As discussed in yesterday's post, the purpose of performance management -- a challenging but essential business process which is bigger and broader than mere performance appraisal -- is to create an environment where successful performance is a high probability outcome. Today's post presents a few "best principles" for developing, implementing and managing successful performance management programs.
Participative Program Design
To be successful, performance management programs must be designed and implemented in a way that fits an organization’s business environment, management style, jobs, culture and values (whether the latter have been formally articulated or not). The best way -- maybe the only way -- to accomplish this is through the use of an internal design team that can bring the perspectives of managers and employees right to the design table.
By giving managers and employees (via their design team representatives) a voice in the design of the performance management program, you more likely to end up with a program well-suited to your organization. You are also more likely to find yourself facing acceptance and enthusiasm — rather than resistance — at roll-out time.
Tight Program Focus
As the research presented in yesterday's post reinforced, one of the biggest complaints about performance management is that the process is “burdensome and time-consuming”. (You've never heard this, right?) The design challenge, therefore, is determining and prioritizing the objectives for the program. The enemy we must overcome is the temptation to load up the performance management process with all the good things we know it can do for us. Program success comes as a result of a tight focus, and doing a few things well.
Employee Accountability
Because effective performance management does require a certain commitment of time and energy, there is often resistance to it from the one group which traditionally has carried the heaviest part of that “burden”: your supervisors and managers. One way to address this obstacle is to shift some of the role and responsibilities traditionally held by the supervisor or manager — such as initiating the process or collecting feedback data — to the employees. Like consumer-driven health care, this moves some of the power — and the accountability — for performance management to the key customer, the employee.
Commitment from the Top
One of the factors most highly correlated with performance management success is commitment to the program from the top of the house. Doing performance management well requires dedication as well as changes in behavior and communication practices, particularly from supervisors and managers. These supervisors and managers will want to be assured that the organization really “means it” when a performance management program is implemented, and they will be watching carefully for signals that the leadership group has either embraced the program or is merely paying it lip service.
Just-In-Time Training and Support
Few of us were born with all the skills necessary to do performance management well. Experience has shown that short bursts of training, delivered just before the skills and information will be needed, is the best way to prepare everyone involved for a successful experience.
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