KPI: Keep People…

Profile Picture of Post's Author Kristy Pagel | Posted December 5, 2022

When we see the acronym KPI, we automatically think “Key Performance Indicator” and for any business, these indicators are an essential management tool to measure performance. In today’s blog, I challenge you to think about how you might define this same acronym, KPI, from a leadership perspective. I recently saw this image and instantly was smiling ear to ear – dimples and all – at their different explanation of these words:

Keep people Interested, Informed, Involved, Inspired. How true do those four “I” words resonate in what leaders, managers and most employers strive to achieve day in and day out with our employees? What if we would put as much emphasis in the metrics on how we perform at keeping our employees interested, informed, involved, and inspired as we do at driving home the importance and requirements we have of the daily tasks on your operation, such as percent daily feed refusal, SCC or DOA rate? Think of the win:win when you couple the measurement of one’s performance of tasks with your focus and ability as a leader, manager and/or owner to perform at the highest levels of keeping people interested, informed…

Recruiting the right talent, onboarding successfully and retention are examples of three key areas you can measure the “people” performance of your business. Start by reviewing what it is you are doing with each of these critical tasks. Ask yourself in this evaluation:

  • Would I work for my business if I was the one being interviewed and recruited? If this process in your business is not appealing, why would someone choose you over another farm or business to work at? Yes, there is a tight labor market and sometimes we are simply happy when someone pulls in the driveway looking for work. That said, do you take the time to truly learn about that applicant, their skills and share what purpose they will have in our business. Do you interview them to see if they are the “right fit” to meet your culture and core values? Doing the front-end work and taking the time will save you headaches later. Plus, this is the first impression you and your business are making on someone. It is your first opportunity to shine at your “people” KPIs.
  • Onboarding successfully – If you know me, this topic has been and remains foundational in the work I do with clients. It is a core pillar to getting a new member of your team off to the right foot; like a newborn calf getting off to the right start. Both are our “future”. Has onboarding evolved over time in what and how we do this… absolutely! Your businesses have evolved and if your plan and strategy to onboarding hasn’t, it’s time for a tune up!

This requires looking at the three main areas for onboarding: organizational, technical, and social onboarding. At the 2022 Dairy Leaders Forum, Steph Jens, GPS Director of Business Development, and I tag-teamed this topic in a breakout session to challenge our industry to keep evolving. Further defined they include:

  • Organizational onboarding helps teach employees how things work at your company, in addition to helping them to assimilate to your organization’s values, behaviors and norms.
  • Technical onboarding is where you help an employee understand what excellence means at your company and define clear goals that will help them get there. (What is the work, how do you want it done, etc.)
  • Social onboarding helps new employees build relationships at your farm/business and feel that they are part of a larger community working together toward common goals.

Similar to the exercise of evaluating how you recruit, take a look at how your business is bringing your newest members aboard. Onboarding takes time and isn’t complete after 1 week or even 30 days. It requires us to really focus on the “people” KPIs to have success. The front-end cost to recruit and onboard is far greater than most of us are willing to admit and when I ask this question, very few know this. If you are one that has calculated the cost of this- thank you! If not, consider this homework and a goal for 2023. And yes, I will elaborate more in a future blog on this topic.

  • Retention is important to every employer and a great measurement of this is through how well you, your managers and leaders keep people interested in their work, informed, involved and inspired. Start by looking at your turnover for 2022. When and where is the employee turnover occurring? Is it less than 60 days, 61-180 days, or greater than 180 days? What reasons might they be leaving during each interval and what strategies do you need to change to help reduce this turnover? This practice is the same activity you do for your herd, so I know you can do it here, too.

There is far more we could connect on and I trust we will in the future! For now, the next time someone says KPI to you; not only should you be thinking about your herd performance and sharing those metrics, be bold and lead by sharing the successes of your “people” KPIs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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