Research Special: Purpose, People and Process

The 3 P’s of Effective Employee Performance Management

As a vendor of performance management software for the last 14 years, we speak with dozens of HR Pro’s every day to discuss their performance review pains and challenges. No matter how it’s worded, we have found that ALL headaches are caused by deficiencies in one of 3 categories – the 3 main P’s of performance management: Purpose, People and Process.

These vital aspects that comprise your performance management strategy can make or break this business process for your entire company, and spoil it for years to come. The good news is that there just might be an easier fix than you think. We often see great processes and forms, but the content or intent is missing, or the right approach, but something as small as a poorly worded rating scale, or vague list of competencies turns users off entirely.

Whether you are looking to update and modernize your employee review forms and methods, want to rebuild your performance strategy completely, or are just curious as to what aspects of performance evaluations you could be optimizing, this article is sure to help.

One of the biggest challenges we see with rolling out a successful performance management strategy throughout an organization is the disconnect between the plan and what the organization is looking to gain from it. Legacy processes often leave HR and your workforce questioning if they are simply going through the motions and doing it just to do it. Time is money for businesses, and every minute spent on performance management tasks and activities should ultimately equate to value for the business and everyone involved.

When designing or re-designing your performance management plan, take a step back and ask ‘What’s the purpose’?
 

Narrowing your company’s performance management ‘purpose’ will help focus the design of your performance management strategy and will help ensure its value hits home with your workforce.

Performance management starts and ends with people. Period. Who is involved, how much they are involved, and why they are involved can make a giant difference in whether or not employees and managers get on board and stay on board for their own benefit. HR might have a vision of a long-term performance management strategy in mind or in place, but unless people are factored in, it will remain an unrealized pipe-dream.

Get Support from the Top

Company leaders should not only support HR’s performance management vision, they should be involved in building it and outwardly champion it. Like any other company initiative, process, or expectation, leadership buy-in is key to ensuring your well-oiled performance management engine keeps running. In his Harvard Business Review article entitled, ‘The Hard Side of Change’, author Harold L. Sirkin notes that if employees don’t see that the company’s leadership is backing a project, they’re unlikely to change. Involve your company’s leadership team in the performance management planning. Give them a say in how the process will work and share useful metrics that will fuel their ability to lead the company. Ensure expectations are clear on their follow through and commitment and reinforced regularly.

Ask Employee to Self-Assess

If you aren’t already involving employees in the process, we recommend to do just that! Giving employees a voice and chance to share their perspective shifts the onus away from managers and onto employees to participate in more balanced two-way conversations. Having employees self-asses also lets managers gauge the employee’s thoughts and stance prior to any meetings. Whether it’s weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually, any form of self-assessment gives employees the chance to ask for feedback and help, update the status of their objectives and goals, comment on achievements and development needs, and reflect on their overall performance.

Involve More Voices with 360° Feedback

The effects of an employee’s day-to-day performance isn’t restricted to the confines of the employee-manager relationship – so why should reviews be? Employees often work with other managers and peers to accomplish their goals. Reviews that incorporate manager-only input risk leaving out a giant piece of the performance picture. When you think of the people who should be involved in the process, think beyond managers and second-level supervisors, to company-wide input. This can be in the form of informal feedback (an email or note), a survey, or if you want to get really sophisticated, allowing employees and managers to request ongoing formal 360° input on their competencies and/or goals. The idea is to create a culture where employees know that their daily behaviors and actions are being recognized by managers and factored into their evaluation. As an added bonus, input from others help managers provide more accurate reviews and much better comments as they often uncover observations they would have missed!

Train Your Workforce on Providing Effective Feedback

Getting the right people involved is only the first hurdle – companies also have to make sure those people are equipped with the tools to ensure they are effective participants. We recommend communicating with your workforce on the purpose of feedback and sharing tips and expectations for what feedback should be focused on and when or how frequently it should be given. Here are some great resources to help with training staff to master the art of feedback.

The last ‘P’ relates to ‘Process’ and how the performance management process works and looks at any stage of the year or cycle. There is no question that traditional once-a-year reviews are nowhere near enough to give employees the input they need for ongoing development, or to ensure organizational performance goals stay on track from day-to-day. Many companies are redesigning their process to incorporate more check-ins and touch-points for managers and employees so that performance management is more of an ongoing conversation. This sounds great and makes sense in theory but the reality is that every organization should design their own processes that factor in its unique circumstances and needs.

 

If a company has a tenured workforce of managers that are used to an annual 25 minute appraisal every January, it is almost impossible to introduce formal monthly or even quarterly check-ins without some backlash. We suggest that clients plan a transition strategy from where they are now to where they would like to be and ensure its workforce knows the trajectory and what will be expected of them.

For companies looking to evolve from annual appraisals to a more continuous performance management process, we suggest phasing it in gradually. Start with a mid-year check-in along with informal feedback and performance journals, then move to quarterly reviews and eventually to a monthly check-in process.

For companies who operate around long-term projects, annual appraisals might not even make sense and instead, a company might choose ad-hoc project evaluations with 30-60-90 day check-ins for new hires.

For new companies or those growing quickly with feedback-hungry millennial and gen-z employees, a swift tear down and build-up of a completely new and ongoing performance management process might be the best strategy and welcomed by all with open arms.

Similarly, larger or more complex organizations might need several processes to meet the needs of individual locations or divisions.

The point is that your company’s process, should be a reflection of your company and its goals, and not the reflection of what might be used in other organizations.

Overall, when thinking about your company’s performance management, it cannot be done by one person in a vacuum. There are multiple factors to consider that will help build the ideal strategy that is unique to your company’s history, vision and people.