Performance Metrics That Encourage Continuous Improvement

Most sales organizations rely heavily on leaderboards. This creates a big problem: When you're constantly measuring yourself against others, you're either feeling inferior (if you're behind) or complacent (if you're ahead). Neither state drives optimal performance. A better approach? Still track the standard KPIs, but add a new metric: Personal Improvement Rate. Instead of showing a rep they're ranked 7th out of 12 on the team (which can be demotivating), show them they've improved their own conversion rate by 3% this week. Show them they made 5 more calls than their personal best. Show them they're making progress against their own benchmark. Tap into their desire to improve and grow, rather than extrinsic motivations like status or the avoidance of shame. Let them become better versions of themselves. It helps add purpose & meaning to every action. What personal best are you trying to beat this week?

Behind every high-performing team is a thoughtful 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 focused on what actually drives success—not just what’s easy to count. In my research with teams, I’ve seen many leaders track the 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 things: tallying meetings held, initiatives launched, or tasks completed, without ever asking if those activities are making a meaningful difference. The most 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 use a different scorecard. One that balances three dimensions: 1️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁: Are we creating something valuable? Is our work 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵? 2️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: Are we getting 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 at working together over time? 3️⃣ 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: Are team members growing in capability, resilience, and confidence? When teams track 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 and 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 alongside 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵, behavior naturally shifts toward deeper collaboration, reflection, and continuous improvement. One leadership team I supported started measuring “𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴” rather than just “𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦.” The result? Better decisions and better implementation. Because what gets 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥, gets 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥. And what we choose to track reveals what we truly 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 — 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿?👇 P.S. If you’re a leader, I recommend checking out my free challenge: The Resilient Leader: 28 Days to Thrive in Uncertainty  https://lnkd.in/gxBnKQ8n #Leadership #TeamDevelopment #HighPerformingTeams #MetricsThatMatter #ContinuousImprovement

Here is our framework to the solutions to "AutoQA” depending on which value prop you are aiming for in last post: Here is how we think about solutions to the initial question about AutoQA. If a customer emphasizes Grader Efficiency, we walk away from those customers for the below reasons: It’s not possible to automate the entire scorecard often. If it is possible, it is so much more work than the customer realizes and we know the juice is not worth the squeeze. The ROI of automating the scorecard is very low and sometimes impossible if the BPO bundles in QA resources into the contract It is not tied to a strategic goal the executive team cares about and QA grading automation is not big enough to matter either We have been beating the anti-AutoQA drum for years...and it has cost us MILLIONS of dollars 🤕 🤕 🤕 🤕 . If we wanted to chase $$ > values, we would be selling AutoQA like drugs to kids. If a customer emphasizes measuring agent performance, we suggest the following approaches: Leverage all the non-QA metrics to come up with weighted Agent Performance score and focus the QA resources on the bottom quartile Create an AI-forward  Quality Score that's based on different signals of agent performance that can be identified in conversations [generally soft skills] to get a pulse on performance and focus QA resources on outliers If producing a QA score that replicates what a human can grade on is important to leadership, reduce # of tickets manually graded and reallocate QA bandwidth to other high value biz initiatives If a customer emphasizes continuous improvement of agent performance, we suggest the following approaches: Align on if it’s about reducing compliance/risk, improving agent productivity, or improving customer experience and then come up with AI-powered KPIs that are focused on measuring behaviors most correlated with an area of opportunity around one of those areas - the key is that the AI-powered KPIs is not a direct 1:1 match with your QA scorecard