Stop chasing KPIs that clash. Start driving growth with harmony.
Attention: When KPIs Clash, Growth Suffers
“When teams pull in different directions, growth becomes a tug of war instead of a journey.”
Have you ever seen your sales department celebrating record revenue while operations struggle with delayed production? Or finance slashes spending just as marketing launches a new campaign?—then you’ve experienced the chaos of misaligned performance measurement.
Most companies assume that having more KPIs means better control. But in reality, conflicting KPIs can derail collaboration, slow decision-making, and block growth. The bigger the business, the louder the noise—and the harder it becomes to tune into what really matters.
Where do these conflicts stem from?
- Not knowing individual’s role: not knowing what he/she does is essential to the organisation
- Peer Contribution: not knowing what the peers do is essential to the organisation
- Inertia: doing activities for which the reason no longer exists or is redundant & does not make sense however, some so called superior or a person with higher experience in number of years & not in terms of knowledge, skill, empathy or wisdom has directed the team to do the activity.
- Gaps between responsibility and authority: having full responsibility but not authorised to take decisions
That’s why building a conflict-free performance measurement system is not a luxury—it’s a strategy and a necessity.
I believe, gone are the days when people with higher experience & age in terms of number of years, would command and control the team & show-off their superiority, the rules of the game have to be changed to achieve organisational success.
Do not expect the colleagues to nod to your every direction or solution, create a culture of challenging your thought process. Let right people lead & you follow them keeping aside your age / experience. This is leadership.
Interest: Why Misaligned Metrics Hurt Your Business
Performance metrics are supposed to guide your team, align your goals, and keep everyone accountable. But here’s what happens when the system isn’t built right:
1. Departments Work at Cross-Purposes
Sales chases volume. Operations want efficiency. Finance wants cost control.. Everyone hits their KPIs—and yet, the business struggles. Sound familiar?
2. Decision-Making Slows Down
When every function uses different metrics, leaders spend more time resolving internal conflicts than moving the company forward.
3. Siloed Thinking Takes Over
Without shared goals, teams stop seeing the big picture. Growth becomes reactive instead of proactive.
4. Short-Term Wins, Long-Term Pain
People do what they’re measured on—even if it hurts the organization in the long run.
In a recent survey by Harvard Business Review, 64% of executives said conflicting KPIs were a major roadblock to execution.
Desire: What a Conflict-Free Performance System Looks Like
At Profound Consulting, we work with organizations across industries to create performance measurement systems that eliminate friction and promote growth. Here’s what a truly aligned system should look like:
✅ 1. One Clear, Shared Objective
Every department must be aligned to a single overarching business goal—whether it’s throughput, customer satisfaction, or sustainable profit. This acts as the North Star for all KPIs.
Example: Instead of Sales being measured on revenue and Operations on cost, both can be aligned to Throughput (Throughput = Sales – Truly Variable Cost). Now they’re working together.
✅ 2. Metrics That Support Business Flow
The most effective systems track five things:
- Throughput – How much value is being generated through sales
- Inventory – The investment made to deliver that value
- Operating Expenses – The cost of transforming resources into revenue
- Profit – The bottomline
- Cash Flow – The Net realization.
These metrics reflect how the entire system is performing, not just one part.
✅ 3. Subordination Over Isolation
Team KPIs should be designed to support the performance of the constraint—the one area in the organization currently limiting growth.
Think of it like a cycling team. The lead rider (constraint) needs to win, and the support riders (other functions) are measured on how well they help that happen—not on how fast they cycle individually.
✅ 4. Conflict-Free Metrics in Practice
Here’s how Profound Consulting helped one manufacturing client:
Problem: The company had 47 KPIs. Sales was pushing high-volume SKUs having higher sale value but thin margins, since they were measured on Sales. Manufacturing was optimizing for uptime on each resource, since they were measured on efficiency. Finance wanted to cut working capital.
Solution: We redesigned the performance measurement system to focus on:
- AbsoluteThroughput
- Throughput / Operating Expenses
- Cash Velocity
- On-time delivery (cross-functional)
- Days of inventory (shared metric)
- Constraint capacity utilization
Results in 9 months:
- Throughput up by 40%
- Profit up by 28%
- Inventory waste down 22%
- Team harmony
Action: Let Profound Consulting Build Your Business Measurement Model for Growth
At Profound Consulting, we specialize in Strategic Growth Consulting and Business Growth Consultation that drives transformation—not just in numbers, but in how your people work together.
Our proven approach helps you:
✅ Identify misaligned KPIs and eliminate internal conflict
✅ Focus your teams on metrics that truly drive business growth
✅ Support your long-term business growth strategy with systems that scale
How We Do It:
Step 1: Evaluate Your Current Reality
- We analyze your current KPIs and how they influence team behavior
- We map out conflicts, constraints, and opportunities
Step 2: Redesign the Measurement System
- Using our scientific best practices and flow-based thinking
- Aligning all functions to shared business outcomes
Step 3: Implement and Sustain
- We support you through change management
- Realign roles, authority, and accountability to the new system
- Embed performance dashboards into your decision-making processes
- Performance measurement system for your employees
Want Real Business Growth Success Stories?
Our clients include organizations across manufacturing, engineer to order, textiles, and projects. Each engagement has one thing in common: the move from disconnected KPIs to a unified performance system that supports growth.
“Profound helped us simplify, focus, and align. For the first time in 15 years, our departments feel like one team.”
– Jt. MD, Mid-Sized Industrial Manufacturer
✅ Ready to Build a System That Works For You, Not Against You?
You don’t need more metrics—you need smarter ones. Ones that align your teams, support your constraint, and fuel your growth.
Whether you’re a small, mid-sized company or a large-scale company, Profound Consulting helps you have a better control of your organisation and establish harmony within the team.
👉 Book your Business Growth Consultation today and take the first step toward a high-performing, conflict-free organization.
👉 Visit www.profoundconsulting.in or contact us to schedule your discovery session.
