Portfolio Company Roundtable: The Importance of Tracking and Measuring Progress with KPIs
We spoke with Jeff Williams, Chief Strategy Officer of Mindpath Health, about the importance of assessing progress with key performance indicators, or KPIs.
How important are KPIs to operating your business?
KPIs are critically important. Without them, you are essentially flying blind. As a leader, you must know what you are leading. Lagging indicators must be identified to make key decisions for the company. Doing a good job defining these is essential to the success of the company and will be the closest thing to a crystal ball you can get.
How do you set your KPIs up?
Setting up a KPI is a multi-step process. First, you must define what your core operational outcomes are. These are the ones that are the oxygen of the business, and you must determine how to measure these. Consider all data sources flowing through your business and how one or more of them, alone or in combination, can provide that measure. If possible, as you create or invent new KPIs, back test them against historical data to determine if they provide the desired insight.
Do you rely on your financial partner, build these yourself, or build together?
Yes, yes, and yes. Also, I will add that operations must play a role in defining these because it is them who will live and die by the KPIs. Several KPIs will not be financial. For these reasons, operational leadership should also be included.
How do these need to evolve through different growth phases of the business?
Ideally there will be a core that never changes. This is because you cannot trend against moving KPI definitions. However, as new business strategies and growth phases are executed, it will be important to add new KPIs as necessary to measure and assess the execution and results. You may find that a becomes less important or relevant. If so, drop it. It’s essential not to have too many KPIs to drive focus. Data leads to questions which leads to more data analysis which leads to more questions. Don’t let the cycle create unnecessary work your analyst.
What role does technology play in automating these?
It plays a huge role. The only way to get the maximum benefit is to have your data in a Business Intelligence (BI) tool like Domo or Power BI. This allows for on the fly manipulation of a KPI against variables like time frames or geography.
Who owns these?
A Business Analyst or Analytics Manager owns them. This person can operate in more than one sector in an organization, but typically can be found in finance or operations.
What cadence do you review these?
Usually, they are reviewed weekly. However, this is not always the case, as some KPIs, by their nature, may not have a weekly update. This depends on the nature of your business, but I feel it is important to have a weekly view.
About Mindpath Health
Mindpath Health is a leading, independent U.S. provider of high-quality outpatient behavioral health services that blends human connection with science-based care, to help guide people on their mental health journey and uplift the communities around them. With a team of more than 650 mental health clinicians, Mindpath Health provides a broad spectrum of psychiatry, including psychotherapy and TMS to more than 97,400 patients annually. We offer telehealth and in-person visits and coordinate care with primary care physicians and referring providers to ensure a focus on the total health. Mindpath Health is in-network with most major health insurance providers and has more than 90 locations across California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Ohio, Arizona and growing. Please visit mindpath.com to learn more.