5 Actions to improve your Performance Management

Back in the day, managers and employees across a wide variety of industries and employer sizes lived and died by the annual review. But not only are they a lot of work for everyone involved, they aren’t even particularly useful. Many organisations also provide little or no guidance to managers on how to conduct a performance review, which means that individual experiences can vary tremendously.

Research shows that organisations with employees who are more satisfied with their company’s approach to performance management are

·       1.3 times more likely to meet their financial targets

·       Three times more likely to effectively manage change

·       3.2 times more likely to encourage risk-taking

·       More than twice as likely to innovate

Luckily, there are a few steps you can take to create a performance management system your company will love. But first, let’s explore a couple of the key challenges that you might face.

What’s a multigenerational organization to do? Many have decided to supplement or replace annual reviews with more frequent, ongoing feedback. I think that this is a positive step, and will lead to better outcomes. Organisations must ditch forced ranking or "bell curve" ratings, this is the work of the devil. It crushes teamwork, innovation and communication.

If you’re ready to remix the feedback you and your fellow managers offer to your multigenerational employees, here are some strategies to consider.

1. MAKE SURE THAT YOU GIVE EXPLICIT INSTRUCTIONS

I often tell many older employees who have younger staff that giving useful feedback starts with explicit instructions. A law firm partner once complained to me that he had tried to support a young associate’s career by bringing her with him to a client meeting, but she blew it. When I asked what happened, he said with disdain, “She talked.”

According to this partner, a junior associate absolutely should not speak in a meeting with clients. When I asked him if he had told her that in advance, he said, “She should have known not to talk.” In this instance, the failure is on the partner, not the associate.

2. CONDUCT ONE-ON-ONE CHECK-INS

Adobe is one of a number of organisations that has abolished annual performance reviews and decided to replace them with “check-ins,” frequent meetings between employees and managers. One-on-ones are hardly a new concept, but if more managers actually held them, I’m willing to bet that productivity and engagement will improve tremendously.

Quite simply, one-on-one coaching check-ins signify to employees that they matter. In our busy high-tech world, so many leaders have gotten away from the necessary nurturing of relationships. I advise managers to go back to basics and get to know people. A little personal attention can go a long way.

3. HAVE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT AN EMPLOYEE’S FUTURE

Some organisations have a formalized variation on one-on-one check-ins that they call “stay conversations.” The purpose is to discuss an employee’s future at the organisation.

I once sat next to a young professional on an airplane who worked in sales for a major beverage company. When I told him about my work, he identified himself as an ambitious and frustrated millennial. He asked for advice on talking to his manager about how he could advance more quickly.

“I keep asking my boss what else I need to do to get ahead,” he told me, “and my boss keeps saying, ‘Be patient. Your career is a marathon, not a sprint.’ “And I understand that,” he said. “But can’t he at least tell me what mile of the marathon I’m on?”

That sentiment makes sense to me, and this is why stay conversations can be so valuable. When was the last time you talked to your top talent about the future? So many people are told in their exit interviews, “Why are you leaving? We had big plans for you!” And they reply, “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

4. USE TECHNOLOGY WHEN IT MAKES SENSE

Some organisations, such as IBM and Warby Parker, have replaced their annual performance reviews with an immediate process that provide employees with ongoing feedback. PwC even has an on-demand system where employees can request fine-tuning whenever they want it: Using technology tailored to the individual, with immediate feedback, with links to performance feedback and training is a must to improve communication, performance and engagement. Also have a system that can give you upward as well as cross team feedback that is tailored to your organisation. One size fits all is a recipe for disaster, it is ot how your organisation (or the world) operates. For more information do contact [email protected]

5. PRACTICE THE MBWA TECHNIQUE

Another simple and effective management strategy and feedback opportunity is the decades-old MBWA technique–“Management by Wandering Around.” This is as easy as it sounds, you literally walk around and chitchat with your team. One Harvard Business School study found that managers with the lowest levels of respect are those known for shutting themselves in their offices.

The annual review has a long history, and because of that, many companies continue to adopt it year after year without assessing its effectiveness. Your employees do want feedback–but chances are they don’t want you to deliver it in an overly formal, stilted, and outdated way.

#Performancemanagement #humanresources #leadership #communication #sales #appraisals #teamwork #coaching #Leadershipdevelopment #digitalmanagement

Many thanks for viewing my post, I hope you found it useful? If you did, would you share it with your network who might also enjoy it and before you go, would you use the comment section, below, to let me know what you found most interesting about what I had to say – how was it relevant to your own circumstances? Do follow me, thank you www.dhirubhai.net/in/normanmurray