# Find KPIs that conflict or could encourage the wrong behavior

Stress-tests a set of KPIs for conflicts between teams and for gaming or unintended behavior, then suggests guardrail metrics and fixes.

- Topic: Leadership & Management
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Advanced
- Tags: Data & Analytics, HR & Hiring, Analyze, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/find-kpis-that-conflict-or-could-encourage-the-wrong-behavior

## Prompt

```text
Check my KPIs for conflicts and for unintended behavior they might create.

**KPIs and targets:** [PASTE THEM, with which team or person owns each]
**How they're used:** [reporting only / performance reviews / bonuses or commission]
**Teams involved and how they work together:** [e.g. "sales hands off to onboarding, then support"]
**Problems I've already seen:** [OPTIONAL - e.g. "deals closed at end of quarter with heavy discounts"]

Steps:
1. Conflicts: find pairs of KPIs that pull against each other, within a team or across teams (e.g. speed vs. quality, cost reduction vs. customer satisfaction, sales volume vs. margin). Explain how the conflict shows up in daily decisions.
2. Unintended behavior: for each KPI, describe how a reasonable person under pressure could hit the number without delivering the intended result. Consider gaming, cherry-picking, timing tricks, shifting work to other teams, and neglecting what isn't measured.
3. Rate each risk by likelihood and damage (high / medium / low). Note signs that the behavior is already happening.
4. Suggest fixes: a paired guardrail metric, a changed definition, a shared team target, a different target level, or removing the KPI from incentives.

Return:
1. A conflict table: KPI A | KPI B | Owners | How they conflict | Suggested fix.
2. An unintended-behavior table: KPI | Possible behavior | Likelihood | Damage | Warning signs | Fix.
3. The top 3 changes to make first.
4. Questions to ask the teams to check whether these problems are real.

Present the risks as system design issues, not accusations about people. Changes to KPIs tied to pay should be reviewed with HR and finance.
```

## What to fill in

- PASTE THEM, with which team or person owns each
- reporting only / performance reviews / bonuses or commission
- e.g. "sales hands off to onboarding, then support"

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