KPI projects fail when they try to measure everything. The useful KPI architecture is small — typically twelve to twenty measures — and connects clearly to the decisions the leadership team takes each month. We design the small architecture and we design what gets cut.
When clients come to us
When the leadership team is buried under dashboards but no one is sure which numbers actually move the business. When a board is asking for a single performance read and the team cannot agree on what it should contain. When a CEO is preparing the leadership group for a step change in scale and wants the measurement to scale with it. Often when bonus and incentive design needs a credible underlying measurement layer.
How we work
A senior advisor sits with the leadership team and works backwards from the actual decisions they take to the small number of measures that should inform them. We then design the data flow — sources, definitions, owners, cadence — and the visual layer the leadership team will use. The output is a working architecture, not a list of metrics.
What we deliver
- Decision-to-measure map for the leadership team
- KPI definitions document with owners
- Data sources and calculation logic
- Review cadence and meeting rhythm
- Dashboard design specification
- Cascade map from leadership KPIs to operating teams
Typical engagement
A KPI engagement runs six to twelve weeks. On our side, a senior advisor leads with a data analyst. On the client side, the CFO and COO are the principal counterparts, with the CEO setting the decisions the architecture must serve. The leadership team adopts the new cadence at completion.
Why CGLA
We design KPI architectures around the leadership team's actual decisions, not around a published framework. The advisors have built and used these architectures inside operating businesses, which means the design holds up when the team is under pressure.
