KPIs for Managers

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KPIFormula to MeasureWhen to UseAdvantagesDrawbacks
Employee Satisfaction Score(Sum of Employee Satisfaction Ratings / Total Number of Employees)Assess overall team satisfaction and engagementIdentifies areas for improvement in the workplaceSubjective and may lack specificity
Employee Productivity(Total Output or Sales / Total Labor Hours)Evaluate team efficiency and effectivenessMeasures output relative to time spent workingIgnores individual and job-specific factors
Employee Retention Rate((Number of Employees Retained – Number of Employees at Start of Period) / Number of Employees at Start of Period) * 100%Monitor the rate at which employees are stayingIdentifies employee retention and satisfaction issuesIgnores hiring and recruitment efforts
Team Performance Score(Sum of Team Performance Ratings / Total Number of Teams)Assess overall team effectiveness and resultsIdentifies high-performing teamsSubjective and may lack specificity
Project Completion Rate(Number of Projects Completed on Time / Total Number of Projects) * 100%Evaluate the ability to meet project deadlinesMeasures project management efficiencyIgnores project complexity and quality
Cost Management Efficiency(Total Expenses / Budgeted Expenses) * 100%Monitor adherence to budget and cost controlIdentifies cost-saving opportunitiesIgnores revenue and performance aspects
Leadership Effectiveness(Sum of Leadership Ratings / Total Number of Direct Reports)Assess leadership skills and impact on the teamIdentifies areas for leadership developmentSubjective and may lack specificity
Employee Development Rate((Number of Employees Developed – Number of Employees at Start of Period) / Number of Employees at Start of Period) * 100%Measure the rate of employee growth and developmentIdentifies progress in talent developmentIgnores external hiring and qualifications
Employee Absenteeism Rate(Total Employee Absentee Hours / Total Potential Work Hours) * 100%Monitor the rate of employee absenteeismIdentifies workforce attendance and productivity issuesIgnores the reasons for absenteeism
Project Profitability(Total Project Revenue – Total Project Costs)Evaluate the profitability of projectsMeasures project financial performanceIgnores project timeline and client satisfaction
Team Collaboration Score(Sum of Team Collaboration Ratings / Total Number of Teams)Assess teamwork and collaboration within teamsIdentifies areas for improving team dynamicsSubjective and may lack specificity
Employee Promotions Rate((Number of Employee Promotions – Number of Employees at Start of Period) / Number of Employees at Start of Period) * 100%Measure the rate of employee career growthIdentifies opportunities for career advancementIgnores external job opportunities
Project Quality Score(Sum of Project Quality Ratings / Total Number of Projects)Assess the quality of project deliverablesIdentifies areas for improving project qualitySubjective and may lack specificity
Employee Training ROI((Training-Related Benefits – Training Costs) / Training Costs) * 100%Measure the return on investment in employee trainingIdentifies the impact of training on performanceComplex calculation and attribution
Work-Life Balance Score(Sum of Work-Life Balance Ratings / Total Number of Employees)Assess the perceived work-life balance of employeesIdentifies areas for improving work-life balanceSubjective and may lack specificity
Task Completion Rate(Number of Tasks Completed / Total Number of Tasks Assigned) * 100%Evaluate the efficiency of task completionMeasures task management and productivityIgnores task complexity and importance
Employee Feedback Response Rate(Number of Employee Feedback Responses / Total Number of Employee Feedback Requests) * 100%Monitor the rate of employee feedback participationIdentifies areas for improvement based on feedbackIgnores feedback quality and relevance
Project Stakeholder Satisfaction(Sum of Stakeholder Satisfaction Ratings / Total Number of Stakeholders)Assess stakeholder satisfaction with project outcomesIdentifies areas for improving stakeholder relationsSubjective and may lack specificity
Cost per Employee(Total Expenses / Total Number of Employees)Calculate the cost of each employeeEvaluates cost-efficiency in workforce managementIgnores individual employee contributions
Leadership Development ROI((Leadership-Related Benefits – Leadership Development Costs) / Leadership Development Costs) * 100%Measure the return on investment in leadership developmentIdentifies the impact of leadership programsComplex calculation and attribution

Read Next: OKR, SMART Goals.

Connected Business Frameworks and Concepts

Agile Leadership

agile-leadership
Agile leadership is the embodiment of agile manifesto principles by a manager or management team. Agile leadership impacts two important levels of a business. The structural level defines the roles, responsibilities, and key performance indicators. The behavioral level describes the actions leaders exhibit to others based on agile principles. 

Adaptive Leadership

adaptive-leadership
Adaptive leadership is a model used by leaders to help individuals adapt to complex or rapidly changing environments. Adaptive leadership is defined by three core components (precious or expendable, experimentation and smart risks, disciplined assessment). Growth occurs when an organization discards ineffective ways of operating. Then, active leaders implement new initiatives and monitor their impact.

Delegative Leadership

delegative-leadership
Developed by business consultants Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey in the 1960s, delegative leadership is a leadership style where authority figures empower subordinates to exercise autonomy. For this reason, it is also called laissez-faire leadership. In some cases, this type of leadership can lead to increases in work quality and decision-making. In a few other cases, this type of leadership needs to be balanced out to prevent a lack of direction and cohesiveness of the team.

Distributed Leadership

distributed-leadership
Distributed leadership is based on the premise that leadership responsibilities and accountability are shared by those with the relevant skills or expertise so that the shared responsibility and accountability of multiple individuals within a workplace, bulds up as a fluid and emergent property (not controlled or held by one individual). Distributed leadership is based on eight hallmarks, or principles: shared responsibility, shared power, synergy, leadership capacity, organizational learning, equitable and ethical climate, democratic and investigative culture, and macro-community engagement.

