8 Qualities of a Good Teacher (Plus Ways To Improve)

Teaching is one of the most fulfilling careers you can pursue. Effective teachers are
critical to the development and academic success of their students and have many skills
in the areas of communication, teamwork, time management, problem-solving and
organization. If you're considering a career in education or looking for ways to improve
your teaching skills, it can help to consider the top qualities of good teachers.

In this article, we explore the eight top qualities and skills shared by good teachers and
we offer tips on how you can develop these qualities yourself.

How can I be a good teacher?

Good teachers are life-long learners dedicated to the academic development of

students. They typically continue their own education to further develop their methods
and skills. In seeking to become a strong teacher, you should look to build and hone the
following characteristics:

1. Effective goal-setting
2. Clear communication
3. Acting as a role model
4. Adaptability and flexibility
5. Preparation
6. Self-reflection
7. Life-long learning
8. Promoting a love of learning

1. Effective goal-setting

The most effective teachers know how to set clear objectives for individual students,
single lessons, their entire class and themselves. Developing goals can assist with
gauging academic performance while giving students clear directives on how to
improve. Goals are also an important part of setting and measuring challenges, both for
the students and the teacher. You can set clear objectives with the following steps:

Check for understanding

Instead of waiting to test your students’ knowledge in a test, check for comprehension
during each lesson. This process allows you to answer student questions and provide a
deeper understanding of the topic for students.

Offer feedback

Feedback allows students to know how their performance matches up with your
expectations. Feedback that is timely, detailed and constructive can assist students in
understanding academic expectations.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Definition and Examples

Most businesses and organizations set goals in order to achieve the right objectives and
fulfill the needs of their stakeholders. Those goals start at the top and trickle down to
every team within the organization, each performing unique functions to advance the
business.

There are many different ways to set and measure goals. One popular way to measure
an individual, team or company’s progress toward a goal is by using key performance
indicators, or KPIs, which set a standard of success for a specific business objective.

In this article, we define key performance indicators and offer specific examples with a
step-by-step guide for creating KPIs for yourself, your team or your business.

What are key performance indicators?

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are measurable values that determine how effectively
an individual, team or organization is achieving a business objective. Organizations use
KPIs to help individuals at all levels focus their work toward achieving a common goal.
KPIs also help businesses understand whether they’re utilizing their time, budget and
talent on the right strategies, tasks and tools in order to achieve their goals.

Professionals can also set personal KPIs to gauge their individual success, guide their
decision-making efforts and improve performance over time. By tracking KPIs, both
individuals and organizations can better understand their development and evolve with
their career.

Types of KPIs

KPIs can be used in nearly any part of a business. Here are the two main types that may
be used to account for the needs of the group using them:
Lagging vs. leading KPIs Lagging KPIs measure the current state of a business and its
achievements toward a goal after a set period of time. Leading KPIs measure and
determine a business’ future state.

High vs. low KPIs Key performance indicators that target an entire organization’s
goals are called high KPIs. These indicators measure the company’s success as a whole.
KPIs that target smaller projects, such as departmental strategies, are called low KPIs.

What makes a good KPI?

A business’s ability to track its progress toward a goal is only effective as the quality of
its KPIs. Using the “SMARTER” framework, a good KPI should have the following
qualities:

Specific: A KPI should be a detailed, simple and clear description of what exactly you
want to achieve. For example, “Improve customer satisfaction” is too broad. A better KPI
is, “Improve customer satisfaction ratings by 10% by the end of Q3.”

Measurable: As demonstrated in the example above, KPIs should be quantifiable to

establish an exact definition of success. When thinking about ways to measure, consider
using dollar amounts, percentages or raw numbers.

Achievable: It's best that your KPIs are ambitious yet attainable within reason. This
ensures individuals working toward them are motivated and challenged but don’t burn
out. It also helps set realistic expectations with stakeholders and company leadership.

Relevant: Your KPI should help advance the larger key business objective(s) of the team
above you. For example, if you're on a client success team that falls under the
company’s marketing organization, your KPI should align with marketing objectives. All
KPIs should align with a larger key business objective.

Time-bound: Select an ambitious yet realistic amount of time in which you’ll measure
your progress toward a KPI. For example, you might decide you want to achieve a
certain amount of renewal sales by the end of a quarter, month or calendar year.

