The Global Performance Audit (GPA) Unit, the division at The KPI Institute (TKI) that specializes in strategy and performance management audits, has successfully completed an extensive performance management system maturity assessment for Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS). The evaluation encompassed the entity’s maturity level for five organizational capabilities: strategic planning, performance measurement, performance improvement, performance culture and employee performance management.

With its Maturity Model Framework, the GPA Unit applied a robust methodology comprising over 300 statements that encapsulate industry best practices. This approach integrated evidence-based assessment, perception-based assessment, and interview-based assessment, providing a thorough and insightful analysis of SCFHS’s performance management landscape.

SCFHS is an independent scientific professional body established in 1992, with the goal of contributing to a healthy society through qualified health practitioners. According to the audit findings, SCFHS has an integrated and robust performance management system, the result of a collaborative effort of the entire organization and under the coordination of an experienced management. 

Adrian Brudan, General Manager EMEA of The KPI Institute and GPA unit, acknowledged the positive outcome and extended his congratulations to SCFHS for their outstanding performance: “The assessment results reflect the entity’s commitment to excellence and readiness to embrace best practices. May the current results be a stepping stone for even greater accomplishments in the future. I have no doubt that your commitment to excellence will continue to drive SCFHS towards new milestones and further success.”

As a pioneer in setting performance standards, TKI collaborates with organizations to guarantee thorough assessments, steadfast commitment to enhancement, and unwavering adherence to global performance management standards. SCFHS stands as evidence of this dedication, marking a positive stride forward.

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About the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties 

The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS) is an independent scientific professional body, established in 1992, with the goal of contributing to a healthy society through qualified health practitioners. SCFHS is centered around their training, accreditation, and health transactions. It oversees the classification of health certificate holders, evaluates their certificates, sets the foundation and standards for practicing health professions, and conducts the professional registration of health practitioners. This ensures that the health practitioner is thoroughly qualified, possessing the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to diagnose and treat diseases in a distinctive and secure manner. For more information, visit their website at: www.scfhs.org.sa

About The KPI Institute & the GPA Unit 

The KPI Institute (TKI) is a worldwide leader in performance management and KPIs training and certification. It operates research programs in 12 practice domains, disseminates industry insights through publications and knowledge platforms, and provides support in deploying those insights through training and advisory services.

The Global Performance Audit Unit (GPA Unit) is the strategy and performance audit division of The KPI Institute. Its purpose is to provide integrated strategy and performance assessment solutions through rigorous research, education and analysis.

Based on over 15 years of experience and a combination of academic and practitioner research in the field of strategy and performance, we have developed a unique set of frameworks for assessing the maturity level of organizational performance management systems.

The concept and services of the GPA Unit are available worldwide, as it is supported by a dedicated online platform and a global network of collaborators, www.gpaunit.org.

Contact details

For more information, please contact:

Adrian Brudan: General Manager EMEA, TKI

[email protected] | Contact Number: +40 721 233 084

“State of Strategy Management Practice Report – 2022” is an international research study that explores the latest issues, trends, and best practices impacting the field of strategic planning, KPI usage, and strategy execution.

Developed and published by The KPI Institute, the report presents the results of a survey held from November to December 2021. The survey questions were formulated by forming a focus group of internal subject matter experts and aggregating the feedback of thousands of professionals and practitioners in The KPI Institute’s community.

The report covers the major areas affecting organizations today, from target setting to performance measurement and from the role of communication in strategic planning to the common pitfalls in strategy execution.

The data captured in the study reflects the insights of 500 professionals (27% are Executives, and another 34% occupy managerial positions), and nearly half of them are either directly involved in strategy planning or responsible for the design and maintenance of the strategy and performance management system. The survey has addressed 26 topic-related items.

