When it comes to data interpretation, visualization and analysis are two of the most important practices to master, as they are complementary to each other. Projecting unclear data renders its analysis and subsequent decision-making process almost irrelevant, as no one can truly tell what your data means.

In the same vein, if you showcase a clean design for what is ultimate non-curated data, everyone in that meeting will most likely struggle to find the start, middle and end point of your presentation, even though it is dressed up nicely.

For this very reason, we at The KPI Institute have created two courses – the Certified Data Visualization Professional and Certified Data Analysis Professional, which will harmonize your working knowledge of data.

 

The Certified Data Visualization Professional

Visual communication is effective only when it is aligned with the way people see and think. This course provides insights on the importance of data visualization, fundamental principles, as well as means to increase non-verbal communication skills through effective visualizations.

The C-DV course will help you improve communication within your company, through visual displays of quantitative data. You will learn how to communicate visually in an effective way and how to increase reporting efficiency, leading to a better understanding of the presented data, and thus, to smarter and quicker strategic decisions, as well as improved data analysis capabilities.

 

Learning objectives

• Understand the fundamentals of creating and designing a visual representation for your intended users;
• Select the right communication channel in accordance with the target audience;
• Learn how to collect and design standardized data inputs and outputs;
• Apply the design techniques required to create an effective visual representation;
• Discover key steps in improving your organizational and departmental visual communication.

Creating clean, streamlined and expressive data visualization designs is a meticulous task. There is a lot of minutiae when working on this aspect, so for ease of learning, we’ve divided this course into 7 modules, as follows:

1.Content standardization

• Systematically adjust your data before creating a visual representation
• Identify the most relevant information required to be communicated

2.Channel selection

• Identify the most appropriate channel to communicate your data
• Align your visual representation to the viewer’s needs

3.Structure

• Define the terms balance, proportion, movement, unity and emphasis
• The significance of movement to effective graphic design

4.Format

• Provide every visual representation with all the relevant information
• Select the appropriate graph according to your predefined objectives

5.Express

• Choose the right typography for your audience taking into consideration function and aesthetics
• Understand the color theory

6.Report

• Explore reporting methods and their taxonomy
• Improve organizational performance through balanced reporting to provide clarity

7.Assess

• Understand the importance of a checklist, self-evaluation and peer-evaluation
• Ensure maximum efficiency of the entire process of creating a visual representation

 

The Certified Data Analysis Professional

Most companies that look to retain a strong presence on the market use data analysis at length, in order to pinpoint troughs and developments. As shown by an Intelligent Utility Report from 2011, successful businesses juxtapose historical data with current information, so as to get a good grasp over trend developments.

Moreover, a Deloitte Analytics Trends report from 2015 further reinforces this notion, by highlighting how certain leading organizational entities have started training their employees in tax analytics analysis, in order to better understand the company’s current state vs its would-be state, if any tax changes were to occur.

This type of proactive forethought and predictive mindset is what turns good companies into great industry leaders. One might have access to data, most certainly, but making use of it through thorough analysis and interpretation is what’ll ultimately secure them a winning spot in the market.

Our C-DA course gives you the capability to analyze statistical data on the finest of levels, so that you can feel confident when endorsing certain strategic business decisions.

 

Learning objectives

• Develop a hands-on, practical overview of data analysis
• Integrate statistical concepts and analysis tools that are widely used in corporate analytics environments
• Analyze examples of practical applications for statistical methods, used in solving real-life business issues
• Acquire mastery of basic MS Excel and statistical techniques through practical exercises

Over the course of more than 120 editions of the C-DA, we’ve found it best to divide it into 4 modules. While not as many as the C-DV course, the difference lies in the fact that when it comes to data visualization, there are several different notions that have to be tackled individually. Regarding data analysis, there are fewer elements to take into consideration, however these have much more depth to them and require greater focus in order to fully understand. As a result, this course’s modules are as follows:

 

2.1 Understanding data analysis

• Basic data analysis processes; data quality; data source taxonomy; organizing, synthesizing and aggregating data

2.2 Data Analysis Tools and processes

• Statistical Analysis Tools; Data visualization and pattern detection; data comparison; univariate and multivariate analysis; regression analysis

2.3 Advanced data analysis techniques

• Probability and confidence; From exploratory to predictive modelling; data dimensionality; software enablers for Data Analysis

2.4 Data presentation

• Essential aspects in data analysis outputs; summarization capacity for data interpretation

In recent years, one trend that has become commonplace is workload management optimization through data analysis, which allows for an efficient delegation of responsibilities. Back in 1776, one of the fathers of economics, Adam Smith, wrote in his magnum opus – The Wealth of Nations, that great values comes from the division of labour, since worker specialization equates to greater efficiency.

This is as true today as it was back then, only today we have access to meaningful data analysis knowledge, techniques & software that can help us pinpoint with greater accuracy where we have to allocate what, why and in what fashion.

