Crisis and recession KPIs, Scorecard, Metrics

No company should forego the implementation of recession KPIs. There is much need to do so now, to deal with the effects of recession for the survival of the enterprise.

With the ongoing economic downturn and things going haywire for virtually all sorts of companies and industries in the corporate world, any sane and logical person would definitely say that recession has definitely hit the primetime spot everywhere. The effects of recession are certainly felt at a global scale today and it is high time that you take a good, close look at your company to see how this economic downturn is affecting your enterprise. You need to evaluate performance as objectively as possible. Check if your company is having problems meeting set forecasts regarding research and development, production, the whole nine yards. Check your status on your short-term debts as well. Are there problems when it comes to settling them? Do you find these short-term debts significantly increasing? Check your people as well. Do you see them exhibiting low morale? Do you see this in your customers as well? If your company is having all of these problems, then it is high time for you not just to consider implementing recession KPIs, but to go ahead and implement them already.

A lot of people might say that the implementation of such KPIs or key performance indicators is yet another investment and would yet be costly on the corporate budget. Still, this is a worth investment to make because these KPIs will help you a lot, especially in dealing with the sad turn of events brought about by this recession.

How should you start then? The first step is to have a fresh perspective on all causes possible behind your enterprise’s internal and external problems. Take note that ALL causes should be determined here so you have to look for both qualitative and quantitative signs.

Quantitative signs can include declining market margins, declining sales, and increasing short-term debts. How you company is unable to meet set forecasts can also be used as a quantitative sign here. With qualitative signs, you can begin with high employment turnover, high management turnover, and degradation in terms of the market value of the company. This last sign can be either real or perceived and should be regarded as important because it has much impact on the psyche of the employees themselves – even if this is perceived.

The next step is to check your IT systems. Make sure they are still producing information that is relevant and supportive towards effective decision-making. For this, you can actually use business intelligence software. Just make sure to include only a few KPIs that are relevant to your purpose. Having too many KPIs would just cloud your judgment. Check for KPIs that need to be modified. Just because you have been using a certain group of KPIs for a while now does not mean these would still be as effective.

Both short-term and long-term actions should then be devised and implemented to deal with changes being made. Re-forecasting should also be done because the set forecasts would no longer be effective because recession has certainly blown all of these away. The entire process of developing and implementing recession KPIs will very well take a lot of time but this would really help any company weather the effects of this economic downturn.

Crisis Scorecard Articles about Crisis economic downturn, KPIs, Recession

Performance management during economic downturn seems a lost cause these days. However, this need not be the case with the help of the implementation of recession KPIs.

We all know how the concept of performance management during economic downturn can be a bit hazy, especially today when the effects of recession are now being felt all over the world. All sorts of companies and industries are affected by this financial bind that we have found ourselves in. What is worse is the fact that this economic recession we find ourselves in is not about to end anytime soon. We are not even at the lowest point yet, as claimed by expert analysts. With all the bad things going on around you and with nearly everything falling apart in your own enterprise, could there still be something that you could do? Yes, there actually are a few things that you can do to somewhat alleviate this difficult situation. The most important of your options is actually the implementation of recession KPIs or key performance indicators. Recession KPIs can indeed help you maintain a more stable performance for your enterprise.

So, how then can you do this? The first step is to take on a fresh perspective of all sorts of problems circulating in your enterprise. By all problems, we mean both the internal and the external ones. When examining these problems, make sure to look out for every possible cause behind each one of them. Look for both the qualitative and the quantitative ones. Quantitative signs could include the company’s inability to meet standard set forecasts, declining market margins or market shares, declining sales, as well as an increasing number of short-term debts.

Qualitative signs, meanwhile, can include high employee turnover, high management turnover, and degradation of the enterprise’s market value. The last sign can be either real or perceived. However, this remains extremely important no matter the nature of the sign because it affects the psyche of the enterprise’s workforce. If employees perceive that the market value of the company is degrading, then they would not hesitate to start looking elsewhere for greener and safer pastures. This then makes performance management much harder to achieve. A lot worse could definitely happen if the last sign is indeed real, not just perceived. All the more would employees leave the enterprise for greener pastures willingly.

After identifying internal and external issues, you should then check the IT systems currently being used in your company. Are these systems still working efficiently? Is the information they provide still relevant – to the extent that they can be relied on to based good decisions from? This is exactly where KPIs are the most needed. Now, do not make the mistake of assuming that the KPIs you once used would still be effective. There are significant changes that have surfaced so these KPIs need much revamping as well. Do not go for broke with the number of KPIs to use. Just go for a significant few, roughly five in number.

With the causes of all issues determined, plans of action can then be developed. Usually, senior management members would be the ones responsible for the development of strategies as well as the communicating of these strategies to investors, stakeholders, and the employees themselves. However, to maintain an unbiased perspective, it is recommended to hand this task over to an external advisor or consultant.

Recession KPIs can definitely help when it comes to performance management during economic downturn. The process may take long but it will certainly be worth your while.

Crisis Scorecard Articles about Crisis economic downturn, Performance Management, Recession

Companies all over the world are struggling today. The effects of recession on performance are very discouraging. Companies need to deal with these as proactively as they should.

The effects of recession on performance across all companies and industries are certainly being felt all over the world. In fact, there just might be no country anywhere that is not feeling the effects of the present economic downturn. There are even so many companies who have already declared bankruptcy and this does not exempt even the big ones. Yes, a number of multibillion dollar corporations have certainly dropped off the high pedestals they used to occupy and this has led to millions of people losing their jobs. Employees all over the world are indeed feeling the pressure and are getting more and more scared of the possibility of losing their jobs.

Global recession raises a lot of questions and only a few are given answers – and uncertain answers at that. Everyone in the professional realm struggles to be at their optimum just to survive these hard times, which we do not really know for sure until when it would last. You can even compare this scenario with Charles Darwin’s very own evolution theory, which outlines ‘survival of the fittest’. And anyone who can make it through this crucial period of time would certainly come out stronger. Companies are certainly not exempted from this rule. Struggling to survive as best as they can, companies would then have to employ certain strategies just to stay afloat and swim through the rough waves. Cost cutting is inevitable here so there is always that possibility of companies laying off people. Likening a company to a ship that has too many passengers onboard, some of them need to be taken off the boat so that the majority of the passengers and the boat itself can survive.

The act of laying off workers is certainly one possible and commonly experience effect of recession. This, in turn, can do a lot of damage on employee morale. Once laying off starts, employees just might find themselves at the losing end of the equation so most, if not all, would start looking for other companies to work for. Of course, most would still wait until they get the boot because the chances that other companies would be hiring in this dire time of recession would still be slim. However, because employees are starting to look somewhere else, then they would be distracted and would not be able to work as productively as before. Moreover, they would not even be motivated to do their jobs well. With employee morale degrading, driving employees to perform at their best would certainly be made more difficult.

Moreover, the perks employees used to enjoy would also be minimized. Those benefits in the form of retention allowances, incentives, and bonuses – all these and more would have to be withdrawn or frozen for the time being. And you would not even be able to say for yourself that these benefits would be placed back in the picture when the global economy would finally start improving. Hopefully, these would be retained by that time. The effects of recession on performance are certainly discouraging in nature. That is why companies need to do all that they can to handle the passing of this economic downturn as well as they can.

Crisis Scorecard Articles about Crisis economic downturn, Performance, Recession