Inside the report, readers would find:

Report overview

• Introduction
• Methodology
• Executive summary

Key Findings

Strategic Planning

• Highlights
• Strategy formulation process
• Strategy alignment
• Strategy tools
• Key success factors
• Strategy communication

Performance Measurement

• Highlights
• KPI usage
• Target setting
• Technology

Strategy Execution

• Highlights
• Overview
• Initiative Management
• Agility

Demographics

Conclusions and Implications for Practice

• Conclusions
• Implications for practice

Get your free copy of “State of Strategy Management Practice Report – 2022” today! For inquiries regarding the report, contact Cristina Mihăiloaie, Business Unit Manager – Research Division:  [email protected], +61 (390) 282 223 or +40 (749) 424 517.

This piece was first published in the latest edition of Performance Magazine. Andrea Minelli is the head of Professional Services SEA and a trainer and Performance Management Consultant at The KPI Institute. Andrea shared his views on the question “What Are the Success Factors of a Corporate Performance Management Implementation Process?”

A performance management system (PMS) implementation is not an easy feat regardless of the maturity of their implementation SOPs and the capability of those individuals guiding the implementation exercise. The success rate of a PMS implementation is highly dependent on the degree of buy-in of the members of the organization regardless of whether the member is involved in the implementation per se of the framework or if they will be appraised using the mentioned system. 

Such buy-in or organizational support towards the framework can be secured via continuous and transparent knowledge-sharing sessions. We explain to all members the motivation of the implementation and the desired outcomes. We train all allocated members in raising their knowledge and awareness towards the technicality of the framework (the specificity of these training should be customized as per the audience). 

For instance, the implementation team, which is generally members of the departments of Strategy Execution, Performance Management, Quality Assurance, or Organizational Excellence, will have a more in-depth technical preparation with respect to a non-PMS-implementation member. 

Such knowledge-sharing sessions aim at upskilling those members involved in applying standardized practices related to Strategic Planning and Execution, selection of Performance Measurement indicators, such as KPIs, at different organizational layers, and above all, proper cascading/alignment practices for Strategic and Performance Management matters. 

Last but not least, it is relevant to remember that the implementation of all the mentioned practices requires not only informed, skilled, and capable individuals from specific departments of the organization, but a proper dedicated governance framework that will foster and assist both the implementation team and all the members of the organization. Crucial support is required by Top Management and BoDs members pre-during and after the PMS framework is in place. 

There is no one-size-fits solution as organizational readiness, both technical and human-wise, play a big role in the PMS success. A governance-led standardized implementation approach will provide the foundations of success though.

Andrea Minelli facilitates the Certified Performance Management Professional Live Online Course of The KPI Institute. Stay tuned to The KPI Institute’s LinkedIn official page for the upcoming schedule and learn more about the Certification in Performance Management here.

Editor’s Note: Below is an excerpt from the article “Key Drivers for Strategic Planning in a Post-pandemic Business Environment,” written by Daniela Vuta and published in the latest edition of Performance Magazine. It presents trends, solutions, and best practices for strategy and performance management through in-depth articles, first-hand how-to’s, concept presentations, case studies, and expert insights.

The business landscape has always been complex and dynamic. Organizations use strategic frameworks and business models validated through practice to cope with an ever-changing environment. But this was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to radical and disruptive changes across industries. 

The European Business Review identified six essential forces driving change into the world of business: impactful technology, demographic change, rapid urbanization, amplified individuals, economic power shifts to climate, and resource security.  

“For years, we have been hearing and talking about the impending VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world,” wrote Quy Huy, INSEAD Professor of Strategic Management, in an article for INSEAD Knowledge. “Over and over again, we were told to prepare for the seismic change that was sure to arrive, to boost agility in anticipation of abrupt, profound disruption.”

“COVID-19 was a misfortune long foreseen; only the dates and other specific details were missing. Now that the whole world has experienced the VUCA that only emerging markets used to face, it can never again be treated as an abstraction,” Huy added.

Many organizations are still relying on the five-year plan as a strategic framework, but this type of planning, while proven to be useful in the past, may not be feasible today. It puts business leaders in a reactive mode when responding to business events. Given these conditions, what are the key drivers that executives will need to consider in strategic planning for the years to come? 

