1) The KPI Trap: Why your people are fighting the system rather than the problem

The real issue: At many mine sites, consistently meeting targets is rarely about our effort or the process, but rather about not understanding the actual constraint that governs throughput. Traditional KPI systems create competing priorities across departments, leaving the actual constraint under-resourced, which then limits the overall throughput of the mine.

The human impact: These competing priorities result in high workload, significant rework, and longer and more frequent meetings. This leads to frustration, as employees feel that improvement is possible, but the levers to achieve it are unclear.

The solution: A tight set of constraint-aligned KPIs, reviewed in a short daily Flow Room meeting that addresses the right KPIs, to identify and close performance gaps, and align daily work to stabilise the flow.

A Flow Room is a short, daily review that aligns actions to the constraint and clears near-term blockages.

The result: KPIs that focus on the constraint, aligning execution and closing the right performance gaps.

The left-hand side of the infographic demonstrates the real cause-and-effect relationship between effective KPIs and performance. It represents over 90 mining interventions across surface and underground mines in Australia and South Africa.

There is a direct correlation between effective KPIs and overall mine performance. Many Flow Room implementations have delivered "superflow", but as the right-hand side shows, there is a significant risk to performance sustainability. The risk is not the implementation of constraint-based KPIs, but rather reverting to traditional KPI systems after a leadership change.

Good People, Broken System

Walk through any operation, and familiar patterns emerge. Good people are working hard, and KPIs are being achieved, yet flow is inconsistent, costs are creeping, and more time is spent in meetings, and less time is spent solving the real issues.

It is the system design that drives this behaviour. When measures compete and distract us from overcoming the constraint, no matter how much effort is made, targets will not be achieved.

Smart people making rational local decisions in  a misaligned system

Local optimisation affects system flow - Scheduling major maintenance during peak crushing periods helps us meet the "planned maintenance" target, but it impacts today's production, highlighting a system design issue.

Information overload and priority confusion - Shift supervisors can track 50 or more metrics daily. When focus is on everything, there is no focus. The single most important measure, the constraint run-rate, gets lost in the noise, and today's production target is missed.

Trust erosion – This occurs when the overall flow stalls, despite dashboard measures still indicating a green status. Confidence in the measures fades, and collaboration narrows to individuals defending their local KPIs.

Throughput drops when our measures reward localised performance rather than the performance of the real system constraint.

How to Drive Alignment and Collaboration

Set up the Flow Room: 30 minutes that change the day.

The impact is not the KPIs alone; it is the daily review rhythm that makes them work.

Your production meeting, 30 minutes, same time, same people

• Evaluate yesterday's constraint: performance versus the target.

• Highlight today's risk: maintaining flow through the constraint.

• Discuss tomorrow's potential issues: what could starve or block the constraint..

• Assign action plans: at the right level with responsibility and dates agreed

What changes

• Shared reality: everyone sees the same constraint-focused data.

• Forward focus: tomorrow's solutions rather than yesterday's causes.

• Collective problem-solving: focused teams and collaborative fixes.

• Accountability with support: clear performance ownership with leadership backing.

The people impact

• Maintenance aligns schedules to the constraints’ needs.

• Planning becomes a collaborative process with clear alignment.

• Operations gain earlier warnings and fewer surprises.

• Everyone sees how their work lifts flow at the constraint and therefore how they improve overall mine performance.

  
  

The Real ROI: Protecting Human Capital

Yes, production improves when effort centres on the constraint; however, the return from our human resources is significant:

• Retention: engaged people solving real problems rather than fighting the system

• Engagement: teams align on shared objectives and close performance gaps faster

• Development: supervisors build system thinking, not just functional optimisation

• Culture: trust and collective problem-solving become part of daily work

The financial results follow when the right people focus on the right things.

The Bottom Line: fix the system, not the people

When departments optimise locally and the constraint lacks focus, the outcome is predictable.

The actions needed

• Align everyone toward the continual increase of flow through the constraint.

• Provide clear, focused measures for the performance of the constraint.

• Build a daily rhythm with a tight cadence that creates trust and collaboration.

Creating an environment where people can do their best work and a workplace where a culture of continuous improvement is sustainable will lead to increased productivity and overall business improvement.

A final word

Your team has the capability and capacity; all that is lacking is a focus that removes all the noise our legacy thinking creates. If your KPIs are green but the flow is uneven and below target, please get in touch to re-anchor your priorities around the constraint and implement a daily rhythm to increase flow through it.

The following case study demonstrates the principles of flow.

Case Study: 

Fast Startup - 85% of design capacity year 1, Design capacity exceeded by 30% year 2

An open cut iron ore mine in Africa had to start up under challenging conditions. The target was a full production rate of 9 million tons by the end of year 1. To ensure community support, local workers, often inexperienced, formed a large part of the workforce.

The operation was struggling; by June, it was clear that output was stagnating at 600,000 tonnes a month, well short of the 750,000 tonnes required. In July, the operation received FLOW training, and the Flow Room became operational. Production increased to 1 million tons a month by year-end, and 8.5 million tons for the year. The mine produced 11.6 million tonnes in year 2, 29% above its designed capacity. This resulted in an additional $244 million in revenue, significantly enhancing profitability. The mine’s success attracted peers and consultants eager to understand and replicate its achievements.

The new operational approach markedly increased employee engagement and the quality of decision-making. The Flow Room, requiring 50 employees in attendance, often drew up to 70 participants, underscoring its effectiveness and appeal. By empowering the workforce, they responded by demonstrating increased maturity and agility in managing operations, further cementing the mine's status as a leader in innovative mining practices. Management sustained this performance for a further 9 years.