Evaluate: Regularly examining your KPIs is a great way to ensure you’re still working
toward the right objectives. During your evaluation you might ask questions like, Is my
KPI still relevant? What are the main blockers to success? Do I have the right budget,
tools, talent and support? After this KPI period is complete, what should be measured
next?

Reevaluate/Readjust: Consider reevaluating your KPIs at specific periods—perhaps

halfway through your KPI timeframe and once again at the end. Take this time to
determine whether it's necessary to make changes to your KPIs so they’re up to date,
achievable, relevant and in line with company objectives.

How to create KPIs

Follow these steps to choose and implement key performance indicators:

1. Determine your end goal

Create a clear vision of what you're trying to accomplish. Keep this objective simple and
straightforward. Your KPI should be connected with a key business objective that is both
strategic and impactful to the organization. Without a clear vision, you risk working
toward something that ultimately wastes time, energy, money and resources. Consider
meeting with your manager to ensure you’re setting good goals and having them
review your KPIs after you’ve set them.

2. Ask key performance questions (KPQs)

Consider developing KPQs, or questions that determine whether you’ve met an

objective. When crafting KPQs, try to avoid simple yes-or-no questions such as, “Have I
met my sales quota?” Instead, ask open-ended, thought-provoking questions such as,
“How might I market my product portfolio better?” The answers to your KPQs will give
you good information to create useful KPIs.

Other examples of KPQs include:

What result do I want to achieve?

Why is that outcome important?

How can I define progress?

How can I affect the result?

How will I know I’ve reached my end goal?

Related: A Guide to Team Metrics: Importance, Types and Tips

3. Identify what information you already have

Before assigning metrics to address your KPQs, see if another department or manager is
already collecting that information. If so, you can simply adjust the equation and apply it
to your business strategy. Collecting existing data also helps to set a realistic target for
your KPI.

4. Collect supporting data

Take time to collect additional information to create a KPI. Depending on the objective,
this information might be industry trends, demographics, traffic averages, email
performance, conversion rates or competitor analysis. Use this information to inform
your key performance indicators.

Avoid simply measuring the same KPIs as your competitors. Every business is unique
and what works for one company might not work for another. Dedicate time to clearly
pinpoint what metrics will benefit your company based on its strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats.

5. Determine how frequently you’ll measure each KPI

Next, identify a good cadence for checking in on progress toward the KPI. It's best to
predetermine how and when you’ll measure, including which tool you’ll use to pull the
data upfront.

Keep in mind that your KPIs can, and in most cases should, evolve and be updated. As
businesses evolve, it’s important that KPIs are revisited and adjusted to reflect those
changes. Monitor KPI status regularly to make sure it’s still useful and tracking the
information you intended it to.

Related: 17 KPIs To Track the Success of an Event

6. Set short- and long-term goals for the KPI

For example, if your KPI is to sell 2,400 memberships to your service over the course of a
year, it's best to break it up into short-term milestones. In this scenario, you might set
short-term goals to sell 200 new memberships per month. Then, you can use this rate to
determine whether you need to change expectations or strategies as you go.

Failing to reach a goal doesn’t mean that selecting a certain KPI was a bad decision. On
the contrary, you can use the data you collected and the information you learned to
improve performance in the future. By identifying your shortcomings, you can make
adjustments accordingly. Remember, KPIs are designed to help companies and
individuals make sound business decisions and to continuously improve over time.

7. Delegate responsibility for KPIs

There are many moving factors when it comes to KPI development and maintenance.
Make sure you have clearly assigned individuals or teams to specific tasks. The
assessment, data collection and interpretation, monitoring and presenting of KPIs
should all be accounted for.
Related: Why Are Scrum Metrics Important? (Plus 16 Metrics You Can Use)

8. Share KPIs with appropriate leadership and stakeholders

Contribute to your organization’s success by communicating strategies, progress and

outcomes. Be transparent when discussing what you’re measuring and why. This can
help employees and stakeholders feel invested or “bought-in” to the goals.

All team members must be aware of the objectives so they can work toward them and
provide feedback as necessary. Key performance indicators aren’t static, and you must
update them as your organization’s needs evolve.

Related: 8 Key Performance Indicators for a Startup Company To Use

Reporting on KPIs

Once you’ve measured a key performance indicator, you may want or be required to
present your progress in a KPI report. This is typically useful for project leaders, team
leaders, managers and supervisors to communicate with company management,
department heads or other stakeholders. Here are three KPI report categories you might
create depending on the information your audience needs and your goals:

Analytical report Operational report Strategic report

This report details the KPI and works to explain what impacted your results most. This
might include historic KPI data for comparison. This report provides data about how
KPIs measure an organization’s daily operations so management can make well-
informed decisions. This report reflects the health of the organization and its progress
so stakeholders can determine whether the company is meeting goals.

