What Does Good Look Like?

What Does Good Look Like?

Jeff McLanahan
Contributing Writer
Contributor

Everyone who knows me is aware that I am a Kansas City Chiefs fan. While the Chiefs have had many up and down seasons, this season looks like a good one. Patrick Mahomes, the electrifying quarterback is on pace to pass for 50+ touchdowns, Tyreek Hill is on pace for 1,600 receiving yards and Kareem Hunt is on pace to score 20 touchdowns. Whether you are a fan or not, you cannot argue that their performance is very good.

 In football, 1,000 receiving yards has been the benchmark for a good year at receiver, 30 touchdown passes have been a good year for any quarterback and 10 to 12 touchdowns has been a good year for a running back.

These performance metrics were the benchmark in years past and some may still represent a good year but based on the projected results of Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Kareem Hunt, it might be time to re-think what good looks like.

When was the last time you evaluated your key performance metrics?

We all have some measurements we use to gauge our perceived success. These vary from business to business and industry to industry, but they generally include some measure of guest satisfaction, top line sales, management of expenses and bottom line profit.

In home services, the benchmark for a good salesman was, “think Dr. Evil,” 1 million dollars! Is that still your benchmark is or it closer to 1.5 million or even 2 million dollars in sales? For sales of annual maintenance/repair plans, success was once equated with a few sales a week. With the competition in the marketplace to secure and retain customers, is that measurement still used to determine success?

In the restaurant industry, greeting the guest has been used as a performance metric in the past. Now, it is an expectation and it should be. Other measurements such as speed of service are being evaluated and revised to meet the needs of customers in our fast-paced world.

Call centers routinely measure success by answering the phone within the first three rings. Is this still an accurate metric for performance? Perhaps not, as many centers are now measuring an abandonment rate, or the number of callers that hang up before the call is answered. Another performance metric in use is the length of time a person is on hold. Based on the last several service-related calls I have made, this metric is in drastic need of re-evaluation.

Whatever your current performance metrics are, take some time now to re-evaluate them for any needed revisions. This year is quickly coming to an end and now is your chance to “raise the bar” for performance expectations in the coming year. Don’t be afraid to set some stretch goals as well. Good people tend to raise their level of performance when expectations increase.

Set yourself and your team up for a championship year. Go Chiefs!