Historically, professional services organisations have focused on financial measures to track success. The SPI Research Professional Services MaturityTM Benchmarking Survey finds that “as organisations improve the management of personnel, business processes and finances they can achieve higher levels of growth and profitability.”
There are four critical areas professional services companies must focus on to achieve their full potential; employees, clients, operations and finances.
Insightful leaders understand that metrics in these areas will provide an integrated and clearer view of overall performance. By regularly reviewing these results and using them to guide decisions and corrective actions leaders can build a sustainable high-performing business that will retain top talent and clients.
In their enthusiasm many organisations develop a large number of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). The best approach however is to identify a handful of key metrics that are key to the success of your firm, reflect your overall strategy and goals, and are quantifiable.
Your performance dashboard should include KPI’s that are both ‘lag’ indicators and ‘lead’ indicators. ‘Lag’ indicators report what has been already been achieved over time but are important to keep you on track.
Lead indicators, are predictive in nature. They measure the impact of the decisions and actions that will move your results in a positive or negative way. Identifying and tracking the right lead indicators help guide your day-to-day operations, inform your decision making and allow you to make ongoing adjustments to positively impact your results.
In next month’s article we will share tips and the six key questions you need to ask yourself to get started on the KPI journey. If you would like to learn more about developing powerful KPI’s for your professional services firm call Iain on 021 575 449 or Helen on 021 864 650.