What to include in a KPI report

While your report should be written to address the needs of the audience in a way that
appropriately reflects your goals or projects, there are a few key pieces of information
that might be helpful to include.

Here are a few examples of key information you might include in your KPI report:

Goal: Clearly identify which objective the KPI is evaluating.

Metric: State the quantifiable, relevant and actionable key performance indicator you’re
using for measurement purposes

Rationale: Explain why you or your team chose this KPI and how the resulting data
contributes to the company’s success.
Frequency: State how often you measured your key performance indicator and at what
frequency you’ll re-examine it.

Source: Identify where you gathered the data and consider sharing a formula for
calculating the data.

Visuals: Use a chart, table or graph for easy comprehension. If applicable, compare it
with previous visuals of the same type to track progress over time.

Comments: Here you can briefly add any other relevant information or interpretation of
the metrics you obtained.

Related: What Is KPI Tracking? (With Benefits and Examples)

KPI reporting tips

Here are a few additional tips for preparing your presentation:

Be concise. Your report should be succinct and easy to understand. Consider refining
your data to only the crucial takeaways.

Use visuals. Charts and trend graphs can make results easier to retain.

Simplify technical information. Be sure to explain technical terms using resources such
as glossaries.

Be truthful. Be honest, regardless of the results of the report. If a key performance

indicator shows the company or department did not reach its goal, craft a plan for how
you’ll achieve better outcomes in the future.

Include historical data. If the company has run previous metrics on this key performance
indicator, compare current data with past data to evaluate progress.

Offer regular reporting. Schedule regular updates across the lifespan of the KPI to
present and compare data as it changes. Monitor progress and determine how often
you’ll present your findings to stakeholders on an ongoing basis.

Related: KQI vs. KPI: What's the Difference?

Examples of KPIs by industry

A company’s key performance measures will vary depending on the industry and the
organization’s objectives. For example, a technology company might measure growth by
comparing each year’s earnings, while a retailer might look at same-store sales.
Some KPIs will be more quantitative than others. For example, earnings are generally
much easier to measure with hard numbers while user satisfaction with a product,
service or site is open to interpretation. Performance indicators can be based on
finances, customer service, marketing, sales, manufacturing, human resources, supply
chain and more. Below are some possible KPIs for different industries.

Sales and finances

Examples of sales and finance-based KPIs might include:

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA)

Net profit (how much revenue the company retains after paying taxes, expenses, etc.)

Gross profit (how much revenue the company retains after deducting the production
cost of goods sold)

Costs (to figure out ways to lower them)

A comparison of projected vs. actual revenue

A comparison of expenses vs. budget

Debt vs. equity ratio

Day sales outstanding (DSO) (the average number of days it takes to receive payment
after a sale)

Regional or national sales

Sales from new customers

Repeat sales revenue

Proposals issued and/or lost

Deals closed

The number of prospect meetings across a set period

The number of returned items

The number of online vs. in-store sales

Inventory turnover (how long it takes for products in inventory to get sold)

Average sale size

The cost of maintaining sales staff

Related: Sales KPIs: 25 Examples of Impactful Sales Metrics

Marketing

Examples of marketing key performance indicators might include:

Dollars spent on marketing over a certain period

Online traffic (the number of visitors to the company website)

Organic online traffic (the number of visitors to the company website via a search
engine)

Web traffic (to determine how many visitors are new vs. returning)

Mobile traffic

Click-through rate (the ratio of web traffic that clicks on a particular ad)

The number of visits to a particular piece of content

SEO rank (where your web content appears in search engine results for certain
keywords)

Social media traffic growth

Sales revenue earned from online marketing campaigns

Marketing qualified leads (a potential customer who has indicated he or she is likely to
buy the company’s product or service)

Sales qualified leads (a potential customer who’s been researched, vetted and
determined likely to buy the company’s product or service)

Cost per lead

Read more: 18 Key Performance Indicators To Improve Your Marketing

Customer relations

Examples of customer service-based key performance indicators might include:

Customers gained over a set period

In-store foot traffic

Percentage of customers who don’t continue paying for service or buying products
Cost of customer acquisition

Customer lifetime value (to determine how to best gain and retain customers)

