Warming Up to Performance Dashboards

Dashboards that monitor organizational performance can spark a great awakening within the businesses that use them. Instead of waiting a month or two to see how actuals compare with plans, dashboard users are alerted to a performance shortfall almost as soon as it occurs, so they have the chance to head it off early. That fosters a more proactive approach to managing the business, empowers workers to act confidently and helps them do their job better. Yet despite the undeniable benefits of dashboards, this type of tool isn't always embraced by everybody in a company. In fact, it may serve as an unhappy awakening for some constituents.

Receiving performance information virtually instantaneously changes how workers work and how managers manage, which is bound to ruffle a few feathers. Performance dashboards increase individual accountability and responsibility. Suddenly, everyone may be able to see how everyone else is doing from one day to the next. While some corporate cultures are comfortable making dramatic changes in the way their employees are judged, many don't take such changes easily in stride. Convincing people within these resistant environments to warm up to dashboard technology can be an uphill battle.

"It's hard to get people to use the dashboards -- even though they're flashy performance tools -- in part because people have become comfortable with the reams of performance reports that they see every month," says Craig Schiff, president of BPM Partners in Stamford, Conn. "In addition, people tend to think that dashboards make the company look too summarized, too encapsulated, to be of any significant value."