How (not) to make Strategic Plan: Jurassic Park Style
Susan and I recently returned from the DEAC Annual Conference, where we gave a dinosaur-filled presentation titled, “Jurassic Strategy: What Not to Do When Choosing Goals, KPIs, and Benchmarks.” As the title implies, we used the fictional story of Jurassic Park to explore how choosing poor strategic goals, KPIs, and benchmarks can make an institution ineffective (or fill it with escaped, blood-thirsty, prehistoric reptiles, as the case may be.) If you weren’t able to attend our presentation, I’m sorry to tell you that you missed out on some pretty epic prizes, but since the real prize is knowledge, there’s still time! Thus, we are delighted to share with you: a summary of our presentation.
To create Strategic Goals, KPIs, and Benchmarks, we needed Jurassic Park to have a mission. We chose: “Innovating paleontology through genetics and biotechnology to educate and entertain people of all ages.”
Strategic Goals
A strategic goal is a broad, long-term, "big picture" objective that an organization strives to achieve over a period of time. It serves as a bridge between the institution's mission and its planned/tangible accomplishments.
A good strategic goal:
Aligns to an organization’s mission
Is broad and realized over time
Requires the coordination of multiple departments/teams
Is both relevant and achievable
Says a lot about what your institution values
So, what strategic goals might Jurassic Park have chosen?
Prioritize R&D: Increase resources for the research and development of new dinosaurs.
Increase Name-Recognition: Bolster revenue and marketing efforts through a line of high-end, branded merchandise.
Exceed Guest Expectations: Spare no expense in curating a luxury experience for visitors.
These strategic goals technically fit the criteria provided, but they only address a small part of Jurassic Park’s operation. They have certainly emphasized customer-facing elements, but other big pieces of the organization, like infrastructure, education, safety, workers, and animals, aren’t included. Also, the strategic goals above don’t address the whole mission, only a portion of it. Strategic goals shed a lot of light on what an organization values. What can we infer about Jurassic Park’s priorities based on the stated goals?
If EduCred Services were their consultants, we would propose the following three alternative strategic goals:
Cultivate Expertise: Hire and retain subject matter experts current in the field of genetics, biotechnology, and theme park administration for further innovation.
Invest in Operations: Implement effective operations and safety processes for guests and employees.
Inspire and Educate: Connect the present to the prehistoric past through interactive, entertaining, and worthwhile experiences.
These strategic goals comprehensively measure the entire mission and address the organization holistically. They also communicate that Jurassic Park values people over profits.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
A KPI is a measurable value that helps organizations monitor their progress towards achieving a strategic goal. It is the type of data you plan to collect, not the actual data point (we’ll get to that later).
A good KPI:
Aligns to a strategic goal
Is measurable
Indicates values that can predictably/regularly be observed
Yields relevant, insightful data
Says a lot about what you value
Let’s say that Jurassic Park agreed with our revisions and wanted to identify KPIs for the strategic goal, “Inspire and Educate: Connect the present to the prehistoric past through interactive, entertaining, and worthwhile experiences.”
Without any external guidance, they might have identified the following KPIs:
Reviews: ratings that the owner’s grandchildren give the park
Purchases: Percentage of all visitors who purchase an item from the giftshop
Wow!: Number of people who say “Wow!” the first time they see a real dinosaur
Based on the definition and criteria above, you can make the case that each of these KPIs is a valid interpretation of the strategic goal. You can, but you shouldn’t. Why are these maybe not the best KPIs? Well, first of all, the owner’s grandchildren are a very small and very biased sample. Gift shop purchases don’t really tell us whether people connected the present to the past, just that they traveled a long way and want a souvenir to prove it. Finally, “wow!” is a low bar (not to mention it would be extremely difficult to observe and record). We’re talking about enormous reptiles that have been extinct for 65 million years—you’re going to say wow whether you’ve learned anything or not.
What might be better KPIs for our goal?
