In business, professional development is crucial when seeking opportunities for advancement. A good way to stay abreast of your current professional development and determine what you need to succeed is through KPIs.
KPIs, or key performance indicators, are quantifiable values used to determine the success of a business, employee, or department. A prime example of a KPI is a sales metric chart. This shows you how well your company is doing financially, which employee is selling the most product, which products are selling best, and even which months of the year customers are buying the most products.
Professional development is measured differently than sales numbers. A 360 evaluation is one way to find the information you need; another is a career development plan. The former collects data and feedback from peers or management while the latter focuses on short, medium- and long-term development plans. Let’s take a closer look at some of the KPIs to measure for professional development.
From a Business Perspective
The most common professional development KPIs are found at the business level. These are results of business-specific measurements, such as:
Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction KPIs can be evaluated by the percentage of good vs. bad online reviews, customer engagement through social media, and customers responding to current promotional emails.
Sales Targets
Meeting sales targets is an easy KPI to manage because the data is mathematical and straightforward. Based on sales targets for the year, how many have you met, surpassed, or missed? What does this tell you about the professional development you should invest in?
Setting professional development goals increases your value to a company personally and professionally.
From a Personal Perspective
Sometimes professional development goals are just as much personal as they are related to business. Being happy with your place in a company vastly increases your ability and willingness to go above and beyond at work. Some of the KPIs used to measure professional development from a personal level include:
Job Satisfaction
This is a tough KPI to measure because it’s not a physical number to put on a chart. Instead, you may need to develop your own method of evaluating your current job satisfaction. The ESI, or employee satisfaction index, is one of the best ways to measure satisfaction at work. It involves three questions, which are:
- How close is your workplace to your overall idea workplace?
- How happy are you with your workplace now?
- How much does your current workplace meet your expectations?
The questions are marked out of ten and graded dividing the mean value by 3 and subtracting 1 before dividing the answer by 9 and multiplying by 100.
Personal Goals Met
An example of a personal goal that could impact you professionally is successfully completing a university degree or community centre course. Any education that assists you at strengthening your role at home and at work is worth the personal effort.
KPIs for personal development are measured very differently from those for professional purposes, as they don’t appear on any analytics reports. Still, factoring them into your tally for professional growth is worthwhile.
For Advancement in Your Career
To advance in your career, expansion of your knowledge skills, presentation skills, leadership skills, and industry-specific skills is essential. Some ways to review these areas are:
Attendance Records
If you’re at work on time, rarely miss a day, and only take time off during pre-scheduled vacation periods, your attendance is something which could certainly help you advance at work. Of course, if you’re noticing quite a few missed or late days, it might be time to examine what’s causing delays or loss of time.
Project Completion Times
How long it takes you to complete a project is an important element to review, especially for management. When comparing you to team members who manage similar projects in less time, you appear less relevant to the company’s success.
Training Requirements
Are you completing all your required training, and taking advantage of additional learning opportunities as they present themselves? Spending time bettering yourself for the benefit of your company shows how important you are to your business. A checklist of required and completed training is enough as a KPI to measure success in this area.
Sometimes it’s tough to get out of a comfort zone when setting career goals. The fear of failure makes goal setting tough. By successfully managing these goals long term, more professional development opportunities arrive.
At Sandbox Centre we work with businesses in a variety of industries, connecting you with resources and knowledge to improve your brand. If you’re interested in learning more about how KPIs can help your brand, contact us today.