According to Euromonitor’s Voice of the Industry: Lifestyles Survey 2020, corporate strategy planning and recovery should rely on three main pillars: consumer, digital investment, and sustainability. Findings from the study showed that the most common strategic objectives for 2021 among the interviewed companies were focused on recovery and growth, brand image, technology investment, and organizational structure redesign, mostly by transforming operations for greater agility and flexibility. 

The capacity to identify drivers that might compromise the organization’s long-term profitability or determine strategic success in the future is going to be critical. For decision-makers, this will imply both questioning long-standing assumptions and future visions in a systematic way. Nonetheless, making predictions for an uncertain future and integrating them into strategic decisions is not an easy endeavor.

Want to understand the importance of prediction, adaptability, and resilience; digitalization; and agile integration to businesses in the post-pandemic world? Read the rest of the article in the latest edition of Performance Magazine  Download your FREE COPY now!

Building healthy work relationships is essential for both the employees and their employer when they are building a performance-oriented culture.

Citing several studies on work relationships, SHRM Foundation’s Effective Practice Guidelines Series shows that high-quality human relationships can impact one’s physical and psychological health, cognitive abilities, thinking capacity, learning, resiliency, commitment, creativity, and organizational citizenship behavior. This means more efficient employee coordination with qualities that support “greater organizational effectiveness and efficiency.”

However, the work setup of most companies changed when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world. Organizations moved their operations online, forcing employees to perform their duties and communicate virtually. 

Cultivating professional relationships is not easy in such an environment. Employees connecting virtually rather than face-to-face communication have lesser chances of building relationships, according to a study held by Xiao-Ping Chen, the Philip M. Condit Endowed Chair in Business Administration at the University of Washington Foster School of Business.

Findings showed that it is difficult to understand the nonverbal cues of remote workers, such as facial expressions, hand gestures, silence, or delayed responses. Moreover, most employees struggle with paying attention during a meeting done via video conferencing.

What Organizations Can Do

Increasing resilience in the workplace as people recover from a crisis means giving them purpose and hope, flexibility and adaptability, and connection to their colleagues. Organizations can arrange activities that can help employees stay connected even while working remotely. 

In an interview with CNBC, Jason Fried, CEO of the project management company Basecamp, recommends a daily check-in with colleagues or a time at work where they can share ideas and express support over personal matters.

Meanwhile, education company General Assembly implemented watercooler chat over coffee through video chat rooms. Meg Randall, the director of product delivery for the company’s tech team in New York City, said that those coffee breaks help her mentally start her day. “It’s a small talk that lasts for a few minutes, but it’s a nice ritual if you’re craving that human connection every day, which I have been,” said Randall. 

Trust, transparency, and open communication can also help organizations nurture healthy work relationships. One of the ways this can be tested, particularly between leaders and employees, is performance evaluation. Assessing employee performance has changed due to the pandemic. 

In the online event held by ECCP and HURIS on August 2021, Cristina Mihăiloaie, Business Unit Manager at The KPI Institute, said that the performance criteria used for employee evaluations, whether it involves key performance indicators or not, should be “flexible, easy to adapt to changes, and more focused on the extent to which the role is successfully achieved, compared to looking at operational details.”

“For example, employees who worked from home and multitasked between being a parent and a professional may have missed some meetings, or maybe they seemed more absent during work. Overall, if the output of their job is good, the operational details may be less important,” she said. 

Join Cristina as she delivers the Certified Performance Management Systems Audit Professional Live Online course on 07 – 11 March 2022 / EMEA 18:00 – 22:00 GST and ASEAN 09:00 – 13:00 CST (US).

This 40-hour course will discuss how to diagnose and audit the maturity of performance architectures for five capabilities: strategic planning, performance measurement, performance management, performance culture and employee performance management.

Don’t miss this opportunity to widen your knowledge and experience in employee performance management. You can sign up here.

Promoting excellence and improving performance happens at all levels. We oftentimes focus on employees, managers, and heads of departments, but we mustn’t forget about the upper echelon – directors, and executives. They represent the starting point for an organization’s vision, mission, and overarching goals.

