Measures, Targets and Rewards

Related Terms	km measures , roi , targets , rewards , measures , kpis
Related People	Alfie Kohn, Daniel Pink, John Seddon
External Links	The Consequences of Measurement by Dave Snowden Delicious Links http://www.greenchameleon.com/gc/guide_detail/how_to_use_kpis_in_knowledge_management http://kmedge.org/features/fivetips.html##http://kmedge.org/features/fivetips.html##http://kmedge.org/features/fivetips.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-515332/A-E-patients-left-ambulances-FIVE-hours-trusts-meet-government-targets.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8208197/NHS-waiting-time-targets-for-ambulances-and-AandE-scrapped.html http://www.bmj.com/content/338/bmj.a3129.full http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/bonuses-for-dummies-or-the-bonus-myth
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Presentation: Measuring KM, measures, targets and rewards

Measuring KM: Measures, Targets and Rewards
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Measuring KM, measures, targets and rewards

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Video: David Gurteen's keynote talk at KM Middle East 2011

Don't do KM!
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David Gurteen's keynote talk at KM Middle East 2011, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Don't do KM.

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Objectives. Before you measure anything you need to carefully determine your objectives. What is it you are really trying to achieve and what is the purpose of making measurements? And are measurements the best way of achieving your goals?

Why Measure? There are many reasons why something is measured

To better understand its nature.
To ensure that it meets requirements in some way
To investigate how it changes over time with the purpose of controlling or optimizing it
To gain management support for the activity
To meet a service level agreement or to conform to laws or regulations
To deliver on a promise or agreement
To prove to yourself or others that you are not wasting time i.e. to prove the benefits
To identify problems and appropriate solutions
To justify the allocation of resources
To educate people
To enforce performance or because you have been told
To provide feedback that facilitates learning

Who are you measuring for? It is rare that you measure for only one reason or for only one stakeholder. Stakeholders will measure you or want to see different mesures from you depending on their varying perspectives.

For change and KM initiatives there are often two main stakeholders:

Senior management who wish to see measures based on tangible business outcomes such as increased revenue or reduced costs
Employees who want to know "what is in it for them"

The Dangers.There is nothing inherently wrong in measuring. Measuring is a powerful tool. But some things are not easy to measure and may even be impossible to measure directly and the very act of measuring can often cause distortions or unintended side effects. Measures used without due care and consideration can be misleading and dangerous.

Targets. People, teams and organizations are often given 'targets' by which they are 'measured'. For example, "When booking an appointment a patient should not have to wait more than 48 hours

to see their doctor." Such a measure can be recorded and used as a method for 'measuring' performance with the aim of improving that performance or simply ensuring conformance.

Targets that are imposed in this way are often 'gamed' in that people will try to meet the target but avoid any real change. In the example above, a doctors surgery can instantly meet the target by only allowing patients to book an appointment the same day. The target is met at the expense of the objective i.e. improving the service to patients. (This is a real example from the British National Health Service that was gamed in this way.)

Imposing targets on someone to enforce performance rarely works and indeed often has the opposite effect.

For targets to be effective; they must be designed and bought into by the people actually using them and not enforced by senior management. There aim should not be to enforce compliance but to provide a feedback mechanism for learning.

In the example above of the doctor's surgery that would mean rather than the government imposing the target that the doctors and staff that comprise an individual surgery come together to explore how they might improve their service and then agree a set of measurement that they can monitor over time to determine if things are getting worse or better especially in light of initiatives to improve the service. Such measures are now very unlikely to be 'gamed' as the people involved will have bought in to them and see them as 'learning tools'.

Rewards. Rewards Punish

. Rewarding people for meeting targets is detrimental to quality, motivation and pride in work and exacerbates 'gaming'. Rewards are:

manipulative
destroy cooperation
ignore complexity and tend to blindly promote a single solution
deter risk taking and creativity
undermine interest and intrinsic motivation

Punishments Punishments for not meeting targets are even worse! In the above example: "Doctors would not allow advance bookings because it would mean they had not seen a patient within the Government's 48-hour target period and would face a penalty of up to Ł11,000 as a result!"

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The pages on this website are categorized into one or more of nearly 100 categories (themes or topics). This page below displays a list of other pages that belong to the Measures, Targets and Rewards category. You may view the list of pages belonging to another category by selecting the category in which you are interested from the drop-down 'Categories' menu at the top of this page.

Blog Post

Rewarding and recognizing knowledge sharing
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 15 September 2002

Alfie Kohn on human behavior, education, and society
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 15 September 2002

Should we bribe kids to behave well?
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 14 March 2004

Wikipedia and rewards for knowledge sharing
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 11 February 2006

How do you motivate people?
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 12 August 2008

Are traditional rewards as effective as we think?
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 23 September 2009

Do managers need to measure and reward trust?
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 26 September 2009

On Incentivizing Knowledge Management
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 14 December 2009

If traditional incentives can have a negative impact, what's the workaround?
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 11 January 2010

Alfie Kohn, children, rewards, motivation and KM
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 20 January 2010

A colossal Knowledge Management failure!
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 8 March 2010

No more targets please!
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 18 April 2010

Light the fire within!
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 18 April 2010

You can't make me do it
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 25 June 2010

A good video collection of interviews with a number of KM people
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by on 20 February 2011

How do you develop intrinsic motivation?
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 18 December 2011

Measure less, care more
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 27 May 2012

Death by degrees, certification and accreditation
Posted to Gurteen Knowledge-Log by David Gurteen on 14 August 2012

Book

Drive (Jan 2010) by Daniel Pink
The surprising truth about what motivates us

Punished by Rewards (Sep 1999) by Alfie Kohn
The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes