Performance Management: The real Truth
Performance Management: The truth
By Chrissie Kafalinji
The opinion of most Corporate ICT companies is that Performance Management is simply a time-consuming task and costly investment. The entire process is seen as ineffective and irrelevant.
Let’s drill-down to the core issues regarding Performance Management. And why it has been labeled ineffective by so many organizations.
Firstly, organisations fail to understand the main purpose of a Performance Management System. While seen as a communication tool this is not what it was designed for. The aim of Performance management has always been to create a sense of Awareness for all individuals with the organization. There is probably a minority of organizations that have actually made their employees aware of any future development plans. So many organizations simply survive of the words “Let us be the best at what we do”. Now how that probably sounds to an employee is “Let’s us be the best at what we do_______”. These blanks are often the downfall of so many organizational structures. The blanks need to be filled in. Employees want to be included and understand the essence of what it is that their doing.
Secondly, Organisations need to get down to focus on their evaluation processes. The evaluation process needs to zoom in on individuals. Creating scorecards that estimate a person’s punctuality and attendance are irrelevant if the person is actually performing above standard. Therefore, weighing them down on their scores or ratings due to these simple issues may act against the organization as it may just be a driving force in a decrease in Retention. Once the Evaluation Criteria is functioning correctly and according to the individuals’ expectations, the overall results will prove to be valuable.
Performance Management can prove to be an essential powerful tool if used correctly.
Now that we’ve mentioned certain elements that need to change with organizations to give Performance Management a chance at survival. You’re probably waiting for me to point you in the right direction. So let’s get into it:
1. Understand the Real Reason:
Within an organization, the opinions on the purpose of using a Performance Management System probably differs. While an employee may feel it’s used as a criticism tool, a manager may feel it is used to analyze their managerial skills and a CEO might consider it as a necessity. The main purpose of the Performance Management System is actually to define the existence of the organisation, to create awareness of everything related to the development of the organisation and its employees and lastly to act as a roadmap to the organisation in such a way that continuous reflections a conducted to revise where the destination is and how far the organisation and employees have come.
2. Set the Boundaries:
The work environment is kind of like a video game. “What am I on about?” Let me explain. A video game is designed in such a way that each progressive level is harder than the first and the idea behind this is for the player to become more and more strategic in their approach. As you move up the levels the rewards and benefits will increase in value, but there are set scores that need to be achieved to attain those rewards. This is true to the work environment, however, what many organizations fail to do is to make these benefits clear to everyone, to clearly set boundaries out that divide the Amateur from the Pro employee and the consequence of those that remain an Amateur for too long.
3. A Realistic Challenge:
Ever heard the saying “Your biggest competitor is who you were yesterday…”. That applies every organization trying to compete with a competitor might not work out, especially when they have so much more experience and years on the market over you. The most effective method is to make previous results public and work from there. These are more realistic goals as it is an improvement from that previously reached. So instead of scoping out your competitors every second, make an Organisational goal to increase all outcomes by 25% the next year.
There are of course other issues related to Performance Management within organizations such as the lack of Follow-ups regarding the development needs of Employees, Mentoring and Coaching. As well as the General Understanding within the Organisation relative to Managers and Supervisors. A Manager needs to have a clear in-depth understanding of what is expected of their department, they need to be able to answer questions such as Who? Why? When? Where? And How?
However, not forgetting Managers aren’t perfect and many certainly lack in one or two essential skills and therefore are also in a position to develop. Therefore, Managers should occasionally be audited to ensure that the most suitable person has been chosen.
So now that we’ve discussed all that I think we might agree on the Main Problems with Performance Management?
• The idea that Performance Management is Time-consuming and a waste of time.
• Manual Performance Reviews constantly being Re-Scheduled or worse Avoided.
• The Right type of Alignment
• The opinion that all reviews are Bad Reviews, employees need to understand these “Bad Reviews” make for Developmental Strategies and Training required.
• The Timing Performance Management is a continuous Process that needs to be Constant within the Organisation.
Besides the Tips discussed in the article it might be worthy to consider:
• Create a General Interest in the relationships between Managers and Employees. As well as the Existence and Main Purpose of the Organisation.
• Establish a “Get What You Give” Environment. If the Organisation makes it clear what they’re looking they might be surprised by how much talent they actually have access to. If you create an environment of opportunities than those opportunities will be taken and exploited to their fullest.
• In any Organisation if you expect the employees to conduct themselves in a certain way then the behavior has to start from the Top-Down within the organization. This the “Follow the Leader” Approach.
Performance Management can be Effective if you use it right. If you would like to add to the conversation then simply comment below or visit our website for more Blogs and Articles.