Customer retention

Customer satisfaction or customer satisfaction score

Survey-based net promoter scores (to determine whether customers would recommend
the company to others)

Customer support tickets and their response or resolution times

The number of calls to customer service

The number of customer complaints via email, phone or other methods

Related: Net Promoter Score (NPS): Definition and How To Measure It

Human resources and employment

Examples of human resources or employee-based key performance indicators might

include:

The number of new hires

Cost per hire

The number of promotions

Employee turnover

Employee satisfaction via survey responses

Retirement rate

Absenteeism rate (to determine how much productivity has been lost due to employee
sick or personal days)

The rate of training and development based on test scores pre- and post-training

Salary competitiveness ratio (to determine how your company’s average salary
compares to your competitors or the industry as a whole)

Read more: What Are KPIs for HR? (Plus a List of 4 KPI Examples)

Employee success
Examples of key performance indicators employees might use to track their own
development include:

Personal targets such as sales quotas

Project completion within a certain time frame

Units processed or issues resolved a day, week, month, etc.

Speed of work

Customer satisfaction

Job satisfaction

Absenteeism

Related: 16 Examples of KPIs for the Workplace

Get interview-ready with tips from Indeed

Prepare for interviews with practice questions and tips

How to use KPIs for individual performance

You can apply the above strategies to achieve your own goals as an employee. Setting a
goal for yourself and measuring it with relevant KPIs can help you stay on track and
achieve it. Your success should contribute directly to company goals. Using KPIs, you
and your manager can track whether you’re hitting your target goal and take the
appropriate steps to get there.

Consider beginning by aligning your goal and your KPI with that of your department or
organization. This means your success is also your company’s success. Here’s an
example, if a company’s vision is to create high customer satisfaction:

Company goal: Reduce the percentage of unsatisfied customers by 30%

Individual goal: Boost settled complaints by 15% during a specified period

Company KPI: Settle unsettled customer grievances each week

Individual KPI: Reduce percentage of satisfied complaint resolutions vs. unsatisfied

complaint resolutions

You can also use KPIs to track your professional growth and success within a company.
For example, you might compare data over time using metrics such as your speed of
work, accuracy, level of responsibility or quality work to determine whether you’re
improving. If so, you know that you’re adding value to the company. If you’re not
meeting your goals, you might consider adjusting your focus and tactics accordingly.

Related: Professional Growth: 5 Steps To Advance in Your Career

Track short- and long-term professional goals

KPIs can help you plot career objectives by setting short and long-term development
goals, too. Short-term KPIs might be daily or even hourly, such as how long it took you
to complete a particular task. These are real-time indicators of your performance and
ability to meet deadlines. Long-term KPIs track career goals over months or a year and
help guide your progress.

Related: How To Set Short-Term Career Goals in 5 Steps (Plus Tips)

Record and keep KPI data

Be sure to record and keep the KPI data you collect so you can use it as an example of
your career growth when seeking promotions or interviewing with other employers. If
you’re starting in an entry-level position, set KPIs that reflect your core responsibilities as
well as your potential. Choose performance indicators that will benefit your employer
while supporting your professional goals. Present these metrics in future interviews as
you progress to higher positions.

Using key performance indicators, companies and individuals can gauge their success
and progress. These metrics can help you and your company make well-informed
business decisions, boost performance and understand your performance within an
industry. With thoughtful KPIs, you can track your professional progress to make smart
decisions, meet goals and improve performance.

2. Clear communication

Teachers use verbal and nonverbal communication skills to identify student needs and
to know when to listen versus when to talk. Teachers also use developed written
communication skills to report information to parents and other school professionals.
You can develop these skills with the following tips:

Use active listening skills

Instead of preparing how to respond, use active listening skills when communicating
and listen to understand the other person’s needs. Give yourself a few seconds after the
question to decide how to respond so that you can truly focus on what the student,
parent or fellow teacher is saying.

Ask for clarification when needed

If you do not fully understand what the other person needs, ask them to rephrase their
question or request. You can also repeat what you understood in your own words to
assess what part of their request needs more clarification.

Related: Nonverbal Communication Skills: Definition and Examples

3. Acting as a role model

Three teachers help a group of four students with laptops seated at a long cafeteria
table.

Setting rules and encouraging certain behaviors is a good step toward student
development. Teachers who model the same behaviors they ask from their students are
more likely to help students cultivate desirable habits and behaviors. You can be a role
model for your students with the following tips:

Be aware of your behavior

Students observe and learn how to communicate, act, treat others and other
developmental behaviors. Modeling behaviors of patience, understanding, empathy and
communication can encourage students to develop these same skills.

