When it comes to laboratory KPIs, you are probably very familiar with the topic. It’s easy to assume that you have everything under control because you are very familiar with yours. However, this confidence can lead to some common pitfalls. Here are the five biggest mistakes that organisations make time and time again when introducing KPIs:
1. Measuring everything that “moves and goes”
Not every measurable metric should be turned into a KPI. They should be directly aligned with your most important strategic business objectives. Measuring too many KPIs can dilute the focus and is no guarantee that you will achieve your main objectives.
2. Using vanity metrics as KPIs
Vanity metrics are great for attracting attention and impressing others, but they do not create real value. You want to avoid the deadly “so what?”
Vanity metrics, such as the number of analyses performed, may look impressive, but they don’t necessarily help understand your lab’s performance. These metrics only become valuable when they are linked to important outcomes, such as on-time delivery to your (internal/external) customers.
3. Treating Laboratory KPIs as goals
KPIs are tools to measure progress towards your goals, not the goals themselves.
When your laboratory KPIs become targets, there is a risk that data will be manipulated to achieve them, especially if incentives are tied to these metrics.
4. Concentrating on lagging KPIs and very few KPIs as frontrunners
Results-oriented KPIs, lagging KPIs, are important to measure the success of your organisation, but they are retrospective and cannot be corrected. They are history.
Leading indicators, on the other hand, can be influenced and reacted to in order to correct deviations towards target fulfilment in good time.
5. Failing to analyse and monitor your laboratory KPIs
Your laboratory KPIs are there to provide actionable insights. If you analyse them regularly and integrate them into your company’s daily processes, you can be sure that they will lead to decisions and improvements.
Have you made any of these mistakes? Let Optima solution support you with your KPIs
Monitoring and understanding your laboratory performance is of paramount importance to us at Optima. Optima LRMS solution is not just about automatically scheduling your resources, but also about providing you with a wealth of information about your performance and helping you to take action to improve where needed.In addition, Optima generates reports for laboratory managers who use them successfully in their management meetings to negotiate investments, adjust production rhythm and correct project deadlines.
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