What does performance really mean?
Performance is one of the most widely used words in describing how the business is organized and managed. Therefore, it is very important to have a precise and usable definition of performance. How do you define performance? What is the definition put forward for your performance management methods or solutions? What does your dictionary say? Does the definition make sense? Are your key performance indicators actually performance indicators? Do your performance management structures actually manage performance? What is performance in our enterprise, and how should we define performance?
Both the activity of performance and the result of the performance are defined as performance
If you look up the definition of performance or performance management, you likely will see that performance defines not only the execution of an action as performance, but also the results accomplished by the action as performance. Does this make sense? Defining the performance activities and performance results to be the same thing, makes it difficult to manage performance activities and performance results as different things!
The flawed definition of performance is still being copied and used in new structures and books
How can all those writing about performance and management, even today, mindlessly copy this definition, without asking themselves: what if we were to manage performance and results separately to manage the specific performance producing a specific result, instead of mixing them together as performance?
The flawed definition of performance prevents management of the business
Look up the definition of business, as in the enterprise business. The common definition is “the activity of providing goods and services”. In order to organize and manage the business we must organize and manage “the activity of providing goods and services”. Applying the definition of performance, activity is defined as performance and goods and services are defined also as performance, making the business “the performance of providing performance”. This makes it difficult for us to organize and manage the business.
We will continue our years of unsolvable management problems as long as we mindlessly copy the flawed definition of performance. However, we will make a breakthrough to eliminate management problems, when we properly define performance activity to be performance and performance results to be results.
Result-performance Management defines the activity as performance and the results as results
The breakthrough definition of performance is in Result-performance Management (R-pM). R-pm organizes the business activity as performance and goods and services as results to organize and manage the enterprise business for the first time. R-pM properly defines results separate from performance, result management separate from performance management, and result metrics separate from performance indicators.
Visit Result-performance-Management.com to learn more about organizing your business with R-pM for 21st Century Management, and the R-pM Toolkit, your 21st Century Management Manual.