Popular Attractions: Wait times for the 3 most popular educational/entertaining attractions
Ratings: Guest ratings received on Facebook and Google
Education: Visitors attending the interactive DNA lecture
These are better KPIs because they give us more objective insight into most people’s experience. If our goal is to make sure people are participating in worthwhile experiences, we want to keep an eye on the amount of time people spend waiting around in line. We also want to know which attractions people consider worth waiting in long lines for. Guest ratings from Facebook and Google clue us into people’s overall experience. How did their visit make them feel; what do they have to say about it? And, finally, if part of our goal is to educate, how many people are we actually teaching? Jurassic Park’s “secret sauce” is its DNA breakthroughs. We want to know how many people are interacting with that knowledge, so we’re measuring attendance at the attraction designed specifically to educate.
Benchmarks
A benchmark is a predetermined target value (or range of values) for a specific KPI to measure achievement. A benchmark provides a specific reference point to either hit or miss.
A good benchmark:
Aligns to a KPI
Is consistent with statistical principles
Is attainable
Is motivating
Says a lot about what you value
For each KPI we proposed, we’ve provided examples of corresponding benchmarks Jurassic Park might have chosen:
KPI: Popular Attraction: Wait times for the 3 most popular educational/entertaining attractions
Benchmark: Average wait time is under 60 minutes
KPI: Ratings: Guest ratings received on Facebook and Google
Benchmark: 150 Facebook and Google reviews that are either 4 or 5 stars
KPI: Visitors attending the interactive DNA lecture
Benchmark: 100% of visitors attend the interactive DNA lecture
At first glance, each of these benchmarks adhere to our definition, but when we look a bit closer, problems start to surface. For our “average wait time” benchmark–should we really be using an average? This depends entirely on how wait times are distributed throughout the day, perhaps a median would be a better choice—it’s something to at least consider. For “guest ratings,” 150 4- or 5-star reviews might sound good, but what happens if you also get 300 1-star reviews? Is that metric still telling you what you want to know? Finally, 100% of attendance at just about anything is not going to happen. It might be motivating, but it’s unrealistic.
What would we rather see here? Our proposed benchmarks for these KPIs are:
KPI: Popular Attraction: Wait times for the 3 most popular educational/entertaining attractions
Benchmark: Median wait time is under 30 minutes
KPI: Ratings: Guest ratings received on Facebook and Google
Benchmark: 4.5-star average on Facebook; 4-star average on Google
KPI: Visitors attending the interactive DNA lecture
Benchmark: 50% of visitors attend the interactive DNA lecture
In these updated benchmarks, we’re adjusting achievement metrics to get a more accurate picture of what’s happening so that we can respond appropriately. We want to understand the guest experience, and we want to make sure that most people’s experiences align with our benchmarks. If, as we proceed collecting and documenting our findings, we learn that our benchmarks are either consistently being missed or exceeded by a wide margin, we can correct them. The most important things are that we 1) have an accurate picture of what’s going on and 2) are making progress towards our goal. Remember, the whole purpose of measuring and analyzing strategic goals, KPIs, and benchmarks is to inform continuous improvement.
We know that strategic goals, KPIs, and benchmarks can feel like topics that we discuss ad-nauseum, but we do it because we care. These are the tools that allow you to interpret and activate your mission into reality. They also keep you honest with both yourself and your stakeholders. And, perhaps most of all, they help you make decisions. Missions are beautiful concepts that we love to talk about, but unless you’re actually using them to inform decisions, they’re just fluff. Goals, KPIs, and benchmarks provide a blueprint for achieving your mission. They take some of the guesswork out of your choices. Should you do whatever the thing is? How will it affect your benchmarking (and thus KPI/strategic goal)? Once you’ve considered that, you can make an informed, mission-driven decision. Choose these metrics carefully. If you do, they will make your job easier down the line. If you don’t, we can’t guarantee you won’t have a rogue T-Rex on your hands.
