It isn’t surprising that yesterday’s article called “NPS Is BS and We All Know It” made quite some waves. After all, no one likes being told they need to check themselves and the NPS machinery is an industry of its own. I am under no illusion that I am making myself popular by denouncing the uselessness of NPS at the very least as it stands as an internal measurement. I’m ok with that though. Not the first time I ruffle feathers and something tells me it won’t be the last.
Look, measured arguments, the voices that show they have done the checking are always more than welcome, in fact, between comments and some of the private conversations I had yesterday in the wake of the article, I’ve somewhat softened regarding the need to scrap it altogether, it seems, when it comes to polling consumers it’s a solid “better than nothing” for many people.
If the choice is between NPS and nothing when it comes to figuring out how your customers feel then sure, do NPS. But if the choice is between NPS and nothing when it comes to figuring out your own people -be it their performance, their engagement or the way they work together- then don’t do it, “nothing” is actually preferable. Why? Because otherwise, you (organisation) end up ticking the “get measurements in place” to-do off the list when it is so far from done.
The ticket shouldn’t be “Get some measurements” anyhow, it should be an epic that reads “Find out with regularity how our people feel about the organisation, the work, each other and their own lives and ensure they feel the feedback look is closed and valuable”. That’s very different and it will never be covered by NPS or any other number.
In the video, we reiterate that the article needs reading (as in real reading – set 10 minutes aside and take it in properly, otherwise the enormity of the scoring ridiculousness may not land as it should) and that, the only thing that makes sense is to ensure regular checkpoints are in place.
Consider how much has changed since these measurements were suggested/created – NPS alone was proposed 20 (TWENTY!) years ago. What else do you use that hasn’t changed in 20 years? Anything? No. Why not? Because the pace of change and leading our lives in the eye of the VUCA storm means nothing is fit for purpose when any length of time has passed. Not what we know, not what we read, not what we use to do our work. The tech, the thinking, the process, and the ideas, everything has changed and yet we are using the same metrics to determine success we have been given in business school 20-30 years ago. Insanity.
We live in a world where we think nothing of the fact that the tools and processes we need to do our work change every few months so how do we justify still hanging on to bragging about the number of employees or measuring them by whether or not they would recommend the place of work. Unquestionably. Because we once thought of those metrics 20 years ago.
All I am saying is that we seem to collectively refuse to stop and think about it. Re-examine it. Think it through. And if it still stands, if it still means anything and is fit for purpose – rock on, keep using it. But if it doesn’t actually tell you anything about your people’s happiness or your consumers’ delight then admit it and drop it. Replace it with worthwhile measurements that help us take action. That reflects how these people feel.
With how fast-paced technology made the world around us, it ought to be an economic imperative and a risk-reducing requirement that every company audits their measurements and feedback loops once a year at a very minimum to find out if it is still fit for purpose! Oughtn’t it?
Every day where we exist in virtue of inertia, where we aren’t invested enough to critically examine and re-examine, we create more and more HumanDebt™ and who can afford that? Be a Detractor, score your use of NPS internally as a 1 and be vocal about it, that’s the only thing that makes you a true Promoter.
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