Both data visualization and data analysis are core processes that turn on the light in an otherwise dark room for businesses. Instead of bumping through the dark, we can illuminate our way with data analysis, in a very pleasant, coherent and clean fashion, through data visualization.

Making use of one without the other is still better than none at all, but great organizations understand the value of combining the two, into one seamless process that behaves like a gift which keeps on giving . Curated data enables informed decisions. Clean, appealing, user-friendly curated data enables a clear vision, in addition to informed decisions.

Whether you like or dislike the Balanced Scorecard, the truth of the matter is that nowadays, it has become the cornerstone of a plethora of business tools. Moreover, the BSC has inspired numerous management models over the years, giving birth to innovative methods of measuring performance, aggregating & analysing results and then using these to improve results across the board.

We at The KPI Institute believe that the Balanced Scorecard should represent a basic knowledge element in every professional and practitioner’s handbook, which is why we’ve developed the Certified Balanced Scorecard Management System Professional course.

From performance measurement experts – PMOs, Performance Architects or Strategy Managers, to top/middle/lower level executives or seasoned professionals interested in enriching their performance measurement know-how, everyone can find something new to learn within the confines of this training course.

 

Goals & Benefits

If you’re wondering why choose this course over many others, here’s a brief list of the 4 fundamental learning objectives:

• Comprehend the fundamentals of a Performance Management System
• Transpose your organization’s strategy into a Balanced Scorecard Management System
• Learn how to integrate the components of a Balanced Scorecard Architecture
• Differentiate between objectives, KPIs and initiatives

However, that’s not all. During the 3-day experiential learning event, you’ll focus on several focal points aimed at ensuring you finish the course fully capable of taking everything you’ve learnt back to your company and successfully implementing it.

 

Day 1 – Performance Management System

We’ll be concentrating on what is the BSC, its role and founding elements, as well as how to clarify a mandate for improvement, enlist leadership support, and then dive into PM auditing and formulating organisational strategies.

 

Day 2 – Understanding the BSC Management System

Picking up where we left previously, we’ll now be looking to structure our organizational strategies, integrate them into our organizational system – from project, innovation, process and quality management, to human capital, budgeting, risk and stakeholder management, and finalize with strategy implementation.

 

Day 3 – Implementing and using a BSC

The final day will ensure you possess the necessary competency to gauge capabilities maturity, focusing on your business acumen improvement. Moreover, we’ll learn how to recalibrate our system, through insights generation, action items implementation & monitoring and remodelling our strategy based on the information we have garnered thus far.

At the end, we’ll go over the most crucial elements of nurturing a performance culture – communication, education, engagement, gamification and compensation.

For those familiar with our courses, they already know we structure them into modules. Therefore, if you’re looking for a modular explanation of what you’ll be able to discern throughout the 3-day Certified Balanced Scorecard Management System Professional course, here’s a quick debrief:

1.Balanced Scorecard Performance Management System Architecture

• The Evolution of the Balanced Scorecard PMS and emerging trends

• Performance management system main components

2. Translating the strategy

• Formulate the main elements of the BSC management System such as vision, mission, objectives and initiatives

• Against what is an organization benchmarked?

3. Developing the Balanced Scorecard Management System Architecture

• Design the BSC Management System main elements based on business game

• Translate the elements into the BSC Management System Architecture

4. Implementing the Balanced Scorecard Framework

• Planning and deploying the implementation process

• Performance reporting with the Balanced Scorecard

 

Over time, we’ve organized roughly 20 editions of this course, with over 300 participants. Our most recent ones speak for themselves: Saudi Arabia – 8 courses, 132 participants, Bahrain, 1 course, 20 participants, UAE – 3 courses, 50 participants. From newcomers to repeat attendees, we’ve had the pleasure of working with individuals coming from a myriad of backgrounds – from the oil industry, to healthcare, education, construction or finance, all eager to learn how their organization can make use of a BSC Management System.

 

Through the C-BSC course, we provide you with the tools and resources required for an immediate implementation of a Balanced Scorecard Management System in your own organization. Toolkits, templates, case studies, good practice examples from some of the most successful organizations worldwide, as well as thought-provoking exercises – all bundled together in an open-discussion format training session, where queries and debates are more than welcomed.

 

Differentiate yourself and gain respect among your peers, by demonstrating an unwavering commitment to continuous professional development and getting a clearer understanding of the marketplace conditions that forge your industry.

 

Become the beacon that your company needs and shine its way through what may be the darkness of unknown. We’ve all been there – no one knows why operations aren’t moving along swiftly, why employee turnover is increasing and why end results don’t even match 50% of our desired target. Through the knowledge gained through our C-BSC course, you’ll be able to finally provide an answer, as well as possible solutions.

KPI Essentials & Masterclass – the Inception of KPIs

Our flagship courses, the Certified KPI Professional and Practitioner, represent the first step into entering the world of KPIs, performance measurement, management and ultimately, improvement. They are a stepping stone for individuals looking to gain a better grasp over the knowledge needed to carry their organization forward.

