Leading with Impact: Why Tracking Activities Beats Tracking Numbers
Mar 03, 2025
Recently, I reviewed how I was leading my team of Exercise Physiologists. I had some KPIs in place, but when I really looked at them, I realised they weren’t inspiring my team. Instead, they were creating a pressure-cooker scenario, adding stress without driving meaningful success.
So, I sat down with my team and examined what truly set clients—and our team—up for success. We looked at clients who were thriving and identified the activities we were consistently doing with them. Conversely, we analysed cases where clients weren’t progressing or continuing therapy and recognised what we hadn’t done.
The Shift from KPIs to KPAs
Traditional Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) often measure business success through rigid numbers. While these metrics can be useful, particularly for business owners, they don’t always translate into actionable steps that empower a team.That’s where Key Performance Activities (KPAs) come in. Instead of focusing on just the numbers, KPAs emphasise the consistent actions that lead to meaningful client progress and long-term engagement.
What Drives Real Progress for Our Clients?
Through our analysis, we identified the KPAs that consistently led to better outcomes:
1. Time Management & Running on Time – Ensuring sessions start and finish on time, allowing for quality interactions and practitioner energy.
2. Effective Follow-Ups:
- Sending SMS messages within 24 hours after sessions to touch base with parents that we don't see in sessions.
- Talking face-to-face or ensuring all parents receive communication before the week ends.
3. Clear & Adaptive Communication – Adjusting our communication to fit each client and their family.
4. Asking Key Questions Weekly – Engaging both children and parents in meaningful discussions to track progress.
5. Confidence to Communicate – Building clinician confidence in advocating for clients and clearly explaining progress.
6. Post-Initial Session Follow-Ups:
- Educating parents via email with an attached PDF of key information and strategies.
- Providing educators with a summary to ensure they feel supported and informed.
7. Collaboration with Other Allied Health Professionals:
- Actively reaching out to other allied health providers to improve interdisciplinary support.
8. Ensuring Educator Involvement:
- Providing educators with a detailed rundown of a child's progress.
- Giving them the tools to actively participate in therapy support.
9. Administrative Efficiency:
- Reviewing intake forms thoroughly.
- Keeping accurate notes and reports, including yearly updates.
- Ensuring reports and follow-ups are completed on time.
- Implementing structured communication protocols.
We then looked at what systems and protocols we needed to implement to ensure that the team could perform these activities daily and weekly. We identified:
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Blocking out time for travel to allow for traffic and ensure we are on time.
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Reminder emails before sessions explaining what to expect in sessions.
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Easy-to-find PDFs for parent education, available both digitally and as printouts.
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NDIS protocol documents accessible to all practitioners.
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Updating and standardising email templates for consistency.
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Streamlining admin processes for efficient follow-ups.
What Happens When KPAs Are Ignored?
We also analysed what happened when these KPAs weren’t followed, and the impact was clear:
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Clients weren’t followed up with.
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Advocacy for children was lacking.
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Miscommunication led to disengaged clients.
And the result of that is this:
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Perception of Exercise Physiology is compromised.
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Clients not engaging in exercise, diminishing progress and lifelong habits impacted.
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Therapy becoming inconsistent or stopping altogether.
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Children falling behind at school or becoming socially isolated.
That realisation hit us hard. We saw that by neglecting these essential activities, we were literally aborting our mission—leaving children without the support they needed. It made us reflect deeply on our role and the responsibility we have to advocate for and empower every child we work with.
By shifting from outcome-driven KPIs to action-driven KPAs, we created a culture where:
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The team felt empowered to take ownership of their work.
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Every action was tied to real client impact, not just numbers.
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Engagement and fulfillment increased among team members.
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Clients received better support, leading to stronger outcomes.
Our Mission: No one is left behind
At the heart of this shift is our mission: to leave no one behind. We provide a fun, inclusive environment where children and adults come to work on themselves. We now understand that our job isn’t just about showing up—it’s about setting people up for success and advocating for them in every way possible. It’s about ensuring no child or client slips through the cracks due to system inefficiencies or a lack of follow-up.
This isn’t just about managing a business—it’s about leading a mission-driven allied health team. If your KPIs aren’t working, consider shifting to KPAs. Your team—and your clients—will thank you.
If you want to hear more on this topic you can check out a recent podcast Emily and I did on The Move. Talk. Thrive podcast.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/58nJbWpYY508VWm2PHGPEs?si=mrGpnWp8T6CzG3kFrBkunA