Create an environment of honesty

Encourage your students to be honest with one another through mediating open
conversations. You can model honest behavior by sharing your intentions behind
classroom decisions to help students better empathize with you and your position. This
step can translate into students evaluating their own intentions and how they impact
others, increasing empathy and honesty.

Related: Integrity: Definition and Examples

4. Adaptability and flexibility

Each student comes from a unique background with individual personalities, educational
needs and developmental milestones. Teachers find that while one lesson plan or
method of teaching works well with one type of student, it does not work well with
another student. Good teachers learn how to adjust to meet the individual needs of
each student. You can learn to adjust using the following steps:
Celebrate students’ individuality

Create an environment of acceptance by encouraging creativity, freedom of thought

and questions in the classroom. Accept students where they are developmentally and
academically. When students feel comfortable and accepted, they also feel more
comfortable asking questions and learning.

Identify different learning styles

Good teachers can identify the individual learning needs of their students while also
creating lesson plans that cater to their academic styles. For example, some students
may learn best in a lecture classroom whereas other students are better able to grasp
information with hands-on learning opportunities. Consider blending methods in
lessons to appeal to more students at one time.

Related: Emotional Intelligence: Definition and Examples

5. Preparation

In addition to learning to adjust to individual student needs, effective teachers also learn
to prepare for every possible scenario. Preparation can promote trust and comfort in the
classroom, and it allows teachers to create lesson plans that are catered to the individual
needs of each student. Use the following tips to become more prepared:

Create intentional lesson plans

The most effective teachers create lesson plans with intention by considering the ways
the lesson plan could shift as well as the potential emotions, thoughts and concerns that
each lesson plan could bring up with each student. Teachers can also define each
lesson’s purpose to ensure students understand why they are learning that specific
topic.

Understand strengths and weaknesses

It can also be useful to create lesson plans based on the strengths and weaknesses of
each classmate. Getting to know these areas of improvement early on can assist you in
creating classroom plans that are catered to the individual needs of your students.

6. Self-reflection

Self-reflection is a person’s ability to reflect on their own needs, desires and interests
that can lead to self-acceptance as well as academic success. Teachers who are reflective
of their own strengths, weaknesses and characteristics as a teacher and are intentional
about improvement are better able to encourage the same level of self-reflection from
their students. You can encourage this in your classroom with the following tips:

Designate time

Designate a time each day to focus on self-reflection activities. Encourage students to

evaluate their own progress for the day and come up with ways they can do better
tomorrow. Promote self-evaluation with a focus on improvement by having self-
reflection time after a big test or near the end of the semester.

Offer privacy

Some students can be hesitant with self-reflection, so good teachers encourage

students to share when they are comfortable and allow them to remain private when
they are not. Journals can be a great way to encourage self-reflection without requiring
students to share their insights with the entire classroom.

7. Life-long learning

Teachers are often required to complete continuing education courses and encouraged
to pursue professional development opportunities to best serve their students. Teachers
can employ their continuing education in the following ways:

Prepare for the changing classroom

Courses in child psychology allow teachers to keep up to date as emotional

development strategies change. Technological courses help teachers make the most of
the new tools in the classroom.

Encourage personal and professional development in the classroom

Continuing education classes allow you to develop your teaching skills, which can
demonstrate to your students that you value self-improvement. You can also use the
same study techniques you teach your students to prove how impactful they can be.

8. Promoting a love of learning

A person at a podium addresses rows of listeners. A spotlight is on the speaker so the

audience is backlit in a darkened room.

Good teachers also make learning enjoyable by educating students in a way that is
engaging and appeals to students’ interests. When students enjoy learning, they are
more likely to participate in the classroom, perform better academically and value
continued education. You can instill positive feelings in your students in the following
ways:

Use alternative methods of teaching

The best teachers aim to try something new to make any topic more entertaining. Turn a
lesson into a game or performance. This step can help students want to learn and even
promote creativity, critical thinking and collaboration skills they can apply outside the
classroom as well.

Ask for feedback

Good teachers ask their students for feedback to identify if students are struggling with
a specific lesson plan and the elements they like and dislike about a lesson or topic. You
can apply feedback to create a lesson plan that works for them and even come up with
new areas to explore that best engage them in the classroom.