That being said, many managers, team leaders, heads of departments, directors, consultants and academics are already well-versed in the art of administering operations & people for better results. For this very reason, we have developed two courses to complement our flagship ones, the KPI Essentials and KPI Masterclass.

 

KPI Essentials

This course represents a step up from our standard C-KPI one, focusing on 5 main learning objectives:

• Applying best practice techniques to KPI selection
• Documenting KPIs
• Structuring the data gathering process
• Practicing decision-making based on data
• Linking KPIs to incentive systems

 

It is designed to support you in developing key competencies in performance management, with the aim of improving processes such as KPI selection, KPI documentation, KPI data gathering and reporting. During the 3 days of training, you will become familiar with the most important tools and techniques in working with KPIs, and you will learn how to build a performance management culture.

We have structured this course so that once your training is done, you will have gained a higher degree of understanding surrounding the most essential aspects of working with KPIs.

If you wish to have access to international best practices for developing a KPI Performance Management Architecture and learn how to effectively measure performance through a variety of methods, so that your KPI selection process is fully optimized, this is the course to attend.

We will showcase how to enhance your PM framework, by successfully gathering, aggregating, curating and integrating data into your decision-making process. Moreover, during this course, we’ll be sharing over 10 templates used in working with KPIs, with our attendees, in order for them to get a better grasp over how they should go about designing and implementing their very own KPI Management Framework.

The KPI Essentials course represents our 3^rd most popular certification, with over 60 editions and 1,100 participants over the past couple of years, having delivered editions all over the world. Even when it came to single editions, we still registered outstanding results, as can be seen from the following figures: Saudi Arabia – 20 editions/353 participants, UAE – 12/227, Mongolia – 5/90, Bahrain – 1/20, Ghana 1/27, Mongolia 5/90, Pakistan – 4/53, Nigeria 1/46, Qatar – 5/115, Vietnam – 3/33, Luxembourg – 2/50.

 

KPI Masterclass

The final iteration of KPI knowledge, the KPI Masterclass training course represents an in-depth synthesis of key performance management trends and practices. It focuses on the essential tools and techniques that must be implemented for a comprehensive, successful performance management architecture.

The masterclass deals chiefly with 4 priority objectives:

• Understanding advanced KPI selection methods and how they interact with the various organizational levels present within a company
• Identifying solutions for overcoming the main hurdles in setting targets
• Designing a detailed framework for your data gathering process
• Performing in-depth KPI results analyses

 

This course only lasts for 2 days, as it takes into account the fact that most participants already possess a certain degree of knowledge when it comes to key performance indicators. As a result, instead of going over the basics of KPI selection, you will go through more advanced knowledge, pertaining to KPI balancing, practicing the KPI clustering process and developing a thorough KPI implementation project plan.

You’ll also be going over the usability of KPIs as part of certain activities, such as KPIs as part of process management, KPIs for Service Level Agreements or for Supplier Performance. In addition, another key point of interest for our KPI Masterclass is its emphasis on practicality. During the course, you’ll be practicing KPI selection in functional areas, industries, according to timeliness, quality and effectiveness.

Furthermore, the masterclass features many open interactions between participants and facilitator, such as discussions on the importance of setting objectives in KPI selection, debates on the best practices in data visualization or the role of scorecards, dashboards and healthograms.

As a final point, you’ll have the chance to interpret KPI results analyses – as mentioned previously, but also make decisions regarding KPI renewal, compare KPIs through benchmarking and practice KPI modelling.

All of these features are the reason why the KPI Masterclass is our 2^nd most sought-after course, with over 70 editions and 1,300 participants. Just as it was with our KPI Essentials course, this one also generates outstanding registration even on single editions: 3 editions in Pakistan, 70 participants, Qatar – 3/68, Saudi Arabia – 26/640, Cambodia – 1/32, Bangladesh – 2/62, Australia 1/62.

If you’re someone interested in mastering all there is about KPIs, it’d be a real shame if you missed out on either of these two opportunities, given the high attendance we register on each edition. You’d be able to network with some of the world’s most elite organizational or departmental leaders, find out how they manage performance, all the while sharing a learning experience with everyone present. In addition to this, since we open our doors to all industries and functional areas, you might just find a solution to your challenge from an industry you’ve never even thought might hold the answer.

The business world is rapidly changing – creating short-span windows of opportunities and unexpected threats. To adapt and adjust to this dynamic environment, organizations seek planning tools that would allow them to build strategies that are both flexible and shock-absorbent.

Getting the strategy right is also a big challenge. As per a 2009-10 Strategy Execution Research Report, from The Performance Factory, we know that around 15% of managers believe their organizations’ strategies are unsatisfactory. In addition to this, 1 out of 3 managers receive no information on how to execute their strategy.

Moreover, according to Harvard Business review, less than 15% of companies compare their actual business results with the performance forecasted in each unit, in its prior year’s strategic plans.

