Execution · Proving to Organising
An owner for every KPI
Every number on your scoreboard has one name: someone who fills it in each period, explains what's going on when it's amber or red, and decides for themselves what to do about it.
Worth reading first: Result KPIs and driver KPIs
Does this sound familiar?
- Revenue from existing clients has been red for weeks. In the meeting, everyone looks at each other.
- A KPI has 'Sales' or 'leadership team' down as its owner.
- Your name is next to almost every KPI on the board.
- The office manager fills in all the numbers every Monday, so she gets the questions about every red KPI.
Who it's for, and when
For founders and managers with a scoreboard where numbers do turn red, but nobody moves. In Proving there are a few numbers on the board and your name is often next to them; that's fine. As soon as there's someone who can move a number better than you, in Organising, you give it away.
The model
If a number is red and has no name, everyone waits for someone else to act. Harnish puts one name next to every KPI, and Apple calls that person the DRI. Five people can work on a number; there's one owner, and it's someone who can move the number themselves.
Each period the owner fills in their own number. Boldcaster sends them a reminder for it, in the rhythm of the KPI. If it's amber or red, they add a note: what's going on and what they're doing. In the meeting they say it out loud, along with what they need. They decide what to do. You ask what they need and don't take the number back (the lesson Who's got the monkey?).
Ownership is inherited. A driver KPI without its own name inherits the owner of its result KPI, and a result KPI inherits the owner of its process. That's a good default, and often not enough: the sales director is responsible for revenue, but the inside sales team makes the quotes. If someone else moves a driver number, give it an owner of its own.
The lesson An owner for every process is about the process as a whole and the agreements with the people who run it day to day. This lesson is about one number and what it asks of its owner each period.
Verne Harnish, Scaling Up (2014): every function and every KPI gets one name, in his Function Accountability Chart. Apple calls that one name the DRI, the directly responsible individual (Adam Lashinsky, Inside Apple, 2012).
One name, not a department
A department can't answer in the meeting, and with two names each thinks the other will pick it up. If more people work on it, choose who answers for it; the others contribute.
Can move it
The owner can change the number themselves. If the complaints are about scheduling, the planner owns customer satisfaction, not the customer service team that takes the calls.
Fills it in and explains it
They fill in their number themselves each period, so the note on amber or red comes from them. Whoever fills in someone else's number has to write that note and gets the questions.
Inherited, unless
A driver KPI inherits from its result KPI, a result KPI from the process owner. If that person doesn't move the number themselves, give it a name of its own.
Pitfalls
You as the owner of everything
If your name is next to almost every number, every red KPI lands on you and your team watches. Keep a few where you really make the difference, and give the rest away.
Red as a reason for blame
If the owner gets a telling-off for every red KPI, targets go down and the numbers get dressed up. When it's red, ask what they need.
Owner on paper
The name is in the system, but nobody asked them. They only find out when their number is red in the meeting. Talk it through with them before you put their name down.
Watch and read
Two minutes on how Apple names one DRI for every action: one name that has to make it happen.
Watch on YouTubeA Scaling Up coach explains Harnish's worksheet, where every function and every KPI gets one name.
Watch on YouTubeAn EOS coach on the idea that everyone in the company has a number that's theirs, and what that changes in the weekly meeting.
Watch on YouTubeRead
Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It... and Why the Rest Don't
Verne Harnish · 2014 · ISBN 9780986019524
The source of the Function Accountability Chart: one name per function, and the KPIs that go with that name. The chapter on people is enough for this lesson. Published in Dutch as Scaling up: de groeiformule (Business Contact, 2016, ISBN 9789047008682).
View the bookInside Apple: How America's Most Admired--and Secretive--Company Really Works
Adam Lashinsky · 2012 · ISBN 9781455512157
The chapter on the DRI at Apple, the background to the Stanford video. Reads like a piece of journalism.
View the bookApply it
- 1
Go through Set up
Where it says 'No owner', choose one person. Where it says the owner is inherited from the result KPI or the process, ask yourself whether that person really moves this number. If not, give it a name of its own.
- 2
Take your own name off
Keep only the KPIs where you really make the difference. For the rest, choose someone from your team, even if you'd do it faster yourself.
- 3
Have the conversation with every new owner
Short, one person at a time, with the conversation below as a guide. Ask what they need to move the number.
- 4
In the meeting, speak to that one person
If a KPI is red, ask its owner, not the whole table. They say what's going on, what they're doing and what they need.
Examples
The conversation: handing over a number
You: 'Delivery time is in my name, and I'm the one person who can't do anything about it. You make the schedule. I want this number to be yours.' Planner: 'But the delays often come from purchasing. I've got no say there.' You: 'That goes in your note when it's red, and then you say in the meeting what you need from purchasing. What you can change is the order of the work and what you promise.' Planner: 'And if it stays red for a few weeks?' You: 'Then I'll ask what you need, and I won't take it over. You fill it in yourself every week, and you'll get a reminder for it. What do you need from me to get started?'
Billable hours at a consultancy
The founder was the owner, and only looked at it when the monthly figures came in. Now the team lead is the owner, because they allocate the hours. They fill it in every week and spot a gap while the week's still running.
Quotes within 48 hours at a wholesaler
The driver KPI inherited its owner from revenue: the sales director. The inside sales team makes the quotes, so the head of inside sales became the owner of this number. Revenue stayed with the director.
Do this in your own business
Everything up to here is free. What you fill in for your own business, you keep in Boldcaster.
- Go to Set up on the KPI Scoreboard. In Set up you choose the owner for every KPI. Leave the field empty and a driver KPI inherits the owner of its result KPI, and a result KPI the owner of its process. Under My KPIs, everyone sees what's in their name.
- You look back on a situation from your own work. Only you can read what you write.
- You set a date with yourself, and on that day the app asks how it went.
- You assign the lesson to your team and see who has done it.
- The quiz counts towards your progress, and you see which lesson comes next.
Four weeks free. You'll land straight in this lesson.
Quiz
7 situations. You need 6 of 7 right. You can try again at any time.
1.The delivery time KPI has 'Operations' as its owner. It's been red for weeks. What do you do first?
2.The office manager fills in all the KPIs every Monday. For every red KPI she writes the required note and gets the questions. What do you change?
3.The service manager owns customer satisfaction. The complaints are about scheduling, and he has no say over that. What do you do?
4.Your name is next to fourteen of the eighteen KPIs. Your team says the scoreboard is 'yours'. What's the best next step?
5.A KPI is red. What do you expect from its owner in the meeting?
6.The driver KPI 'quotes within 48 hours' has no owner of its own and inherits one from the result KPI revenue: the sales director. The inside sales team makes the quotes. What do you do?
7.The planner has owned delivery time for a month. It's been red for three weeks, and you know how you'd fix it. What do you do?
Nothing is saved here. In the app, the quiz counts towards your progress.
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- The rhythm of a growing company · You know which fixed moments there are, from the day to the year, which ones you need in your phase, and where to start.
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