One definition for every number your leadership team argues about
Your leaders pick the handful of metrics that run the business, with Raquel guiding the room. You get exactly how each one is counted, in writing, and who owns it. Meetings stop being about whose spreadsheet is right.
Is this the problem in your leadership meetings?
- Two managers bring different numbers for the same metric, and both are "right."
- You track 40 things in a spreadsheet and act on none of them.
- Targets get set by gut feel, then quietly ignored by March.
- A new manager asks how a metric is calculated, and the honest answer is "ask Dana."
Imagine a 45-person staffing and recruiting firm with three leaders. The sales lead counts placement rate as placements divided by job orders. The recruiting lead divides by candidates submitted. The owner uses starts that lasted past the guarantee period. Each number is defensible. None of them match. Every quarterly review starts with a 20-minute argument. The KPI framework ends it by deciding, in writing, which version the firm runs on.
Why is the KPI framework a flat price?
Staffing, legal services, or HVAC repair: picking and defining metrics takes the same steps. Interviews, a workshop, and a written dictionary. The size of your leadership team barely changes the work, so a flat price is fair to both sides. Need more than 12 metrics defined? That's a sign the framework is doing too much.
How does the KPI framework get built?
- 01Short interviews with each leader
- 02Inventory of the metrics you already report
- 03A draft metric tree tied to how the firm makes money
- 04One leadership workshop to settle definitions
- 05The written KPI dictionary and scorecard layout
All the steps, in detail
- Raquel interviews each leader for 30 to 45 minutes about the decisions they make each month.
- She collects every report, spreadsheet, and dashboard in circulation today.
- She lists every metric those reports contain and flags the duplicates and conflicts.
- She drafts a metric tree that links each leading indicator to revenue, margin, or retention.
- She proposes a definition for each candidate KPI: the formula, the data source, and the edge cases (refunds, cancellations, partial months).
- She runs a 90-minute workshop where leaders accept, change, or drop each definition.
- She writes the agreed dictionary, with an owner and a review date for every metric.
- She lays out a one-page scorecard showing how the metrics should appear each month.
- She notes which metrics your current systems can't produce yet, and what it would take.
- A final 30-minute call confirms the dictionary before you roll it out.
What does the KPI framework include?
- A KPI dictionary: name, plain-English meaning, formula, data source, owner, refresh cadence, and edge-case rules for each metric
- A metric tree showing how the KPIs connect to each other and to profit
- A one-page scorecard layout your team can build in a spreadsheet or dashboard tool
- A gap list of metrics your systems can't produce yet
- A guide to setting targets for each metric, with the reasoning written down
- The workshop itself, facilitated by Raquel
What you get, what this is not, and what you need to bring
What you get
- Definitions your leaders agreed to in the room, not ones handed down
- A document new managers can read on their first day
- A scorecard design ready to hand to whoever builds your reports
What this is not
- Not a dashboard build. Want the scorecard automated afterward? The dashboards offer picks up from here.
- Not a set of targets Raquel picks for you. She shows how to set them; your leaders own the numbers.
- Not an industry benchmark report. No outside benchmark figures get presented as your targets.
- Not an employee performance review system. These are business metrics, not individual ratings.
What you need to bring
- Every leader who will own a metric, available for one interview and the workshop
- The reports and spreadsheets you currently use in leadership meetings
- Someone who can answer where each number comes from in your systems
- The owner's final say when leaders can't agree
What we ask before booking
- How many people sit in your leadership meetings?
- Which reports do you review monthly today, and who builds them?
- Is there a metric that already causes arguments?
- Are any big changes underway, such as a new location, a new service line, or a system switch?
- Can the full leadership team attend a 90-minute workshop within the 3-week window?
Price
- What moves it
- Defining more than 12 metrics, or a second workshop for a separate division, is quoted before booking.
- Payment terms
- 50/50, with the first half at booking and the second when the dictionary is delivered
What if it isn't worth it?
The price is fixed, and so is the work: one leadership workshop and one written dictionary. Anything beyond that scope is quoted before you book.
Questions people ask before booking
We already have a dashboard. Why would we need this?
A dashboard shows numbers. It doesn't settle what they mean. If your leaders still debate the numbers on the screen, the dashboard is missing its foundation. Many teams find their existing dashboard gets more useful once the definitions behind it are fixed.
What if our leaders still disagree after the workshop?
Some disagreements are real tradeoffs, not confusion. Raquel writes down both options and what each one would reward. Then the owner makes the call. The dictionary records who decided and why, so the debate doesn't restart next quarter.
How much leadership time does this take?
About two hours per leader: one interview and the workshop. The owner usually spends an extra hour on review. Raquel does the inventory and writing in between.
Has Raquel done this before?
Yes, in-house. In past analytics leadership roles, she worked with senior leaders to agree on KPI definitions. Then she held recurring data office hours so teams used them consistently. This is the first time she offers it to outside firms.