CWS 3.0: September 24, 2014

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Measure for measure: Focus on the right data

There's an old saying: that which you cannot measure cannot be improved. Nowhere is that more true than the in world of contingent workforce management. Often, though, programs go overboard when it comes to what they measure. In fact, I frequently see detailed scorecards with dozens and dozens of metrics, KPIs, and SLAs. One company I work with had more than 67 different performance measurements that cascaded into 50 service-level commitments on behalf of the providers. This was simply unmanageable on both fronts. It was unmanageable for the providers to live up to dozens of service expectations and very hard for the administrators of the contingent workforce program. They, in truth, could not make heads or tails of the data. This is unfortunate, but far more common than one realizes. Whether you call it a scorecard or dashboard or a quarterly or monthly business review, how you monitor, measure and maintain your program is going to be based on data. What data is the key consideration that, unfortunately, many buyers get wrong.

So where do you start when putting together a scorecard? How do you keep it from getting unwieldy? You need to start with two basic questions:

First, what is your company’s business strategy and where does your program contribute or diminish? This is really the most critical consideration. Knowing how your program can contribute to the bottom line as well as the top line will go a long way toward helping drive program growth and adoption. For example, where does your program affect the customer experience? Do you have contingent workers who are responsible for processing sales orders or handling customer phone calls? Knowing how these pieces fit into your business model and revenue generation are critical in creating a scorecards focus.

Second, what were/are the expectations of management? What were they told to get their buy-in? So often a program business case is built from PowerPoint to leadership. After they sign off on the project, the PowerPoint gets filed away, never to be seen again. But in reality your career depends on your ability to deliver upon exactly what was sold to leadership. What were the fundamental business reasons for getting the green light? Savings or risk mitigation? Control or quality? For example, if your leadership signed off on a program to gain better quality, then you might not want to closely track cost per hire as your main metric. Rather, choose metrics like the retention rate of the worker or how well and quickly the job was completed. Were the hiring managers happy with the end product? Focus on what's important based on your program’s goals.

Understanding how your program contributes to the bottom line pays dividends in the long run for expanding your program and keeping your team on target. But remembering how leadership supports your program is critical for making sure that you are the one driving your program into the future for the right reasons.