So we know that businesses look at strategy as a complicating step and try to avoid it. This is why we at TKI have set up a course, the Certified Strategy and Business Planning Professional course, in order to aid managers who want to sail the company on the right course, through this vast ocean that is the business world.

 

Learning objectives

• Comprehend the fundamentals of the strategic planning process
• Learn to coordinate your teams, in order to design the most appropriate strategies
• Set clear strategic objectives, find out how to evaluate strategies and suggest adjustments
• Understand the key areas of a business model

Having delivered the course over 30 times, with more than 420 participants all over the globe, it’s safe to say that strategy and business planning are in demand: 5 editions and 46 participants in Malaysia, 11 editions and over 240 participants in Saudi Arabia and 9 editions with over 100 attendees in the UAE.

Systematic strategic thinking should form the basis of every business decision. Our C-SBP course will provide insights into the fundamental principles and methods for communicating a strategy across the entire organization, throughout all of its levels.

 

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Given the somewhat recondite knowledge required to attend our course, it is mainly open to specific professional categories:

• business owners and top management – who will find this information useful for designing their own corporate level strategy
• middle management professionals – who can make use of the knowledge shared during this course to build strategies for their departments
• consultants or members of the academic world – by attending this course, they will be able to provide better support to the organizations they’re currently assisting.

Moreover, in order to provide a lasting, insightful and smooth learning experience, as is the rule with all of our courses, we’ve divided the Certified Strategy and Business Planning Professional course into 5 modules:

1.Strategic horizons

• Organizational and business dimension of strategic planning
• Develop vision, mission, values and goals

2.External and internal analysis

• An algorithm of early warning systems
• To work with external and internal analysis tools and structure the information in a relevant manner

3.Setting objectives and initiatives

• Formulate objectives based on the triangulation method
• Develop initiative based on the objectives set

4.Business plan

• The main elements of a business plan
• Relate the business plan to the strategy of the company

5.Strategy communication

• Techniques used in strategy communication
• How to monitor organizational and departmental strategy

 

It’s becoming increasingly clear that it is important to have a clear vision over the mission, values and impact of your business’s strategy, in order to improve its overall management, operations and communication levels. If you wish to receive guidance on business aspects such as organizational identity, internal & external environmental scanning, strategic options, business planning and implementing & recalibrating your strategy, look no further.

The C-SBP 3-day course is a comprehensive learning experience that will endow you with all the knowledge needed to return as a true pillar of knowledge, on which your company can build its future development.

Want to learn more about how your business can incorporate elements like the Blue Ocean strategy, or set up proper competitive, growth strategies, which allow you to cascade objectives and KPIs, all the while identifying and documenting risks through KRIs? The KPI Institute is here to help you on your learning journey.

By looking at human behaviour over the centuries, one may infer that we have always had a propensity for competitiveness, always striving to better ourselves and best each other. Whether we look at a junior high marathon, high school grades, or move forward towards adulthood, we always want to perfect whatever endeavour we’re up to.

It has become so synonymous with human life that we’ve developed entire specializations around the concept of continous measurement, management and improvement of our performance.

Now, if we were to take a look at one of the definitions of Performance Management, we find that it is just such an activity – an overarching discipline that deals with ensuring desired results are achieved, through a set of ongoing activities, ranging from planning, implementation and measurement, to review and corrective decision-making.

For this very reason, we at The KPI Institute have developed two unique, global accreditations centered around this very concept. Our Certified Performance Management Professional and Practitioner training courses provide a strong foundation towards managing performance in different scenarios, by presenting relevant tools, processes and techniques meant at closing the performance gap between your current state and your desired state of evolution.

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Having delivered over 24 of these two courses, with more than 350 participants, we can truly state that performance management is currently experiencing a demand at a worldwide level. Even recently, we’ve been in Indonesia 4 times, having had 87 participants; 8 times in the UAE, with a resounding 102 attendees and twice in Mongolia & Oman, with 37 and 50 participants respectively.

Moreover, our courses are open to individuals of many specializations, from PM experts – Strategy Managers, PM Managers, Performance Architects, to top/middle/lower management employees or generally any individual interested in performance management, whether they are an entrepreneur, analyst or professional not from explicitly business-related fields.

 

Why would you join?

Ask yourself the following 4 questions:

1. Would you like to know how to manage performance at all levels, by identifying and addressing the true underlying issue that’s plaguing your company?
2. Do you want to develop and maintain a functional Performance Improvement System?
3. Are you someone who believes that you can enhance the decision-making process by including relevant data?
4. Do you agree with that idea that a healthy, results-oriented workplace culture leads to better performance?

If the answer to all of those is yes, then you’ve gone ahead and provided yourself with 4 good reasons to become a member of our exclusive, global certification community.

The Certified Performance Management Professional and Practitioner Certifications are a unique accreditation that endorse you both for your knowledge and skills in improving performance, across a variety of scenarios.

