Measuring What Matters
For a lot of teams, “KPI” has become shorthand for seriousness.
If we can measure it, it must matter.
If it moves up and to the right, we must be doing well.
But here’s what we see in real teams: you can hit the numbers and still feel like the wheels are coming off.
Because the most important indicators of sustainable growth usually show up in people first:
in the stories they tell themselves about the work
in the trust (or caution) in the room
in whether momentum is compounding, or quietly leaking out through burnout, misalignment, and rework
So yes, we care about performance. We’re just not willing to pretend performance is separate from the humans creating it.
A line we come back to a lot is this:
If you want to grow, put your business in order: people, process, then products. Always.
Not because products don’t matter, and shouldn’t be world-class and magnetic…
But, because people build products. People run the process. People carry the story. People hold the culture.
So when we talk about KPIs, we sometimes invite a different meaning for the acronym.
Not Key Performance Indicators.
More like: Keep People at the heart of everything you do.
So what could leaders do with this?
Here’s the simplest way to start: bring these into your quarterly planning with your team.
Before you lock goals, ask two questions together:
“What does good look like before we start?”
“What needs to be true about our people for us to deliver this sustainably?”
Then choose one “Keep People…” indicator to focus on for 30 days.
Not forever. Just long enough to build a new rhythm.
Because when you measure what matters, you don’t just get better numbers.
You get a better team. And that’s what makes the numbers sustainable.
Six people-first KPIs (Keep People…)
1) Keep people inspired with vision
Most teams don’t need more motivation.
They need more clarity.
When vision is fuzzy, everything costs more:
decisions
alignment
energy
trust
Vision is not a poster or a slide. It’s the felt sense of “I know what we’re building and why it matters.”
When vision is clear, people can make good decisions without constant checking-in.
When it’s fuzzy, everything becomes heavier than it needs to be.
Keep people inspired with vision means people can answer, in plain language:
“What are we building right now, and why does it matter for where we want to go or how we want to grow?”
Ask this (next team meeting):
“If a smart friend asked you what we’re building this quarter, what would you say?”
Ask this (next 1:1 or team meeting):
“What are we building right now, and what would make you proud of how we’re building it?”
Look for this:
People answer without checking notes.
Trade-offs get easier.
Less “busy” energy. More focused momentum.
People can explain the direction in their own words, and trade-offs feel easier to make.
Vision isn’t hype. It’s orientation.
2) Keep people informed with updates
During change, leaders often wait to communicate until things are “solid”.
But silence isn’t neutral.
Silence becomes a story vacuum, and uncertainty fills it fast.
There’s a common mistake during change: waiting until things are “solid” before communicating.
But silence is not neutral. Silence is a story vacuum.
And people will fill it with uncertainty.
We’ve worked with teams redesigning their structure who knew the change was real, but also knew the team felt under-informed. The fix was not a perfect plan. It was a reliable rhythm of updates, even when things were still in motion.
Keep people informed with updates doesn’t mean having all the answers.
It means having a reliable rhythm of truth.
Ask this:
“What do you think is happening right now that we haven’t named out loud?”
Ask this:
“What’s one thing you’ve noticed that we haven’t named out loud yet?”
Look for this:
Fewer surprise reactions.
Fewer side conversations to “decode” leadership.
Better questions in the room.
Less corridor speculation, fewer surprise reactions, more grounded questions in meetings.
If the plan isn’t final, say that.
People can handle “in progress” better than they can handle guessing.
3) Keep people interested with growth
Burnout isn’t only about workload.
It’s also about meaning and movement.
If someone is delivering constantly but not developing, their motivation will eventually thin out.
Keep people interested with growth means the work is stretching them in a way that feels supported.
Ask this:
“What part of your role is helping you grow right now, and what part is shrinking you?”
Look for this:
More initiative.
More learning language (“I’m practising…”, “I’m noticing…”).
More honest conversations about capacity.
Performance follows mindset more often than we admit.
If performance is the outcome, growth is the input.
People stay engaged when they can feel themselves getting better, stretching, learning, and trusted with real work that develops them.
If someone’s only job is to deliver, deliver, deliver, eventually you’ll get compliance, not commitment. Or burnout.
Ask this:
“What part of your work is helping you grow right now, and what part is shrinking you?”
Look for this:
People volunteer for stretch work, ask for feedback, and name what they’re learning (not just what they’re finishing).
4) Keep people involved with ownership
A lot of leaders say they want ownership.
And then everything still funnels back to them for the green light.
Ownership is not abandonment.
It’s clarity + trust + a few intentional checkpoints.
Ownership does not mean “do whatever you want.”
Ownership means: clear decision rights, clear success criteria, and trust with a few intentional checkpoints.
We’re seeing this right now with a team that’s actively working on empowerment: how to move things forward without the leader being pulled in for the green light at every stage.
Keep people involved with ownership means people know:
what they own
what “good” looks like
when to pull you in (and when not to)
Ask this:
“Where do you feel you need my permission that you shouldn’t need?”
Look for this:
People bring recommendations, not requests.
Decisions move without escalation.
You’re less of a bottleneck, and more of a guide.
Decisions move without escalation, and people bring recommendations rather than requests.
5) Keep people integrated with culture
Culture isn’t what you wrote on the wall.
It’s what happens when you’re tired, busy, and under pressure.
Culture isn’t what you say you value. It’s what happens when it’s inconvenient.
When teams grow, culture doesn’t “hold” by default. It has to be practised, named, and protected through real moments: conflict, feedback, prioritisation, pace.
Keep people integrated with culture means the culture is practised, not just described.
Ask this:
“When it gets busy, what do we tend to sacrifice here, and what do we want to protect instead?”
Look for this:
Consistent behaviours are rewarded (not just results).
Feedback happens sooner, with more care.
People can name “how we do things here” without cynicism.
People can give each other feedback with care, and the same behaviours are rewarded across teams (not just in one pocket).
Culture is a daily choice, not a brand asset.
6) Keep people improving with training
Training without reinforcement is just a day out of the office.
Training is not an event. It’s a system.
If you run training but don’t change the environment people return to, nothing sticks. The goal is not knowledge. It’s new behaviour that becomes normal.
Keep people improving with training means you treat development like a system:
practise
feedback
repetition
shared language
Ask this:
“What’s one behaviour we want to get better at this quarter, and how will we know it’s changing?”
Look for this:
You hear the new language in meetings.
Managers coach the same behaviours.
People apply learning to real work within two weeks.
Managers reinforce the same practices, teams have shared language, and you see the behaviour in meetings (not just in a deck).
If it doesn’t change behaviour, it isn’t development yet.
