“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”
Peter Drucker
One problem:
Back offices don’t have a metric-based, objective way to measure performance
One solution:
Adopt a simpler performance management framework that measures and optimizes all work to free up the time needed to complete projects.
Our thoughts in 500 words or less:
Traditional performance management systems like OKRs and SMART goals aim to align individual performance with organizational goals but often fail due to the difficulties in
translating strategic objectives and financial metrics to an employee's daily activities. The difference between efficiency and effectiveness lies in how both managers and team members know that the right things are being worked on at the right times.
Individual contributors often need additional capacity to tackle new strategic initiatives, which is challenging in back-office settings where resources are scarce. Without defining how teams are spending their time in the first place, it further exacerbates the disconnect between day-to-day execution and high-level objectives.
A solution is to shift from a top-down to a bottom-up performance management model, where individual contributors have ownership of their daily tasks and visibility into how their work supports strategic goals. This involves: 1) setting a capacity baseline, 2) optimizing workloads, and 3) freeing up time to complete growth projects. The key is in first defining how time is being spent. A large part of this lies in identifying low priority firefighting, or ad hoc, work and eliminating non-value-added tasks. By doing so, individual contributors can focus more on meaningful projects while also being recognized for the business-critical work they do day to day.
Executives set ambitious strategic goals expecting the back-office to deliver, but these projects are often delayed due to a lack of time and resources. The baseline for individual capacity had never been set. Without a capacity baseline, there's friction as business leaders expect growth projects to be prioritized while back-office teams are overwhelmed by critical tasks. Recurring duties like month-end close, compliance filings, and payroll consume significant time, often leading to overtime. Despite their critical role, back-office teams are often overburdened and underappreciated.
This friction affects annual performance reviews, penalizing back-office employees for incomplete projects without acknowledging their recurring work and daily firefighting. A system that captures and measures all work is needed to provide a comprehensive view of contributions, ensuring employees receive due credit. Without this visibility, leaders rely on subjective judgments for bonuses and promotions, underscoring the need for objective performance metrics specific to back-office work.
CuroWork's approach simplifies performance management by systematically freeing up day-to-day time for project completion. This method allows leaders to:
Capture and Measure All Work: All Work: Implement a system that records all work types, ensuring team members receive credit for their contributions and helping identify optimization areas.
Complete More Projects: By measuring the ebbs and flow of how time is spent, teams can efficiently complete projects and precisely identify obstacles.
Leverage New Tools for Efficiency: Identify repetitive tasks to deploy automation tools, giving managers more visibility to reprioritize work or defend teams from ad hoc requests.
We’re here to help and have spent nearly two decades solving back-office problems. Our unique software tools will allow you to overcome the challenges of hybrid work and enable your back-office teams to thrive in today’s dynamic economy. If you are interested in discussing how to get your back-office teams to stop missing their performance goals and start exceeding them, please reach out to our founder, Daniel Paik, to learn more.
About CuroWork:
CuroWork was founded to build trusting teams by clearly aligning all work around the right things at the right time.
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