The two certifications are the result of a complex learning process, based on experiential learning that has 3 parts: pre-course activities, 3 days core-course and post-course tasks. The C-PM Professional is divided into 6 modules, with the C-PM Practitioner being divided into 4.

 

Certified Performance Management Professional

1.Data analysis

• What you should pay attention to when you receive KPI results from data custodians, to ensure data quality
• How to employ different business analysis techniques

2.Reporting

• How to prepare a proper performance review report
• Get insights from practice, based on several performance reports examples

3.Decision-making

• How to conduct effective performance review meetings
• How to take decisions based on data

4.Initiative management

• How to develop the Portfolio of Initiatives
• How to document initiatives

5.Learning and improvement

• How to recalibrate the Performance Management System
• How to assess the maturity of the Performance Management capability

6.Building a performance culture

• How to deploy a performance culture acorss the organization
• How to properly manage employees’ performance

 

Certified Performance Management Practitioner

1.Analyzing and reporting data in practice

• Analyze a set of performance data in order to obtain relevant insights
• Compose a performance review report

2.Making decisions and managing projects

• Map the steps of the decision making process
• Better keep track of your running projects across the organization

3.Performance Management capability maturity level

• Develop a survey to assess the maturity level of the organization in respect to performance management capability

4.Employee performance evaluation

• Develop a survey to assess the extent to which employees understand and belong to the organizational performance culture
• Develop a template to evaluate performance at employee level

 

If you’re someone who wants to better understand all of the mystique behind a Performance Management system architecture – how it is built, what are its constituting elements, in what manner do they relate to your purpose, this is the place to be, as far as knowledge-sharing is concerned when it comes to Performance Management.

During the Certified Performance Management Professional and Practitioner courses, you will learn how to conduct a rigorous data analysis process, get insights on the best practices in reporting KPIs and be able to practice mock performance review meetings.

Moreover, through our in-practice case studies, you will have the opportunity of gaining practical experience in recalibrating a Performance Management System that has either been mismanaged or become defunct altogether.

Discover how to build your own authentic, all-encompassing performance culture, whilst practicing performance improvement in 12 different scenarios.

Become the person that drives your company forward to new heights. Don’t be a passive actor in an otherwise very active business environment. If you’re aware that your company needs that extra edge to push it into contenders territory or assert dominance even more so than it currently does, be the person to seek knowledge and help it go even further beyond.

The KPI Institute has developed many courses over the years, most of which handle specific areas of improvement within a company, from employee performance, to organizational culture, KPIs, business strategy and performance measurement and many more. However, it has become clear to us that some organizations require a more specialized intervention that takes a comprehensive look over multiple elements at once.

This is why we’ve created the Global Performance Audit Unit – GPA Unit for short, whose experts can deliver the Certified Performance Audit Professional course. At its core, the C-PA course is designed around the Integrated Performance Maturity Model Framework, a 5-point structure that measures the maturity of your strategic planning, performance measurement, performance management, performance culture and employee performance management capabilities.

 

One framework to rule them all

As mentioned, the C-PA course rests on a 5-point integrated framework. When we first thought about this possibility, we realized it was imperative that we design this as rigidly as possible, in order to smoothly take into account several layers of organizational challenges at once. These are as follows:

 

Strategic Planning – define the long-term strategy and optimize resource allocation to achieve your organization’s vision. Articulate your strategic plan and focus your strategy towards organizational alignment.

 

Performance Measurement – look into the use, documentation and visualization of KPIs, to analyze how a strategy is executed, how to establish effective targets and collect KPI results.

 

Performance Management – optimize your performance management system through efficient decision-making and project implementation. Develop and change based on current results to improve performance.

 

Performance Culture – create the necessary conditions for your Performance Management System to become functional, to operate efficiently and be integrated into the overall organizational culture.

 

Employee Performance Management – measure, evaluate and reward individual performance to achieve your overall business strategy. Support learning and development to create a high-performance workforce.

Once we adjoined all of these aspects into one whole framework, we looked for ways in which we can assess a company’s performance based on this structure. This is where maturity levels come into play. When talking about PM maturity levels, we mean the adoption level of dedicated performance management tools, the shaping of internal performance management processes, the mechanisms, processes and relations through which performance management systems are run and administered.

 Your maturity level can be anywhere between 1 and 5:

• Initial
• Emergent
• Structured
• Integrated
• Optimized

Each of these levels gauges a company’s approach towards its core operational elements: tools, processes, governance, architecture and integration.

The Certified Performance Audit Professional course represents an educational program which embeds as a critical component the direct application of all these aspects, into a 3-day in-depth learning experience.

