Collecting the right information, interpreting it correctly and being capable of having difficult conversations; that’s when you get great results.

Lies, damn lies and statistics. Hmmm….actually in business it’s often making the connection between hard quantifiable data and the skills that people are utilising to deliver them.

Defining what the critical success factors are in any business is the first step and then building a robust means of collecting that data and establishing meaningful ways of measuring success is next.

But actually it’s what we do with it that counts which is why the way we interpret that data and then galvanise our people to make smart decisions about what to do next, is the thing that really matters.

So, performance management is probably really about people and not about data.

Getting clarity in what performance expectations are and ensuring that our people understand those expectations is crucial. Nobody fouls up on purpose. Actually, we might suggest that there are only two reasons why people fail to deliver what we want; 1. They don’t understand what the objective is and 2. They are managed according to those objectives.

Providing we then have the skills, attitude and knowledge, combined with clear, measurable goals and a supportive people structure around us, success will be well within our grasp.