KPIs and Why You Need them in All Aspects of Life

Have you ever heard of the term KPI?

I admit I wasn’t aware of KPIs until a few years ago; however, I have been using them for a long time.  In fact, the Bible even refers to them.  KPIs are the fruit of our work.  Our life is to be fruitful (in our career, relationships, or in our personal life).  KPIs give us real data about how we are progressing toward the goals we want to accomplish.

“A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes.”  Luke 6:43-44 NLT

KPI Defined

“KPI stands for key performance indicator, a quantifiable measure of performance over time for a specific objective. KPIs provide targets for teams to shoot for, milestones to gauge progress, and insights that help people across the organization make better decisions.”

Some examples of KPIs could be:

• Setting a goal to lose 20 pounds in 60 days and tracking the loss weekly, the KPI is the number of pounds lost each week as you work toward your goal.
• Setting a goal to double the size of your market reach in the next year, the KPI would be the number of new subscribers each month.

Why a leader would fail at KPIs

There are several reasons we fail to reach our goals, and most of the time, it comes down to KPIs (how we track them or even use them). Early in my pastoral ministry, I would set goals for the year (for the ministry, my family, and my personal life) and most years, I failed to accomplish the goal. I never attached the goal to the KPI. As I set goals, I also develop the KPIs to complement the goals. For instance, I set a goal this year to run 50-10K runs. The KPI for this goal is “How many 10k’s did I run the past month or even the past week? As of writing, I will be close to accomplishing the goal; I’ll have to grind a bit more in December. Nevertheless, working toward the goal and tracking my KPIs has kept me moving!

Steps to take to improve your KPIs

If you find yourself struggling to accomplish the goals that you have set, you might want to look at the KPIs you use to track your progression. First, start with a goal that has clear metrics:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

Second, set your KPIs to specific progress points along the way. Here’s an example:

My GOAL:  I want to save $20,000 this next year (This is a SMART Goal because it is specific ($20,000), it is Measurable (I will know when I reach the goal), it’s attainable ($20,000 will be stretch but with discipline and a plan I can do it), it’s relevant (life will be better when I have an extra $20,000 in an emergency fund), and it’s time-bound (I will know at the end of the year if I reached the goal).

My KPIs:

• I will save $5,000 each quarter
• I will save $1,700 each month
• I will save $385 each week
• I will gain one new client each month (1 more than normal)
• I will preach 1x each month at a local church

MAKING IT WORK:

The key to KPIs and Reaching our goals is tracking. I have to review the KPIs each week, month, and quarter. Tracking KPIs allows me to adjust or tweak the strategic plan for the goal.

What’s Your Next Goal?

Setting and striving for goals brings meaning to life. Goals move us from being passive to being active or aggressive about the life we get to live. Here’s your assignment, set a SMART Goal for yourself and assign a few KPIs to your goal. Then, put a time on your calendar to track your KPIs.

Notes:

The definition of KPI is from https://www.qlik.com/us/kpi