Key performance indicators for management
Business management expert Peter Drucker has found that 80% of management problems are the result of faulty communication. This shocking fact is a wake-up call to executives in companies of all sizes. What if we are measuring the wrong KPI’s?
It’s great to know your ROI for mergers and acquisitions, your current performance against sales targets, and your progress in R&D, but if you are not monitoring and improving communication you are setting up problems on the road ahead.
Equally, communication is not just a soft skill for the HR department to validate in annual workshops.
Another sobering statistic is that employee turnover costs 95% to 150% of a person’s annual salary. And what is at the root of the majority of employee turnover? Poor communication and lack of tangible recognition are two key factors in several studies. It follows that companies must invest in reducing employee turnover; it has a direct effect on the bottom line, as well as being a drain on the corporate knowledge bank.
Communication is a key performance indicator that companies neglect at their peril.
It is the foundation of teamwork, sales, strategic planning, leadership development, and many more essential business functions.
You can’t climb high on a crumbling foundation, yet too few companies have seen the value of investing in communication.
Those that invest see tangible results.
This is especially true in the post-pandemic hybrid world. With the shift to increased remote work, repeated waves of technological disruption, and a burst of new perspectives from a more dispersed and diverse workforce, the landscape of communication at work has been forever changed.
The benefits of making communication a key performance indicator have never been higher.
A recent Harris study found that almost 90% of business leaders have experienced the adverse impact of poor communication at work. Increased costs were the most frequent result, but missed deadlines and eroded brand reputation were also common. Decreased productivity was also mentioned as a consequence.
With surveys today reinforcing Drucker’s troubling statistic, there has never been a better time to invest in (and track) communication at work.