Episode 48. 4 Steps to Creating KPIs for Virtual Team Performance Measurement
Staff Researcher: Kacie Byard
HOW DO KPIs HELP YOU MANAGE YOUR TEAM?
Dream team hired? Check. Onboarding and initial training complete? Check. Measurable and attainable key performance indicators developed and ready to to measure your virtual team? If not, have no fear, entrepreneur! I’m here to help! If your remote team is off the ground and running, you need to take steps to determine if what they’re doing is effective for your business.
Nearly fifty-percent of small and medium-sized business owners don’t even identify the key performance indicators that they should be tracking (let alone actually track them).1 That explains... a lot.
It's a lot harder to scale your business if you have little to no grasp on how your team is performing. Tracking your team’s performance saves you from having to guess if your processes are working and if your business goals are being met. Create key performance indicators (KPIs) to help objectively measure your virtual team’s performance so you can determine if changes need to be made to reach the level of achievement you’ve been dreaming about!
STEP 1. BRAINSTORM YOUR BUSINESS GOALS
Picture a treasure map. If X marks the treasure chest of your business goals... then the various landmarks between your team and that treasure are your KPIs. Your teams KPIs quite literally give them a map for success. Have you defined what they're heading towards?
Now is your chance to put your CEO thinking cap on and gain clarity on what the goals for your virtual team are. You may also want to think through role-specific goals.
Here's an example of brainstorming prompts to develop goals for a Social Media Manager.
Reflect on your expectations. What products or services are you hoping to launch? How independent and interdependent will the SMM be in developing and assisting with your social media campaign for those launches?
Envision your dream social media audience and consider any positive or negative factors that may impact your SMM’s ability to build that audience. What will stand in their way? What will push them forward?
What are your SMM’s attitudes? Are they interested in the work? Are they highly experienced in a particular platform or skillset?
Ask your SMM for their input. What do they perceive as high performance in their position? What is their contribution to the business? What do they need to do to make that happen? Take notes!2
Now that the goal-setting juices are flowing, let’s discuss how to put those thoughts into action.
STEP 2. FRAME YOUR KPIS THE S.M.A.R.T. WAY
I agree with the acronym…this framework is S.M.A.R.T.! Let’s take a look at the “S.M.A.R.T.” goal-setting method and how this framework will help you set goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.3
For example, creating KPIs for your Social Media Manager may go a little something like this:
Specific: What specific social media growth are you trying to achieve? So you want to leverage social media for new leads... does that mean you want more followers, more engagement, more sharable content? On what platform? Think specifics here about what and when your team members need to accomplish to better your biz.
Measurable: If your SMM is responsible for getting "more" followers how will you know when they've reached that goal? Take your specific item and attach a metric to it, i.e. 100 new followers/week. Other metrics for SMM could be: follower engagement, follower growth, potential growth, interactions, profile views, website clicks, virality, etc.
Attainable: Now that you’ve chosen your metrics, really ask yourself... are your KPIs attainable for your team? It can be tough to hold back unrelenting positivity and excitement as a leader, I totally get it, but be sure your goals are attainable. Don’t expect to gain 20K followers overnight without any strategy. The more attainable the KPIs are, the more your team will remain engaged and motivated!
Relevant: KPIs need to be relevant to your industry, project and mission. Measuring the amount of product that didn’t ship on-time for SMM doesn’t vibe with social media growth goals. Keep your eye on the prize! A SMM should instead establish measures to capture follower attitudes through feedback and testimonials.
Time-bound: What time-frame is required to get from A to B? At what point should your business have at least 2K followers, then 5K and eventually 10K? Set project milestones and track progress that way. Schedule weekly, monthly and/or quarterly dashboard meetings to track progress with your virtual team. What will allow you to best connect with your team and push their performance?
STEP 3. DEFINE AND DOCUMENT
Alright, now that we’ve talked brainstorming and pinning down KPIs the S.M.A.R.T. way, it’s time to bring these KPIs to life! The simple way is to document 4 things: the KPI owner, the KPI itself, measurement type, and formula to calculate (if necessary).
Here’s an example of documenting your Social Media Managers KPI for connection growth on LinkedIn:
Owner: Social Media Manager
KPI: Increase LinkedIn connections by 10 ideal client avatars per week.
Measurement Type: Marketing Team, monthly report out
Formula: n/a
Here’s an example of documenting your Social Media Managers KPI for post engagement on LinkedIn:
Owner: Social Media Manager
KPI: Increase average LinkedIn post engagement by .1% each month until it reaches and maintains an average of .54% (industry average).
Measurement Type: Marketing Team, monthly report out
Formula: AVG(PostAEngagement + PostBEngagement... PostXEngagement)
Once the KPIs have been defined for each role, it's time to track them! This will hold your team (and you!) accountable to the goals that you set out on the front end.
STEP 4. TRACK & EXECUTE
Consider investing in a KPI tracking software; some of the top-rated programs for small businesses are Geckoboard, Salesforce, Tableau and SimpleKPI.1 If you want to use your current project management system, however, I recommend a recurring task that prompts data input from your team members into a shared document!
If you’re a part of a small team, you may be the owner for this entire effort, but don’t be afraid to delegate one of these measurements to a member of your team. Schedule dates to analyze and reflect on your findings. Are your targets being met? Is your business flourishing the way you’ve planned and dreamed!?
Be proactive and take full reign of your business, friend! Don’t keep you and your team in the dark when it comes to achieving business goals. There are ways to track KPIs easily with your virtual team, but it takes effort to establish those metrics and put a tracking system into place. Don’t delay your data; let’s get going on those KPIs!
YOUR NEXT STEPS
Schedule time for a team performance objective brainstorming session. Next, analyze those objectives through the “S.M.A.R.T.” framework so your metrics are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound! I promise you, this framework is key to capturing your top metrics. Once you’ve narrowed down the top metrics to measure your team’s performance, choose a KPI tracking software and implement these measures. Establishing KPIs can be a daunting process, but follow these steps and your virtual team’s performance level will be at your fingertips!