Micromanagement

micromanagement
Micromanagement is about tightly controlling or observing employees’ work. Although in some cases, this management style might be understood, especially for small-scale projects, generally speaking, micromanagement has a negative connotation mainly because it shows a lack of trust and freedom in the workplace, which leads to adverse outcomes.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

maslows-hierarchy-of-needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was developed by American psychologist Abraham Maslow. His hierarchy, often depicted in the shape of a pyramid, helped explain his research on basic human needs and desires. In marketing, the hierarchy (and its basis in psychology) can be used to market to specific groups of people based on their similarly specific needs, desires, and resultant actions.

Eisenhower Matrix

eisenhower-matrix
The Eisenhower Matrix is a tool that helps businesses prioritize tasks based on their urgency and importance, named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States from 1953 to 1961, the matrix helps businesses and individuals differentiate between the urgent and important to prevent urgent things (seemingly useful in the short-term) cannibalize important things (critical for long-term success).

Moonshot Thinking

moonshot-thinking
Moonshot thinking is an approach to innovation, and it can be applied to business or any other discipline where you target at least 10X goals. That shifts the mindset, and it empowers a team of people to look for unconventional solutions, thus starting from first principles, by leveraging on fast-paced experimentation.

Lightning Decision Jam

lockes-goal-setting-theory
The theory was developed by psychologist Edwin Locke who also has a background in motivation and leadership research. Locke’s goal-setting theory of motivation provides a framework for setting effective and motivating goals. Locke was able to demonstrate that goal setting was linked to performance.

Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

herzbergs-two-factor-theory
Herzberg’s two-factor theory argues that certain workplace factors cause job satisfaction while others cause job dissatisfaction. The theory was developed by American psychologist and business management analyst Frederick Herzberg. Until his death in 2000, Herzberg was widely regarded as a pioneering thinker in motivational theory.

Lessons Learned

lessons-learned
The term lessons learned refers to the various experiences project team members have while participating in a project. Lessons are shared in a review session which usually occurs once the project has been completed, with any improvements or best practices incorporated into subsequent projects. 

Growth Engineering

growth-engineering
Growth engineering is a systematic, technical approach to the improvement of conversion and the user experience. Combined with business engineering it helps business people build valuable companies from scratch.

Retrospective Analysis

retrospective-analysis
Retrospective analyses are held after a project to determine what worked well and what did not. They are also conducted at the end of an iteration in Agile project management. Agile practitioners call these meetings retrospectives or retros. They are an effective way to check the pulse of a project team, reflect on the work performed to date, and reach a consensus on how to tackle the next sprint cycle.

OKR

what-is-okr
Andy Grove, helped Intel become among the most valuable companies by 1997. In his years at Intel, he conceived a management and goal-setting system, called OKR, standing for “objectives and key results.” Venture capitalist and early investor in Google, John Doerr, systematized in the book “Measure What Matters.”

Cog’s Ladder

cogs-ladder
Cog’s ladder is a model of group development. The ladder was created in 1972 by Procter & Gamble employee George Charrier to help management at the company understand how teams worked to make them more efficient. Cog’s ladder is a model of group formation and behavior that is used to help businesses understand how a team can work to achieve its goals.

GRPI Model

grow-model
The GRPI model was created by American organizational theorist Richard Beckhard in 1972. Although the model is almost 50 years old, its simplicity and effectiveness mean it is still in use today. The GRPI model is a tool used by leaders to diagnose the cause of team dysfunction and increase productivity, quality, and efficiency through four key dimensions that cause conflict: goals, roles, processes, and interactions. 

High-Performance Coaching

high-performance-coaching
High-performance coaches work with individuals in personal and professional contexts to enable them to reach their full potential. While these sorts of coaches are commonly associated with sports, it should be noted that the act of coaching is a specific type of behavior that is also useful in business and leadership. 

OSKAR Coaching

oskar-coaching-model
The OSKAR coaching model was developed in the early 2000s by organizational theorists and authors Paul Z. Jackson and Mark McKergow.  The OSKAR coaching model is a solution-driven method used for managerial coaching in the workplace. In their book titled The Solutions Focus: Making Coaching and Change Simple, the pair layout a framework to help coaches implement training sessions that are focused on solutions and not on problems.

Training of Trainers

training-of-trainers-model-tot
The training of trainers model seeks to engage master instructors in coaching new, less experienced instructors with a particular topic or skill. The training of trainers (ToT) model is a framework used by master instructors to train new instructors, enabling them to subsequently train other people in their organization.

GROW Model

grow-model
Though no single individual can claim to have created the GROW model, writers Graham Alexander and Alan Fine together with racing car champion John Whitmore played a significant part in developing the framework during the 80s and 90s. The GROW model is a simple way to set goals and solve problems during coaching sessions through four stages: goal, reality, options, and will (way forward).

Ulrich Model

ulrich-model
The Ulrich model helps large or complex organizations with many business units organize their human resource function. The Ulrich model was named for management coach David Ulrich after the release of his 1996 book Human Resource Champions: The Next Agenda for Adding Value and Delivering Results.

Read Next: SWOT Analysis, Personal SWOT Analysis, TOWS Matrix, PESTEL Analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, TOWS Matrix, SOAR Analysis.

Read Next: Biases, Bounded Rationality, Mandela Effect, Dunning-Kruger Effect, Lindy Effect, Crowding Out Effect, Bandwagon Effect.

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