Performance Management
The Issue
Consistent organizational performance is achieved only if people are channeled effectively for their development and for organizational impact. Effective performance management accomplishes this.
Our Point of View
- Performance is best improved by clarifying expectations and engaging in frequent and open dialogue relating to how well the expectations are met.
- Employees desire relevant, timely and actionable feedback. Managers need to learn how to share observations and facts versus judgment-based feedback.
- Dialogue is more valuable than documentation, though documentation is an important secondary tool.
- An integrated approach is required; performance should be assessed around the most important success measures and the assessment should be linked to reward decisions.
- Intent and mindset is more important than process or forms.
- Simple and prioritized trumps complex and comprehensive.
- Implementing an effective performance management process is a change management initiative, not merely a program design exercise.
Our Approach
The process we follow includes these key steps:
- Understand the organization’s strategy and culture, and other context relating to how talent is managed, assessed and rewarded.
- Identify the critical competencies, results and behaviors necessary for each role to contribute to fulfilling the organizational strategy.
- Determine what excellence looks like for each role and/or organizational level and for each competency, result and behavior.
- Develop approaches to encourage the identification and documentation of performance observations relating to performance expectations.
- Establish approaches to encourage effective assessment and balanced, useful feedback discussions on performance relating to the defined competencies, results and behaviors.
- Align performance with rewards such as compensation and career advancement.
- Ensure lasting change through training and consistent reinforcement of good performance management habits.
Typical Benefits
- Improved individual and organizational capabilities and performance.
- A pool of internal talent for future leadership roles.
- More engaged workforce who understand how to best contribute to the organization.
- More efficient system, without wasted effort.
- More clarity across the organization, particularly of competency-related language.
To learn more, contact us by phone at (312) 523-2123 or by email.