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We talk about KPI tools all the time, but here’s how to know if your KPI tool really is the right one for your measurement job.

I’m passionate about motorcycling and motorcycles, particularly my two beloved Ducatis (fellow motorcyclists, see footnote if interested). Unsurprisingly, therefore, I read a lot about motorcycling. But I recently stumbled on this piece, written by a psychologist who also shares this passion, about tools and motorcycles:

“No matter how smart you are, how hard you try, or how long you persist, flesh-and-blood fingers simply can’t do what’s required. So we’ve come up with better fingers. They’re made of steel. We call them wrenches and pliers… They’re joined by superior versions of fists, fingernails, and wrists, along with better eyes and ears and teeth. A challenge exists, there’s a gap between the machinery and the mechanic’s body, and tools create the bridge connecting the two – an interface that fits It on one side and Us on the other.”
Mark Barnes, “Why We Ride: A Psychologist Explains the Motorcyclist’s Mind and the Love Affair Between Rider, Bike and Road”

Tools don’t have to be made of steel. And the way we use the word these days, a tool doesn’t have to be made of anything physical or designed for physical tasks. We use all kinds of intangible tools in our working lives, and they are made of words and diagrams and designed for intellectual tasks. Their purpose is the same: to act as a bridge connecting us with an impact we want to create.

The Impacts We Want To Create

In managing organisational performance and executing strategy, there are a range of intellectual tasks we choose to create certain impacts.

A common intellectual task is setting meaningful goals that can be achieved. If we try to write a goal with our stream of conscious thought, we often end with goals that are action-oriented, vague and ambiguous, too broad, or even irrelevant. And people don’t understand them, let alone achieve them.

Another is finding measures that tell us how well a goal is being achieved. If we brainstorm measures for a goal, we often end up with trivial counts, raw data sources, vague ideals, and actions. Rarely does brainstorming land on the most direct, relevant and feasible measures for the goal.

And there is the task of designing a way to engage people in a strategic direction. Holding presentations that talk everyone through the strategic plan will more likely create a dazed and disengaged audience than one that feels inspired and connected to that strategic direction.

Stream of conscious thought, brainstorming, and presentations are not the right tools for the impacts these intellectual tasks should create. Without tools, these tasks waste time, waste potential, and don’t end up creating what we want.

Just as there are motorcycle owners unaware of the tools available to check valve clearances, there are leaders unaware of tools available to articulate, measure and communicate a strategy that gets executed.

Some Tools Outperform Others

Sure, there are many tools used in strategy execution. A lot of them do get us closer to the impacts we want to create. But the majority of them fall short in important intellectual tasks like those mentioned above. And the results are unnecessarily inferior to what they should be.

Using a shifting spanner to tighten cylinder head bolts is far inferior to using a torque wrench. The results can be disastrous, too, from a blown head gasket to a blown-up engine. A shifting spanner has its uses, but using it for the wrong tasks is the problem. OKRs are a great tool to focus a team’s attention on achieving specific results over the short term, but they are not a tool for how to write measurable goals and choose relevant quantitative measures. This is why we see so many useless OKRs written as vague objectives coupled with a few actions. But the right tool can make OKRs measurable.

If we want to torque head bolts, we need to invest in a torque wrench. If we want to write measurable goals and design relevant, feasible and quantitative measures, we need to invest in a tool that does exactly that, like PuMP. And just like the torque wrench can be used to torque bolts in any application, PuMP can be used to measure goals in any application.

Using the right tool makes the task easier, more satisfying, and also more likely to get the end result we wanted all along.

The Right Tools Change Us Forever

We must invest in learning and practicing to skillfully use a welder. But the power we get from that investment is one of the greatest powers we can wield over metal-based machines. Likewise, when we invest in learning and practicing to skillfully use the right tools for strategy execution, the power we get over organisational success is worth it many times over.

Mark Barnes says this more eloquently:

“Tools not only fix our motorcycles; tools fix our souls. They take us from a place of impotent submission to unpredictable circumstances – being stuck on the side of the road, for instance – to a place of glorious transcendence where we impose our own definitions of order upon the world around us.”
Mark Barnes

When people tell me the stories of their work with PuMP, a common theme is how it has changed them, as people. They are more result-oriented, and so more likely to reach any result in life they want. They are more attuned to hearing vague language (weasel words), and so more curious to ask questions about the real meaning of those words.

We don’t have to submit to the typical failures of strategy execution. We can feel that “glorious transcendence” if we do take the time to find the right tool, learn to use that tool right, and exercise more influence over the achievement of our strategy. And for a result-oriented, measurable and engaging strategy execution, PuMP is the right tool.