The Outlines of Keynote Addresses Delivered by David Parmenter

The keynote addresses (KNAs) cover the areas I can deliver at your conference. Other subjects  can be researched on a request basis.  My preferred length is 90 minutes.  However, all KNAs can be trimmed to fit 45-60 minute allocations.  It is common for me to deliver more than one session at a conference as I charge a day’s presenting whether it is one, two or three sessions.

I have provided alternative titles to the same content.

A. How KPIs can lift your organisation from “good to great”

B. Are your Key Performance Indicators hindering rather than helping your organisation?

Many companies are working with the wrong measures, many of which are incorrectly termed key performance indicators (KPIs). David Parmenter believes it is a myth to consider all performance measures to be KPIs. David is a leading expert in performance management practices that help organisations on the journey from good to great. In this session, he will cover:

• The four types of performance measures and why only a few are KPIs
• The seven characteristics of KPIs
• How many KPIs should you have
• The foundation stones for a KPI project
• Why your organisation’s critical success factors- are the El Dorado of Management
• Some quick wins (how to sort out your measures, some KPIs to adopt, a blue print for the way forward)

Why Your KPIs are Not Delivering – The Myths of Performance Measurement

Performance measurement is failing around the world because management are not aware of the many myths surrounding performance measures. For example, it is a myth that most measures lead to better performance. Every performance measure has a dark side; a negative consequence. The key is to understand it. Well over half the measures in an organisation may be encouraging unintended behaviour, sending performance in the wrong direction.

This key note address will look at the major myths and how to avoid their influence.

• Myth: Most measures lead to better performance
• Myth: By tying KPIs to pay you will increase performance
• Myth: All performance measures are KPIs
• Myth: KPIs are financial and non-financial indicators
• Myth: The more measures the better
• Myth: You can delegate a KPI project to a consulting firm
• Myth: Monitoring monthly reports will increase performance
• Myth: There are four BSC perspectives
• Myth: KPIs are either a ‘lead’ or ‘lag’ indicator
• Myth: KPIs are cascaded down the organisation

Abandoning performance measures – fixing an unproductive performance management system

Performance measurement is failing organisations worldwide, whether they are multinationals, government departments, or non-profit agencies. The KPIs that have been adopted were dreamed up one day, without any linkage to the critical success factors of the organisations.

The lack of understanding of performance measures has led most monitoring and reporting of measures to fail, including balanced scorecard initiatives. So many people are asking “Are our Key Performance Indicators hindering rather than helping our organisation?”  Measures are often a random collection, prepared with little expertise, signifying nothing.

This key note address will cover:

• The hidden costs of performance measures
• The performance myths that need to be challenged
• Why you need to know your organisation’s critical success factors
• Some KPIs the HR team can work with immediately
• Suggested next steps
• Some report formats to get you started

A. The barriers to performance measurement and how to get around them

B. Successful KPI case studies and what we can learn from them

The failure rate for KPI and balance scorecard projects is off the scale.  Measures are often a random collection, prepared with little expertise, thus signifying nothing.  KPIs should be measures that link daily activities to the organisation’s critical success factors, thus supporting an alignment of effort within the organisation, in the intended direction.

This keynote address will cover the traits of successful KPI implementations:

• Why you need to commit to a complete and thorough exercise to ascertain the organisations’ critical success factors
• Understanding that meaningful performance measures are found in the operations (Gemba) and not in head office
• The traits of the KPI team leader
• How the KPI project team engaged staff
• How they ran the KPI project entirely in-house
• The senior management support

Management’s “Everest” – discovering your organisation’s critical success factors.

An organisation not knowing it’s critical success factors (CSFs) is like going to soccer’s World Cup without a goalkeeper or, at best, an incompetent one. Many organisations fail to achieve their potential because they lack clarity regarding what is truly important for the organisation as a whole.  This lack of clarity means that often staff members will schedule their work based around their team’s priorities, rather than the priorities of the organisation.

The keynote address will cover:

• Two CSF case studies
• Operational Critical Success Factors—The Missing Link for KPIs
• The seven characteristics of CSFs
• The four steps to ascertaining your organisations CSFs
• How they should be communicated to the staff
• How to get started on the journey