear, time-bound, and aligned with the company’s goal. These aren’t vague aspirations. They’re concrete metrics tied to specific outcomes.
Step 6: Align KPIs With Accountability
The final step is ensuring these KPIs drive action.
Here’s how:
- Assign ownership: For example, the Sales Head is responsible for achieving these KPIs.
- Link KPIs to performance reviews: This ensures accountability is built into the system.
- Monitor progress regularly: Schedule monthly check-ins to review progress, address challenges, and make adjustments.
When KPIs are directly tied to accountability, they become more than just numbers, but drivers of performance.
A Practical Example
Let’s say your company has a goal to increase annual revenue by 20%.
- Focus area: Sales
- Contribution: Increase new customer acquisition
- KPI: Sign 120 new clients by year-end (30 per quarter)
- Ownership: Assign this target to the Sales Head
- Follow-up: Review progress at the end of each month, and address any roadblocks
By following these steps, you’ve turned a broad corporate goal into a tangible, actionable plan.
Why This Matters
KPIs that don’t drive action are a waste of time.
If your team doesn’t feel accountable, performance will stagnate.
But when you create KPIs that are clear, measurable, and tied to individual accountability, you give your team the tools they need to succeed.
So, ask yourself:
Are your KPIs driving results, or are they just numbers on a dashboard?
This week, challenge your team to revisit their KPIs using this framework. The results could surprise you.
That's it for today.
See you next Thursday!✌
Iyetule Abobare
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