If we were to take a look at many companies, a large percentage of the reason they became and remained successful is their leadership, specifically, the people positioned at the highest ranks.  

However, a number of organizations also failed precisely because the individuals at the helm did not know how to steer them in the proper direction, oftentimes swaying too much to one side or going completely off-course. 

Here at The KPI Institute, our belief is that no business should ever fail or steer off-course if it benefits from proper management. Many of our courses focus on ensuring mid-tier level or intermediate-level leaders receive the knowledge they need in order to stabilize, improve, or maximize the performance of their organization. With that said, we felt it was high time we also focused on a business’s zenith, namely its uppermost executives. 

The Executive Program in Strategy and Performance 

The Executive Program in Strategy and Performance is the most complex educational program in The KPI Institute’s portfolio.

It is designed for business leaders who are interested in strengthening their skills in strategic planning, performance measurement based on Key Performance Indicators, data analysis, and reporting, strategy execution in dynamic markets. 

The Executive Education Program is split into two parts: a postgraduate diploma course and a graduate certificate course.  

• The Postgraduate Diploma in Strategy and Performance spans over the course of 3 semesters, or 18 months, and covers 8 specialized learning experiences. Once you’ve finished all your studies, you are required to put together a practitioner portfolio that will focus on 40 assignments. This course also awards you 280 CPD points, for your CPD development portfolio.
  

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• The Graduate Certificate in Strategy and Performance only lasts 2 semesters, over a period of 12 months, requiring its learners to complete 4 specialized courses and put together a practitioner portfolio that will focus on only 20 assignments. This course also awards you 140 CPD points, for your CPD development portfolio. 

Out of the 8 specialized learning experiences, 6 are mandatory, while 2 are elective. The 6 mandatory ones are Strategic Planning, Performance Measurement, Performance Management, Strategy Execution, Performance Management System Audit, and Employee Performance Management. 

The final two are up to preference. You can choose whichever two options you wish, out of the following: the Balanced Scorecard, Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), Innovation Management Framework, Data Analysis, Data Visualization, or Benchmarking. 

Admission process 

The admission process for Executive Education Program is straightforward and only has 4 steps: 

1. You schedule an initial discussion with us, expressing your interest in this program 
2. You submit an admission file, which will contain your letter of intent (200-500 word), your CV, and all diplomas that reflect your educational background 
3. We will review your admission file 
4. We will schedule an interview with you 

After the interview is concluded, we’ll look to submit a final answer on your application process in up to 3 days’ time. 

Participant profile 

This course is primarily aimed at mid-tier and high-level leaders, from sales managers, chief accountants, production supervisors, and facilities managers, to directors, presidents, vice-presidents, and CEOs.  

Our intention is to focus on business leaders who wish to better their ability to plan ahead and strategize for the future, based on present data. We cover all aspects related to business improvement, from strategy execution, data analysis, and KPI measurement, to systems thinking, project management, and performance reporting. 

Competency framework 

Each of the courses covered in this program is intended to help you expand your competencies and capabilities so that you will become an integrated strategy and performance executive. The core of our Executive Education Program courses focus on the following:  

• The Certified Strategy and Business Planning Professional will augment your strategic planning capability, whilst improving your strategic thinking, stakeholders’ engagement, and communication competencies.
  

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• The Certified Agile Strategy Execution Professional will advance your strategy execution capability, whilst refining your systems thinking, project management, and leadership competencies.
  

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• The Certified KPI Professional will amplify your performance measurement capability, whilst developing your KPI selection, data collection, and data visualization competencies.
  

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• The Certified Performance Management Professional will elevate your performance improvement capability, whilst enhancing your data analysis, problem-solving, and decision-making competencies.
  

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• The Certified Employee Performance Management Professional will supplement and boost your knowledge on employee performance management capability, whilst progressing your employee performance planning, employee evaluation, and feedback sessions competencies.
  