 

If you’re someone familiar with auditing processes or you simply feel that your company needs an auditor, who can provide a detailed roadmap for improvement through a thorough inspection process, this might be just the thing your organization needs to bump it up to the next level. Consider the following question series – would you like to:

• Receive relevant guidance on how to assess the maturity of a performance management system?
• Learn how to use the Performance Maturity Model Framework as part of your audit methodology?
• Understand the value added by a PMS audit and improve your PM capability?
• Develop the ability to interpret data and perform statistical analysis?
• Gain a better grasp over reviewing performance management documents, produced by the organization you’re assessing?
• Be able to interview key stakeholders, through a non-primed, objective survey?
• Learn to assemble a Performance Audit Project Plan?

Assuming your answer is affirmative, we’re more than happy to provide you with all the necessary knowledge so that you can become that auditing specialist that your company sorely needs!

By measuring your organization against our state-of-the-art maturity model, you’ll be able to find out where your organizational, operational and individual strengthens and weaknesses lie. Moreover, you’ll be more than capable to provide a pathway for consolidating the former and solving the latter, so that all your weaknesses become strengths.

All organizational challenges have a solution. There is no such thing as “cannot do”, there is only “will not do”. Knowing this, the question then becomes – do you want to want to do what it takes to improve your company’s results?

 

Through benchmarking, an organization is capable of comparing its own performance against that of its rivals, narrowing down on strengths, weaknesses, as well as specific advantages that they may be able to leverage in the head to head competition.

As the famous Daft Punk song goes, all successful businesses nowadays are looking for ways in which they can become better at gauging their competitors, faster at adapting to industry or market changes and stronger when it comes to dealing with hardship and unfavourable conditions. This is where benchmarking comes into play as the premiere method of achieving all these plans and more, given that it enables organizations to highlight pressure points – either their own or their rivals’, with pinpoint accuracy.

Since striving for the best possible results has always been our mantra, here at The KPI Institute we’ve developed the Certified Benchmarking Professional course, in order to help those who wish to share it. Whether you’re an expert in delivery & support functions, top/middle/lower management or simply a professional interested in benchmarking practices, the C-B course endorses you for both your knowledge in improving performance through best practices, as well as your ability to implement benchmarking strategies in your own organization.

Learning objectives

• Align benchmarking objectives with the organizational strategy
• Design a benchmarking plan for your organization
• Understand the fundamentals of benchmarking methodologies
• Assess performance gaps according to benchmarking data
• Select the relevant benchmarks and establish a monitoring process

Benchmarking’s methodological uniqueness is represented by the identification of those processes that lead to superior performance, followed by the analysis of the best practices which lie behind that level of success.

In order to put together a successful benchmarking study, professionals should not only become familiar with the best way to select those variables which will be measured, but also with the most appropriate method of determining the comparison compatibility of your selected measurable processes, allocating resources accordingly.

This is why our course focuses on ensuring you’ll have a solid understand of the basics of benchmarking, as well as how the entire process can then be integrated into existing structures with your organizational framework, from linking it to the overarching business strategy, to performance objectives, goals, KPIs and initiatives.

By attending our Certified Benchmarking Professional training session, attendees will be learning all there is about formal vs informal benchmarking, performance, process and strategic benchmarking, the APQC methodology, the Camp R.C. model, the TRADE methodology, as well as scoping, data collection, validation & adjustment, in addition to tackling a few legal and ethical issues surrounding benchmarking.

To provide you with a brief overview of the course, we’ve dismantled it into 5 modules:

1.Understanding the benchmarking concept and its advantages

• About the benchmarking concept
• The importance and use of benchmarking
• Benchmarking types

2.Becoming familiar with the general methodology

• What is being benchmarked?
• Against what is an organization benchmarked?
• How is benchmarking used?

3.Generating a benchmarking plan

• Design the preparation phase
• Establish the comparison phase
• Steps to follow in the analysis phase

4.Understanding data collection and analysis

• Identify data sources
• Analyze data

5.Improving performance

• Generate value from the information gathered
• Improve your organization’s performance
• Monitor the organization’s performance

Benchmarking is the process through which you take an overview of a situation, develop a plan for improvement, establish a data governance team that collections and analyzes information, out of which you will ultimately generate value for your company.

If you’re still wondering whether benchmarking is worth your time or not, here are 8 key advantages that the biggest companies around the world give when asked why they make use of this process:

• IIt allows you to measure and company your processes against those of another company’s, allowing you to discover inefficiency at the operational level.

• This then enables you to discover performance gaps that you may not otherwise be able to find.

• Through benchmarking, you can incorporate a leading company’s processes and practices into your own flow, to increase results and slowly close the gap.

• I Benchmarking allows perspicacious individuals to improve resource prioritization, through better future goal setting.

• For those companies unsure of their position within the market, the process of benchmarking offers you the possibility of identifying what your current state is in your industry, as well as how you would compare yourself to others, if the industry was different in any way.
• In many organizations, the introduction of performance measures feels like a dictator spouting orders around. By making use of benchmarks, you now have an argumentum ad verecundiam to introduce said measures.
• The process of benchmarking ensures a 24/7 monitoring of the overall organizational performance.
• Benchmarking equips you with the necessary knowledge to set targets in alignment with the organizational strategies that are currently in place. Moreover, because it places a heavy emphasis on data & analysis, it allows for improved task prioritization.

