How to set KPIs your team won’t ignore
my 4-Step KPI hitting playbook
Heyyyy team,
I did a training session at the end of last year with a wonderful creative design agency team based out of Shoreditch.
They’re growing fast. New clients, new hires etc. But with that kind of growth often comes a familiar set of challenges: communication gaps and the struggle to keep everyone rowing in the same direction.
It reminded me of those moments when I stare blankly at a spreadsheet full of KPIs that looked impressive… but in reality, were achieving absolutely nothing.
They were clear in my head…
They tied to our company goals?
It made perfect sense on paper?
But we had no momentum, no questionsm and absolutely noo growth.
So I’m there, week on week, thinking, are the KPIs wrong? Am I doing this badly? Why does it feel like I’m dragging everyone uphill?
For a while, I blamed the usual suspects, motivation, priorities, workload. But deep down, I knew something else was off.
So I took to finding out what. I started researching, asking them for feedback and making small changes. And very quickly, I discovered that the problem wasn’t my team. It was how I’d set the KPIs in the first place.
So let me walk you through the 4 shifts that changed everything for me, and turned our deadweight KPIs into real team-owned momentum.
And by the way, Inside Fresh Start we spend an entire week focused on KPIs (and actually getting your team to hit them). We look at the art and science of KPIs so you can become a results-driven machine too.
Step 1 - Don’t mix up goals and KPIs
Goals are the destination.
KPIs are the dashboard that tells you if you’re on track.
Dashboards don’t inspire or engage people.
Destinations do.
❌ KPI as a goal: “We need to send the newsletter every Friday.”
✅ Goal first, KPIs second: “We want a healthier sales pipeline so revenue is more predictable. Increasing qualified leads by 20% this quarter helps us get there. The newsletter is one way we’ll achieve that.”
When you lead with the bigger outcome and goal, you give your team clarity, and the freedom to decide how to get there.
Step 2 - 3 beats 10
You’ve probably seen a KPI doc like this:
9 KPIs
All urgent
All unconnected
Chaos
But when everything is a priority, nothing is.
Instead, have 3-5 core KPIs for each individual, and 3-5 for the team. This gives people mental clarity and lets them zoom out to the bigger picture.
Step 3 - Stop dropping goals on people, co-create them
Disengagement toward a goal often comes from lack of involvement from the start.
If a KPI shows up out of nowhere, fully formed and unchangeable, people feel like it’s just another thing being done to them.
You want to flip that.
Before locking anything in, ask:
“What do you think would make the biggest difference this quarter?”
“What feels like a stretch, but possible?”
“What support would you need to hit this?”
Action step:
Before finalising a goal or KPI, run a quick session (yes, even 15 mins in a team meeting) asking:
“Here’s the goal, what’s your take? What would be your top three ways to hit it?”
Step 4 - Check-ins should be a rhythm, never a rescue plan
Too many managers only ask about KPIs when something’s gone wrong.
So when they do check in, it creates panic, defensiveness, or the dreaded,
“Oh no… I forgot about that one.”
Instead, normalise having a checkin rhythm. Have one regular meeting where KPIs are reviewed, questions are asked, and progress is discussed.
I’m currently testing out doing it with my team weekly. Every Monday, 10am for 45 mins. They report on the data, I ask the questions.
In the past I’ve done it monthly and it’s worked well too, don’t put too much pressure on getting the perfect rhythm, just start with something.
Outside of that meeting, you don’t keep checking in. The checking up is where it becomes micromanagement. We must start to trust people to run their numbers.
Ask:
“How are we tracking?”
“What has gone well, that we should do more of?”
“What hasn’t gone well, that we need to change”?”
Your 4-Step Playbook
Start with the outcome
→ “What do we want to be true if this goes well?”Co-create, don’t dictate
→ “What do you think will move the needle?”Three beats ten
→ “What are our top 3-5 focus areas this quarter?”Review early and often
→ “What’s working, what’s stuck, what’s next?”
And this is just the surface
Inside Fresh Start, we go much deeper on KPIs. You’ll get:
Clear frameworks to design KPIs people actually care about
Simple meeting rhythms that keep performance on track without micromanaging
Practical tools to turn “numbers on a spreadsheet” into real ownership and momentum within your team
So KPIs stop feeling like admin, and start driving clarity, confidence, and results.
If you want to lead a team that knows exactly what success looks like, and how to get there, join the Fresh Start waitlist for all the info.
Peace,
H
P.S. Fresh Start is even more powerful when you enrol a group of managers. You get faster behaviour change, shared language across the team, and far less time lost to misalignment and rework. I also run private Q&As to tackle real, live challenges.
If you have 5+ managers who need to level up together, you can book a no-pressure consultation call here.