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•  The Certified Performance Management Systems Auditor will evolve your Performance Management System maturity model based-assessment capability, whilst intensifying your examination, analytical thinking, and solutions design competencies.
  

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Through the Executive Education Program, we aim to build a new generation of executives, one that is ready to surmount any business trials or obstacles, much like a seasoned general.

In the 21st century, it is unacceptable for a business leader to falter in the face of adversity when in this day and age, there are more tools and tricks available than ever before. 

At The KPI Institute, we believe that through knowledge, dedication, and hard work, any challenge can be overcome. Even though some hurdles are greater than others and may cause setbacks, many of the greatest success stories in history came from failure. 

It is high time we addressed the high rates of failure in strategy execution so often encountered in organizations. It is time you shape the future, by knowing exactly what needs to be done and how to generate changes in the strategy and performance management practices of your organization.

It is time to become the best version of your professional self that you can be. 

2020 is slowly, but surely, coming to a close. We are already halfway through November, with December creeping up on us. We can almost hear a distant, faint Mariah Carey, singing ”All I want for Christmas is You”.

We have had an extraordinary year, completely revamping our certifications and moving them into the online environment. What followed was simply astounding.

Our attendance numbers went through the roof. We began delivering around 6-10 courses a week, instead of our regular 3-4, and participants flooded our events, which was direct feedback that our mission was a success.

Whilst there are still a few weeks left in 2020 – 5 to be specific, we will continue to deliver the same level of quality content in all of our certifications, so if you have not had the chance to sign up for any of the courses, we highly recommend you give them a look-see HERE.

Up until the 14^th of December, we’ll still be going strong with numerous events, focusing on a wide variety of topics, from KPIs, OKRs, performance management, and supplier performance, to strategy and business planning, innovation performance, data analysis, and employee performance management.

Keep a lookout on our social media channels – Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, to always be updated on which courses are next, and how can you sign up for them, in the remaining 5 weeks.

Whilst 2020 has been a challenging year, we know we can finish strong, and look forward to a much brighter and better 2021.

It is quite difficult to set an organization’s long term plan. Especially nowadays, with challenges appearing left, right and center, business specialists have to be ready for a whole host of complicating factors, when considering growth and sustainability.

That’s where we come in, with our Certified Strategy and Business Planning Professional Live Online Course, which we will be bringing in a special Arabic edition, for our partners in the Middle Eastern region.

Participants will explore the framework that provides the foundation of a successful business strategy, focusing on the main components of a strategy and practicing the development of an efficient strategic plan. By acknowledging the factors and implications involved in designing a strategy, participants can develop and execute smarter and quicker strategic decisions.

Join us between the 31st of June – 4th of July, 2020, 9:00 Gulf Standard Time, for our Arabic edition of the popular C-SBP course, hosted by Fadi Al-Jafari, business consultant and data management specialist, with The KPI Institute.

What will you learn – Building a strategic mental framework

• Understand the key concepts of strategic planning;
• Use strategic planning tools for individual and group exercises;
• Understand the best practices in this field, through a case study.

What will you achieve – Benefits

• Receive structured knowledge that can be transferred to all areas of your careers;
• Accessing a network of professionals, sharing business opportunities and innovative solutions to strategic planning dilemmas;
• Get excellent recognition, as a certified professional in strategy and business planning.

Presenter profile

Fadi Al-Jafari is a management consultant at The KPI Institute, specialized in strategic planning, performance management, key performance indicators, data analysis and data visualization, certified professional project management – PMP®.

Fadi holds several certifications in performance measurement & management, statistics, predictive analytics with BigML, as well as the usage of Microsoft Excel, on which he is a subject matter expert.

The KPI Institute’s participation at the PMA 2014 Conference, held in Aarhus, Denmark had as a main outcome the achievement of a full and comprehensive conference cover. PERFORMANCE Magazine, The KPI Institute’s magazine dedicated to performance and strategy, provides an extensive database that comprises 11 interviews with professionals, as well as coverage from roughly over 80 presentations delivered by speakers all throughout the 3 days of conference.

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