Data Fluency and Analytics: Performance Measures and KPIs

Data Fluency and Analytics: Performance Measures and KPIs

Organizations collect more data than ever, yet many decisions are still driven by instinct, anecdotes, or poorly interpreted metrics. This course builds practical data fluency, focusing on how to interpret, question, and apply performance measures and key performance
indicators in real operational and management contexts.

Rather than teaching statistics or reporting tools, the course develops the ability to realize what metrics are actually saying, what they are not saying, and how they should influence decisions. Participants learn how to move from data to insight to action, while avoiding common pitfalls such as misleading indicators, vanity metrics, and poorly aligned KPIs.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

• Managers responsible for achieving performance targets and overseeing service delivery.
• Leaders who set strategic direction and rely on KPIs for decision-making.
• Front-line leaders accountable for monitoring team performance metrics.
• Staff who design, analyze, or report on performance measures and KPIs.
• Professionals who use performance data to guide planning and resource decisions.

PARTICIPANTS WILL LEARN TO:

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the purpose of performance measures and KPIs in clear, operational terms
• Distinguish between useful metrics and misleading or low-value indicators
• Interpret trends, variances, and patterns without relying on advanced analytics
• Realize how KPIs influence behavior, priorities, and decision-making
• Ask better questions of data and analytics outputs
• Apply performance measures appropriately in operational, project, and management contexts
• Communicate data insights clearly to support decisions and action

COURSE OUTLINE

Data Fluency in Context: Why Metrics Matter

• The role of data in modern decision-making
• Data fluency versus data analysis
• Why organizations struggle with performance measures
• The risks of intuition-only and metric-only decisions

Performance Measures and KPIs

• What performance measures and KPIs are, and how they differ
• Leading versus lagging indicators
• Output, outcome, and impact measures
• Aligning metrics with objectives and strategy

Selecting the Right Measures

• Characteristics of effective KPIs
• Avoiding vanity metrics and activity-based measures
• Balancing quantity, quality, timeliness, and cost
• Trade-offs and unintended consequences of measurement

Interpreting Data and Trends

• Reading charts, tables, and dashboards critically
• Realizing trends, baselines, and seasonality
• Variance analysis and what it actually tells you
• Common interpretation errors and cognitive biases

From Data to Insight to Action

• Translating metrics into operational meaning
• Identifying when data supports action and when it does not
• Using data to inform prioritization and resource allocation
• Knowing when more data will not improve the decision

Communicating Performance Information Effectively

• Matching data communication to the audience and decision context
• Explaining what matters, not everything that can be measured
• Using visuals and summaries to reduce cognitive load
• Framing data to support understanding and action

Governance, Accountability, and Practical Application

• Ownership of metrics and accountability for results
• Data integrity, assumptions, and limitations
• Establishing guardrails for KPI use and interpretation
• Applying data fluency in real operational scenarios

METHODOLOGY

This course is offered in both 1- and 2-day formats (virtual, or in-person). While the content in both delivery durations remains virtually the same, the amount of hands-on exercises, practice, and application varies.