Virginie Glaenzer and a co-host explore how to redesign KPIs to support learning over efficiency, then introduce a reframing exercise called "what has to be true" that uses living-system metaphors to surface the conditions needed for trust, joy, and purpose to emerge in organizations.
Chapters
So perhaps we need a new set of KPIs to drive this unlearning or learning culture in an organization. Instead of having KPIs connected to efficiency and productivity, we need to create new KPIs to be able to thrive as a learning.
Kind of a danger zone as well to attach KPIs to learning because it's emergent and relational, and there's a real risk of collapsing it into something transactional and efficient. I have to tread carefully there around needing to measure and define in advance.
Right, and I know that KPIs in today's world are starting to have a bad connotation, but I do think that we need to know where do we want to go, how are we going to measure if what we're doing is successful, and KPIs attached to learning could be how many new projects have we started to work on.
Part of what I help the clients that I work with identify is what has to be true if we are to be in the, the type of relationship with our customers that we need to be if we're going to make the contribution that we aspire to make. So it's a bigger question than what, what will we measure, what has to be true. And in guiding them and exploring that, I offer the fertile conditions that are present in all thriving living systems as parameters. So we know that in every living system there are individual parts like cells in our bodies or bees in a hive. And so how can individuals— what has to be true so that the individuals involved can make their best contributions and be nourished in the process? What has to be true so that relationships are supported and connected and trust and joy and playfulness and effectiveness are allowed to flow. That's the second characteristic. What has to be true so that there's an emergent whole? It's not just a collection of parts, but there's, there's you, you know, in your body, you have individual cells, but you're more than that. So what has to be true for us to come together in shared purpose and identity that is compelling and powerful? And what has to be true so that we can be enlivened by life, we can be inspired, and that this initiative of ours can take on a life of its own and serve with great wisdom and inspiration. So it's kind of expanding and also offering guidance that's rooted in this intention to enable life to thrive.
I like this, "what has to be true." I think if there was a— this question was asked in a boardroom or in an executive meeting, it would be interesting to see what emerges. And maybe that could be a bridge to connect the way we've done business with KPIs driven on efficiency and productivity to another side of the bridge, which is something that we might not have the language, but something that is emerging that could lead to creating a new trust in our customers.