Whether you feel that benchmarking is useful or useless, the point of the matter is that many organizations around the world have seen leaps of improvement once they’ve decided that they should integrate at least some aspects related to this process. It should come as no surprise that the biggest users of benchmarking are actually the leading actors in every industry, as they have an incentive to make use of the process – they want to stay at the top.

For those looking to become challengers and eventually replace the dominant status-quo, remember that better results come one step at a time, which is exactly how we’ve structured our C-B course. We’ll be going from the basics, all the way to advanced practical exercises, where we make use of Motorola, AT&T, IBM, Xerox and TKI’s own methodology, in order to find what works best for your organization.

Employee performance seems to be one of the murkier areas of business, when it comes to understanding how it should be analyzed, measured and evaluated. Many managers get caught up in the generational narrative – boomers vs millennials, and forget that those elements play a much smaller role in quantifying results. They’re impactful for building the most appropriate work culture, but less so when looking at performance from an objective, metrics-focused point of view.

Because we stumble over this disconnect quite often, we at The KPI Institute have developed the Certified Employee Performance Management Professional and Practitioner courses, to help out our fellow businessmen and women, in finding out how to best measure their employees’ performance.

These courses will clarify key, specific, detailed concepts and will provide practical tools and techniques for implementing, improving or maintaining the company’s employee performance management system. You will gain exposure to some of the best practices in the field of performance management and will learn how to establish and use objective criteria for evaluating performance.

 

Key Course Learning Objectives and Benefits

The Employee Performance Management Professional and Practitioner training courses are outlined to help professionals design, implement and monitor individual and team performance systems that are aligned with the strategic goals of the company:

• Understand the fundamentals of the performance management framework
• Learn how to track employee performance during each phase of the performance management cycle
• Apply key tools to measure employees’ results in a fair and objective manner
• Learn how to conduct efficient performance appraisals
• Gain the knowledge of developing a PM system business case

In addition, you’ll learn how to nurture core competencies in order to design, implement, monitor, evaluate and follow a performance management cycle successfully. On top of all this, we’ll teach you how to identify the necessary corporate competencies and skills gaps, in order to generate sustainable growth. Lastly, through our C-EPM course, you’ll understand how to improve the organization’s visibility and accountability related to performance expectations.

 

Focusing on employee engagement

One of the core areas of employee performance that our courses focus on is engagement. To many, engagement feels like the carrot on the stick – you incentivize employees with something tantalizing and because they’ll want it, they’ll be inclined to become more engaged with their work, in order to acquire it. While this may seem like a good rule of thumb, it has a few caveats.

First of all, there is no such thing as “ideal carrots”, as many managers believe. Obviously, financial incentives matter, but in a world where a higher percentage of people have access to goods and services than ever before, money has become less of a central goal. If in previous work eras, 10/10 people would choose money, in today’s era, that number swerves between 6-7/10, depending on the industry and the alternatives that you’re offering.

Second of all, some employees simply cannot be engaged with or incentivized in any fashion. They don’t necessarily have to be low performers – they can be doing their jobs just fine; however, they simply do not wish to commit to the company’s ideals, vision or mission.

Engagement feels like a soft skills area, however it is more impactful than people give it credit for. A 2013 HRB study found that 72% of respondents ranked recognition given for high performance as having a significant impact on employee engagement. Moreover, a Tower Watson study from 2012 noticed that 88% of highly engaged employees understand how their specific job contributes to the organization achieving its business goals.

Therefore, if you’re someone struggling to find ways of effectively engaging your workforce, our C-EPM courses have you covered. Whether you wish to find the best possible ways of creating a motivated roster of employees, evaluate individuals based on objective criteria that make it easy to spot over-/under-performance or simply look for the most optimal ways of dealing with un-engageable employees, the Certified Employee Performance Management Professional and Practitioner courses have the information you need.

 

Short course agenda debrief

During the course’s 3 days, you’ll be able to gain an in-depth grasp over the following:

1. Designing an EPM System – what are its benefits, its prerequisites and how do you get buy-in & engagement
2. Measuring Employee Performance – cascading objectives, from the top levels, to the individual ones; defining, selecting & assessing behaviours and competencies; creating an employee performance evaluation form
3. Nurturing Employee Performance – how to do employee performance planning, mid-year performance reviews, how to put together a point of contact and support for employees, what are the most effective feedback techniques and what is active listening

Both C-EPM courses are broken down into several modules, each covering specific areas of the overarching employee performance management learning point, from performance criteria, to EPM System architecture and implementation project, putting EPM in context, evaluating initiatives and gauging the employee performance maturity level of your organization.

If you need help with finding out how to better manage your employees or you believe that your company might reap great benefits from implementing a structured employee performance overview framework, we’re here to help.

