Farhan QaXi Interviewed by The KPI Institute, Worldwide Performance Consultant, Australia.

The Performance Magazine editorial team interviewed Muhammad Farhan Qaxi , Senior Performance Management Consultant & Coach, HRInsights.live.

His thoughts and views on Performance Management are detailed below.

1.??????Which were the key trends in Performance Management, from your point of view?

Over the 2 to 3 years, trends have begun to change as companies are replacing their old performance management processes and looking for ways to evaluate jobs performance faster, more efficiently and more accurately.

The performance management software packages use in performance management is inevitable now. Specifically, software’s with real time performance evaluation.

2. What are your thoughts on the integration of Performance Management at organizational, departmental and employee level?

It is critical for motivating employee performance and aligning mutual efforts towards the achievement of organizational, departmental and employee goals. However, it is extremely effort oriented and only feasible for smart organization i.e. technology companies, telecom companies. Traditional organizations need extreme effort and change management to implement this integration. In my observation, alignment between strategic action plans, business action plans and individual performance was often questionable in few departments e.g. service departments i.e. HR, Facilities Management, Information Technology, Supply Chain, Research & Development, Maintenance.

3. Which will be the major changes in managing performance, in the future?

Reinvent Performance Management by integrating big data analytics into performance management process. For both business and employee performance, predictive analysis based on big data supports the decision making and accurate forecasting for business managers

Reinvent Personnel Effectiveness, this is because technology disruption that creates lots of distraction for an individual which effects personnel effectiveness. As we know strong and positive correlation exists between Personnel Effectiveness and employee’s on the job performance. Therefore reinvent personnel effectiveness is critical to use technology disruption effectively and increase effectiveness of employees’.

4. What aspects of Performance Management should be explored more through research?

Impact of PMS on Human Behavior

Impact of PMS on Conscious Biases

Impact of PMS on Unconscious Biases

Impact of PMS on Employee Engagement

5. Which organizations would you recommend to be looked at, due to their particular approach to managing performance, and their subsequent results?

I would recommend to watch 3M (A global science company that never stops inventing). They always inspire because of their Innovation Culture and Performance Reinforcement strategies. And look at the organization results FY 2016 $30 billion sales, EPS $8.16, 7.7% year on year increase. I think this is only because continuous improvement in their Performance Management Processes, where they connect Strategic Plan, Department Plan, Tactical Plan and Operational Plan seamlessly and achieve results in innovation, R&D and Invention business, tough one.

6. Which of the existing trends, topics or particular aspects within Performance Management?have lost their relevance and/or importance, from your point of view?

In my point of view, past performance reviews have lost their importance because of real time performance dashboards and scorecards, objective setting exercises have lost their relevance because of Big Data helping us, where objectives can be derived and manage during execution and results are visible at performance Dashboards. Performance based TNA is no more needed because of Social learning platform, where problem solving and training needs fulfilled extremely fast e.g. Watsapp groups, Facebook messengers, Mobile Video Messengers etc.

7. Which are main challenges of Performance Management in practice, today?

Main challenge is the way we (Companies) look at Performance Management, it is one of the most powerful talent management and development tool. But nowadays Performance Management used for lagging performance, reprimand strategy, lay-off strategy, change management tool, which makes it more difficult to implement and it creates more anxiety at workplace.

8. What should be improved in the use of Performance Management tools and processes?

For improvement first things first, simplification of Performance Management Process by using latest software’s, a number of new tools are available which are easy-to-use performance and goal management tools. Performance coaching, developmental needs, regular feedback is must have process for continuous improvement

9. What would you consider as a best practice in Performance Management??

High-performance organizations best practice defined in 5 stages;

1. Creating means and environment for performance results
2. Make expectations clear and time bounded
3. Help find solutions to problems by practicing problem realization process
4. Use employee’s strengths and develop strengths and development needs
5. Accountability and Authority management to ensure expected outcomes

10. Which aspects of Performance Management should be emphasized during educational programs?

Since social media and internet of things is the disruptive future, therefore “Personnel Effectiveness” refreshers are must in education program. It is important to cope with disruptive environment and fast change and it is only possible when this is part of performance management education.

11. What are the limits that prevent practitioners from achieving higher levels of proficiency in Performance Management?

Lack of strong integration between Enterprise performance management, financial performance management and employee performance management. All parts are important and integration is must to achieve higher level proficiency in performance management.

12. What is your opinion on the emerging trend of measuring performance outside working hours?

Real time performance management is simple and engaging tool and because of that measuring performance 24/7 is possible. Real time feedback, Social learning, 360 feedback is now and the future. In my opinion we need to learn it and enjoy it.

13. What personal performance measurement tools do you use (i.e. gadgets that track blood pressure, steps taken, heart rate, burnt calories or tools that help with one’s finances or personal skills)?

Well, I am using “Samsung health” as fitness application and Excel based KPIs modeling for finance and personal skills level. I have been user of Balanced Scorecard tool for quite a while, now moved to KPI based Scorecards.

14.?If you are a Practitioner: Which were the recent achievements in generating value from performance management in your organization?

-?????????Alignment of Strategic KPIs, Financial KPIs,?Functional KPIs and Employee Objectives / KPIs helping us to understand the focus area of improvement i.e. cross functional alignment, clear expectation management, creating means and environment, capacity building and proactive planning.

-?????????Big Data Dashboards of Sales, Production and HR helping us to see holistic picture of business management and highlighting area of focus to create more value by putting more efforts and resources.

Please free to connect with our expert Muhammad Farhan Qaxi and ask more questions. Inbox/call/whatsapp/email at [email protected]