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April 1, 2008

Creating a performance development culture to achieve success

It seems that there are dozens of articles circulated each month around the topic of performance appraisal – which tools to use, why on-line appraisals are the answer, how to implement the appraisal event, etc. In our experience, implementing a process or a tool for an annual appraisal "event" is only as effective as what the organization does during "those other eleven months" of the year. The best process and tools will be ineffective if your organization does not embrace, or at the very least recognize, the need for a performance development culture.

Creating a Performance Development Culture

Chances are when you ask any manager, employee or HR professional their top 10 fun tasks of the year, performance reviews do not make the list. Most people see it as a "necessary evil" that the organization forces on them each year. It is perceived as a one-time-event that interrupts the ability to "get the real work done." The performance appraisal process becomes an exercise of providing scores and bucketing people into categories so that we can pay out salaries and bonuses. What often gets lost is the real value and opportunity of performance evaluations – helping people (i.e., the business) become more effective through targeted feedback and development. In fact, wikipedia describes a performance review as "a formal process whereby an employee of a company or organization is audited on his or her actions, efficiency, and productivity over a period of time (usually a year)." Audited? How developmental is that?

A performance development culture utilizes the appraisal process as an opportunity to evaluate progress on objectives, how the employee is achieving those objectives, and as importantly, how to develop and grow toward future objectives. So, how can you help your organization create a culture that supports performance development?

Core Elements of a Development-Oriented Performance Process

Alignment with the overall business strategy

While it seems obvious, the metrics that you evaluate people on should be tied to the goals and objectives of the overall business. For any role within the organization, there are job outcomes that must be achieved for that area or department to be successful. These outcomes are achieved through a series of productive behaviors, which can be categorized into themes, or competencies. Competency models are a useful method to translate business strategy into people requirements and should be the foundation of how an organization develops and evaluates people. Well-defined competency models communicate expectations for current roles, as well as what will be needed for advancement in the organization, and provides a common language for performance. To gain a complete picture of performance, the evaluation should combine performance against business outcomes and goals ("What" was achieved) with an evaluation of critical competencies for the role ("How" it was achieved).

Continuous feedback

One of the reasons managers dread performance reviews is because they do not do a good enough job of tracking performance or giving development feedback throughout the year. In their defense, often times they do not have the tools, resources, skills, guidance or incentive to capitalize on performance development throughout the year. One of the most valuable things an organization can do is to equip managers with the resources and skill-building to provide development feedback and coaching throughout the year. In addition, educating employees on how to seek development and performance feedback throughout the year enlists them as active participants in the process.

Accountability for development growth and improvement

In case the performance development process sounds too "touchy feely," keep in mind that at the end of the day it is about accountability for improved performance. The most effective performance development processes have clear metrics for performance, clear action steps for improvement and clear targets to achieve. The performance appraisal process should be transparent to manager and employee, in which both provide input and openly discuss areas of strength and improvement for the coming year. The outcome of an effective process should be a "snapshot" of the previous year’s performance, as well as a defined set of future business objectives and development goals. Year-to-year accountability with clear action steps to improve is a critical step to the effectiveness of the process.

Ease of use for everyone involved

Eliminate the excuse of an "administrative burden." The introduction of web-based performance processes has drastically improved the appraisal process, but remember that technology alone is not the answer. There is no magic bullet. Technology should support a good process, not be a replacement for one. Technology, such as our Assess Progress for performance development, is focused on ease of use, flexibility, and allows managers and employees to focus on what is most important: the constructive feedback discussions.

In your quest to create a performance development culture, our Assess Systems tools and resources can help:

Competency Development through our Strategic Success Modeling
Leadership Training & Development – Understanding Leadership Style, Providing Feedback, Coaching Direct Reports
Development Assessment Feedback
Competency-based Personality Feedback
360 Degree Feedback
Focus 360 progress check

and Introducing: