You’re Tracking the Wrong KPI
On a coaching call I sat in with a leasing and application team who were doing what most property managers do when they first start tracking performance—they were proud of their “average screening time” metric.
And to be clear, it is a good stat. It tells you something. But it doesn’t tell you what to fix. When we dug deeper, the team was using metrics like average decision time, screening time, and approval rate. All useful data points. But none of them told the story of who missed the mark, when, and why. Which means nobody could take action.
Trends are not KPIs. Stop treating them like they are. I broke it down like this:
- Trends and stats tell you if you’re headed in the right direction.
- Actionable KPIs tell you what to do next week. You can’t coach someone based on a trend line. You can’t fix “average screening time is up.” It’s too vague. It’s a shadow of the real problem.
Here’s what’s better:
Instead of tracking “average screening time”, track:Number of applications not screened within 48 hours.
That flips the conversation. Now you can ask, “Which ones weren’t screened? What blocked it? Was it a training issue? A system issue? A performance issue?” That’s how leaders solve problems.
A good KPI lights up when something breaks. If your KPI doesn’t create a flashing light when something goes wrong, it’s not a KPI. It’s a graph.
So many property management teams are tracking averages, hoping they’ll become more productive. But averages can hide everything. When the team sees a green number, they think, “We’re fine.” But somewhere in the system, five tenants waited too long. Three properties sat vacant. A staff member silently struggled.
Here’s your test:
Can you point to a single application and say, “This KPI flagged this failure”?
If not, rewrite the KPI.
Final tip: Word your KPI in the negative.
I know it feels awkward at first, but it works. Track the number of failures, not the number of wins. You’ll get more useful data. Don’t track how many applications were approved in 48 hours. Track how many weren’t.
You’ll be shocked at what you find—and how quickly you can improve.
