Frederick Winslow Taylor is credited with starting the Scientific Management movement. He and his associates studied how work was performed. They examined how the performance of work affected worker productivity. In his book, “The Principles of Scientific Management,” published in 1911, Taylor discussed his philosophy based on the belief that making people work as hard as they could was not as efficient as optimizing the way the work was done. While a lot has happened in the past 100+ years, many of the performance management systems have remained fundamentally the same, despite the increased complexity of work and the volume of performance data.
Industry Trend: Forward-Looking Marketing Evaluation
Performance management practices are shifting from backward-looking, activity-based evaluations (how much work is delivered on time) to fact-based performance evaluations that link the work of marketers to their impact on the business. While this is a worthwhile shift, it only works if each person understands how their work ties directly to a business outcome. However, some experts in the organizational development field suggest that KPIs now actually account for less than 5% of how employee performance is evaluated.
Work by Ernest O’Boyle Jr. and Herman Aguinis concluded that the top five percent of workers in most companies outperform average workers by 400%! The sample curve emerging from this research suggests that 10-20% of employees, at most, make an outsized contribution. Cinching the link between performance and rewards, such as autonomy, mastery, and purpose are more likely to motivate individuals to strive for excellence, build their capabilities, and stretch their skills.
Performance management uses performance measures and standards to achieve desired results. It is a forward-looking, continuous process. There are at least two elements needed to be successful in a performance-based approach to Marketing management.
1. You must set the right type of performance targets for every Marketing program. A performance target represents a commitment to achieve a specific and higher quality or level of performance over a specified time frame. It is used to evaluate performance achieved compared to performance expected. Marketers who utilize performance management best practices intelligently set performance targets that are relevant to the organization’s objectives and outcomes. Well-designed performance targets are:
- Tied directly to outcomes
- Clear and measurable
- Directional
- Designed to improve results
Avoid inward-looking targets for Marketing. Inward-looking targets are where Marketing is answerable to their own organization, while outward-looking targets are focused on how effective Marketing is in finding, keeping, and growing the value of customers and the business.
Marketing drives the demand side of the business. Therefore, performance targets should reflect these aspects of Marketing. A performance target is about taking your performance to the next level. You want to set a target that demonstrates improvement, but not one that sets you or your team up to fail. We suspect you’re thinking everyone sets targets. Setting relevant performance targets is both art and science and therefore challenging.
2. A method to track, measure, manage, and report on performance. Someone on your team, ideally your Marketing Operations function, gathers the data needed to analyze the actual performance and construct actionable dashboards. These multi-level actionable dashboards must be able to drill down to the program level to report on each program’s performance to the target. This is why Marketing dashboards need to be performance-based rather than operationally oriented. Performance tracking and measuring enable you to focus on those areas that determine your overall business success.
Performance measurement, measures, and target-setting are important to the growth process. The growth of your company and the growth of your people. When you put performance back into management, you will know how the different areas of your business and your people are performing.
Want to learn more about performance management and setting relevant performance targets? Schedule a complimentary conversation.
FAQ:
A: Taylor’s core insight—optimizing how work is done is more efficient than simply pushing people to work harder—still applies. Yet many performance management systems remain fundamentally unchanged, even as work has become more complex and performance data has exploded. The opportunity now is to modernize performance management so it reflects complexity, focuses on outcomes, and uses data to improve decisions—not just to audit activity.
A: The trend is moving from backward-looking, activity-based evaluation (e.g., how much work was delivered on time) to fact-based, forward-looking evaluation that links Marketing work to business impact. However, this only works when every marketer understands how their work ties directly to a business outcome—and when the organization actually uses performance measures meaningfully in evaluation and development.
A: Because some organizational development experts suggest KPIs may account for less than 5% of how employee performance is evaluated in practice. This implies that performance systems often rely heavily on subjective assessment, role expectations, and behavioral factors. To drive excellence, organizations must strengthen the connection between performance, outcomes, and rewards—without reducing performance to a narrow set of numbers.
A: Research cited (O’Boyle Jr. and Aguinis) suggests the top 5% of workers can outperform average workers by 400%, and that only 10–20% of employees may contribute at an outsized level. This reinforces the importance of designing performance systems that identify and cultivate excellence—through capability-building and meaningful motivation.
A: Strengthening the link between performance and intrinsic rewards—autonomy, mastery, and purpose—is more likely to motivate individuals to strive for excellence, build capabilities, and stretch skills. This is especially relevant in knowledge work, where performance depends on judgment, learning, and adaptability.
A:
- Set the right type of performance targets for every Marketing program. A performance target is a commitment to achieve a higher level of performance over a defined time frame and is used to evaluate actual vs. expected performance. Effective targets are:
- Tied directly to outcomes
- Clear and measurable
- Directional
- Designed to improve results
Marketing should avoid inward-looking targets (accountable only to internal activity) and prioritize outward-looking targets tied to finding, keeping, and growing customer and business value.
- Use a method to track, measure, manage, and report performance. Ideally enabled by Marketing Operations, this includes gathering data, analyzing actual performance, and producing multi-level, actionable dashboards that drill down to program-level performance against targets—reinforcing why dashboards must be performance-based, not merely operational.
A: Because performance management supports growth on two levels: the growth of the company and the growth of its people. When you “put performance back into management,” you gain visibility into what is working, what needs improvement, and how capabilities and investments should evolve to drive better outcomes.
Recent Posts
- The Destiny of Siloed Priorities is Random Acts
- The Power of Customer-Led Product Development for Market Growth | What’s Your Edge?
- Footprint Expansion: A Customer-Centric Growth Strategy for Scaling
- The Focus on Right-Fit Customers Yields Faster Profitable Growth | What’s Your Edge
- Customer Research and Growth: The Hidden Cost of Not Truly Knowing Your Customers
You must be logged in to post a comment.