Many exceptional employees are lost because of mismanagement, poor communication, lack of engagement initiatives or even something as simple as complete cluelessness on the manager’s part. Many solid rosters end up breaking down because of the same factors.

Be proactive when it comes to your employees, their drive to succeed and their ability to help your organization evolve.

With over 15 years of experience and research and over 10,000 course participants worldwide, The KPI Institute boasts an undeniable history of expertise, profficiency and mastery over all elements pertaining to measuring and managing performance. It comes as no surprise that with such great reputation and knowledge, comes great responsibility to impart it with the rest of world. We can safely say that we’ve successfully accomplished this objective through our flagship courses, the Certified KPI Professional and Practitioner.

Our two C-KPI courses have been organized a total of 421 times over the past years, totalling almost 6,000 participants and continue to attract newcomers and returnees, whom have crossed our threshold before, but wish to perfect their trade.

The KPI Certified Professional and Practitioner recognitions are unique at global level, given the certification process thoroughness and the in-depth expertize dedicated to KPI measurement that participants acquire in this educational program.

 

Why even measure performance in the first place?

Back in 2013, a Mercer report on Performance Management noted that only 3% of companies acknowledged that their PM systems provide any discernible value to the company

Even more so, the same report highlighted that managerial skills, specifically how well managers set employee goals, KPIs, provide feedback, evaluate & link performance to critical talent management decisions (such as compensation, development and careers), represented the key driving points behind successful performance results.

Building upon these results, The KPI Institute ran its own study and found out that 51.62% of our surveyed professionals stated that their most challenging aspect in working with employess oftentimes represented selecting the right KPIs for them, followed by gathering data and documenting KPIs (14.67% / 13.96%).

So through these research endeavours, we now know that it is difficult for many managers to fully grasp the intricacies of working with KPIs. Here’s where our C-KPI courses come into play.

 

The world is your oyster

Companies looking to boost their performance would do well by optimizing their performance – either organizational, operational, departmental or individual, by generating added value from KPI measurement. You can gain a competitive edge, by differentiating yourself and gaining the respect of your peers, by demonstrating commitment to your profession through your interest in continuous learning and the latest trends in measuring performance.

Recognizing this, we’ve travelled the world with our Certified KPI Professional and Practitioner courses, seeking to provide support to those companies in need of improvement. In the last two years, TKI has assisted both public and private sector companies across several continents, from numerous countries & cultures:

Bahrain – 6 (courses)/63 (participants), Brunei – 8/166, Egypt – 16/266, Malaysia – 25/234, Mauritius – 3/50, Nigeria – 5/80, Oman – 22/400, Qatar – 16/160, Saudi Arabia – 107/1800, Sudan – 2/66, UAE – 118/1662.

Quote from Aurel

The KPI Professional and Practitioner training courses are designed to help you understand KPI measurement challenges and provide ways to address them. To ensure a smooth learning experience, TKI offers you toolkits, templates, case studies, good practice examples from some of the most successful organizations worldwide, as well as thought-provoking exercises.

The mantra behind this course is „Differentiate, Organize, Document, Optimize, Develop”.

If you wish to immerse yourself into the world of KPIs, learn the taxonomy & typology, find out how to structure a performance management framework and actually gain results from all of the efforts required to birth this project, look no further than our C-KPI courses.

Our training approach allows us to have significant, discernible impact on company practices, whilst preserving the main objectives of improving results and developing personnel. Because we intently focus on driving home the point that a company’s mission, vision and values are its quintessential components, we’ve structured both of our courses in 4 modules, so that all participants understand this from the get-go.

 

Certified KPI Professional

1.KPI Selection

• Differentiate between objectives, KPIs and initiatives, for a more relevant KPI selection
• Apply best practice techniques to KPI selection

2.KPI Documentation

• Document KPIs in a standardized template
• Establish targets for KPIs

3.Data Gathering

• Optimize the KPI activation and data gathering process
• Work with data custodians

4.Data Visualization

• Design efficient scorecards and dashboards
• Apply best practices in terms of visual design

 

Certified KPI Practitione

1.KPI Project Plan

• Get-buy in for a KPI implementation project
• Develop a comprehensive project plan for a KPI implementation

2.KPI Selection

• Organize a KPI selection workshop
• Create a value driver concept map

3.KPI Measurement

• Organize the data gathering process
• Create communication templates to gather data

4.KPIs in Context

• Develop scorecards and dashboards
• Develop a KPI report

Position yourself among the top professionals in performance measurement, by obtaining the premium recognitions for your competencies both as a professional and practitioner. Be the differentiating force in your company. Drive people’s ambition forward, strive for improvement at every step.

Today’s business world is a fierce stage, in which every actor is trying their best to one-up their competitors. Geographical barriers are no longer the final frontier – performance can thrive anywhere. As long as the fire to strengthen your management practices remains strong and your conviction in a structured approach unwavering, we are confident that your company can also become a success story worth mentioning.