Business Performance Management

Business Performance Management: The Steps to Reaching Greater Success

Success is not something that happens by chance. Neither is it something that happens simply because you worked hard. Success requires focus, direction, and concerted effort. Without a clear goal, an effective strategy, and the allocation of the required resources, success becomes an intangible dream that always stays just out of reach. In fact, if left undefined, what is the measure of success even? This is both true for the individual as well organisations. When it comes to the latter, business performance management is the practical method to define and achieve the success a company aims for.

Given the competitive environment that businesses operate in currently, it’s no wonder that corporations large and small are always striving for methods through which to better the way they perform – from initiating more streamlined processes and being more cost-effective, to improving the quality of their output and extending their reach. But how do you achieve this? And even if you could improve a process, does it truly add to what your company is trying to achieve, or is it merely a cosmetic change? And if it does add to your company, how extensive is the impact? Business performance management has the ability to answer all of these questions.

What is Business Performance Management?

Business performance management refers to a process that is aimed at assisting a company or organisation reach specific goals. To achieve this, this process aims to identify and define the goals that the company would like to realise, track and examine the methods that are used to realise these goals, and suggest and implement ways that managers can more effectively pursue and realise the goals.

To understand the process better, it can be separated into three main activities or actions:

1. Identifying the goals

First, it is imperative that the strategic goals are identified and agreed upon. It is impossible to create an effective plan of action if you do not know what the outcome of the plan is supposed to be. In the corporate world, this does not only refer to the end goal, but also the identification of a set of smaller goals to be achieved en route to the final outcome. In fact, business performance management could address a number of predefined goals simultaneously in certain scenarios. Additionally, these goals should not only be identified, but clearly defined, as well as agreed upon by all stakeholders to ensure proper buy-in.

It is also important to note that these goals can change as the process proceeds. Ultimately, they act as a measuring stick to determine the success of the process and the effort applied to achieving the desired outcome.

2. Collecting and Consolidating Information

This phase of business performance management consists of the collection of data related to the goals, such as resources, methods, efficacy of current processes, market conditions, and so forth. This includes the monitoring of the data to observe any changes (which, in itself, constitutes more data) and the analysing of this data in order to develop more effective ways of operating. The type of data that is monitored and analysed can vary greatly from one organisation to another, depending on the industry, the project, and the predetermined goals. Yet this data is vital, as it informs the efforts applied, and is used as a measurement of the efficacy of the business performance management.

3. Managerial Adjustments

The adjustments, or changes, are based on the data mentioned in step 2. Armed with the data, team leaders can make informed decisions as to which measures will deliver the greatest impact on profitability, productivity, or whatever goal has been earmarked. In most businesses, there will be a number of actions that can be taken to improve various processes. However, some are more effective than others. It is also not advised to attempt to tackle everything at once, but rather focus on those that take top priority for the business, and work from there. These changes are monitored, and the data fed back into the system for analysing (step 2). From here, further managerial adjustments can be made, as necessary.

For assistance with defining and implementing an effective business performance management strategy, contact Orgro. We’ve been helping people and organisations elevate their performance and reach their full potential for close to four decades – and we can do the same for you.