SENSEI WHITE PAPER: THE HUMAN PERFORMANCE INDEX™ - THE NECESSARY BRIDGE 

Executive Summary by Omar Khan

Organisations measure virtually everything -- and for good reason for the most part. Companies wish to know how effectively they are leveraging resources, how competitively in terms of costs and effectiveness they are operating, the value of their brands, their return on capital, their market share, customer satisfaction, and more. Without measuring and having a base-line, it's hard to aim for real improvement...

Yet one of the primary ingredients of business performance is human performance. In other words, how our human assets act, interact, behave, collaborate and engage with each other in functions, across functions, within and between teams. Yet human performance as an overall component of business results is not explicitly measured or tracked. This seems crazy!

In fact, without measuring human performance, the things we are measuring are likely to be symptoms of what are often human performance issues. After all, who does the leveraging of resources, who manages costs, builds and maintains brands, serves customers, innovates, and more?

Strategic Business Results = Company Assets x Human Performance

In algebraic terms, human performance would be the "x" factor. Human performance multiplied by company assets and company capabilities (themselves manifested through the actions and interactions of leaders and teams) delivers business results.

Our 20 plus years of global consulting, research and interaction reveals FOUR KEY COMPONENTS to human performance:

1.  LEADERSHIP  FOR DRIVING GROWTH. Setting the right visionary goals, allocating and prioritising resources, mentoring and role modeling, removing obstacles and making sure the right things are done and followed through on. 

2.  TEAMS THAT WIN. Ensuring the right teams are established, in the right roles, with meaningful resources and accountability. Ensuring these teams become net capability multipliers and are focused on and acknowledged for progressing meaningful priorities for the business.

3.  DRIVING FOR RESULTS. Making sure we track progress in real-time, test assumptions in the crucible of results, create successful relationships with customers, enable innovative ideas and choose the ones to back.

4.  TALENT AS A PATH TO PERFORMANCE. Getting recruitment and induction right, giving people goals that ensure both they and the business grow, coaching and developing them and recognising and rewarding the right behaviour and outcomes.

These permeate all the activities by which a business delivers results. And these are the "difference that makes the difference". In evaluating them, we have to look through THREE LENSES.  Otherwise we may find only superficial understudies of these fundamental requirements.

1.  Are systems and processes present for each of these areas? Have they been institutionalised or are they ad-hoc?

2.  Are they acted on as described, and subject to review and continual improvement so they can be simplified, amplified and made more powerful?

3.  Is the quality of engagement present that will make these more than a charade -- that will make them vital, living activities that build relationships, capabilities and results?

NEXT STEPS

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