I did what I suspect most people do. I interviewed all the VPs and developed a long list of KPIs. I then used an excel spreadsheet to organize the KPIs. I put the KPIs down the rows, and the VPs across the columns. Then to help visualize the data, I placed "red" cells where VPs were directly impacted by the KPIs and "yellow" cells where the VPs were indirectly related. I did not intend the colors for anything other to call out attention for each of the VPs.
By choosing the "red" and "yellow" I had each of the VPs concerned that they were under performing in each of those areas. I had to explain a number of times, the reason for the colors.
- The first lesson was that by associating colors with performance, I clearly had the attention and focus of the executives of this team. It sparked a number of very strong conversations about performance.
- The second lesson is that communication is just as important. By doing a less than stellar job of communicating (at least from a visual sense) the information, I wasted a tremendous amount of time that should have been used for more strategic discussion.
