Nine of eleven KPIs hit target. Revenue missed by 14%.

A scorecard can be almost entirely green while the number that matters is red, and the reason is usually a design fault, not bad luck.

By Steve 5 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for Nine of eleven KPIs hit target. Revenue missed by 14%.

It is one of the more unsettling moments in a management meeting. The pack is largely green. Enquiries up, conversion holding, utilisation on plan, complaints down, staff turnover better than last year. And the headline number, revenue, gross profit, cash, has missed by a distance that no rounding error explains. Nobody in the room has lied. Nothing has been manipulated. The measurement set simply failed to notice what happened. This is not a rare pathology. It is the default state of most KPI packs after a few years of accretion,…

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