Bonus: The Power of KPIs 🔋🔋

#69

Yes, I know you were not expecting another post this soon. And I feel like I’m cheating by calling this a full post…but my newsletter, my rules😎.

I’ve got some good feedback from one valued reader…and one of my really smart friends. (I told you I only have smart friends👏🏾👏🏾🙌🏾). Anyway, I thought it would be very very very worth it to read this comment I received after the last post (which by the way, has 289 views in <6 hours. I’m not sure how that happened and who shared it to whichever WhatsApp group chat but thank you…I think this is the largest number of views I’ve had ever.) Michael makes some salient points on the issue of tracking KPIs and hopefully, we can all learn a thing or two from his rant. PS. the “country” he refers to is none other than our beloved Ghana 🇬🇭 but I’m pretty sure this cuts across Africa.

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Interesting post. I’ve had several discussions over the last few weeks about how KPIs (the lack of them) and the lack of accountability are the root causes of this country’s problems. 

Office folk, especially in the public sector don’t have targets. Appointments are made not on merit but as political favours so their output can’t be a thing on the table. 

But imagine every CEO of public sector companies had KPIs. ECG had metrics about the number of times lights went on or off, about the reach and coverage of their service. That areas don’t have preferential treatment because of who lives there, etc. Imagine same for Ghana Water. Imagine same for the defunct Ghana Airways and Ghana Telecom. Imagine these KPIs tied directly to their bonuses and continued employment. It’s sad that football teams in Europe care more about their outputs than whole governments. 

Like we’ll never have to privatise government institutions just to get them work. Like governments will have cash cows they can rely on without resorting to taxes (think Ethiopian airlines). But I’m dreaming. What they do instead is reward apparent effort and loyalty. They form committees and pay sitting allowances. Every time they meet they get paid. When on earth are they going to come to definitive conclusions? Never. Imagine their KPIs reflected output. How different things will be. 

But at this point I’m ranting. And I’m told when they’ve given KPIs, the government expects them to do non-work that take up their time (e.g. follow the president in his entourage to go commission a road or school) so at the years end when they’re asked why the targets were unmet they point to their calendars. Stories like this make me think that not only do we need output KPIs tied to metrics. But in diseased organisations you may need metrics to measure progress and activity (without micromanaging) but to track progress and ensure that there are no unpleasant surprises. 

Chale it sucks. Because these are the low hanging fruits. Good post  

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Also, good to know a lot of people are learning from these posts. I appreciate all the messages 🙂

Remember folks: “Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.”