Effective Performance Management System
Often confused with the annual performance review or the appraisals, the Performance Management is the continuous process of performance-improvement by setting specific goals at the team and individual levels, aligned to the strategic objective of the organization, and planning, reviewing, and assessing the progress while developing the skills of concerned persons.
Without a motivated team of well-performing employees, organization can never achieve the objectives, and for the reason Performance Management is now transitioning into a real time method of communicating with employees which enables the managers to steer them toward the expected performance and output.
To ensure your existing Performance Management system to be at par with the trending industry benchmarks, the following five elements must be taken into consideration.
- Goal Setting:
The conventional performance tracking used to be centered on the annual goals. But today organizations need to implement the Objective and Key Results technique, working on the individual, team, and the organizational level. For each level, the ambitious targets must be set related to the key results on quarterly basis.
An important thing to note, for better productivity, the personalized goals adjusted to the roles and capabilities need to be set, in place of what the employees are supposed to do.
- Communication:
Instead of focusing only on the competition, an effective performance management system must foster the collaborations with effective communication. Competition is not the motivation for many and therefore sharing the information, assisting and highlighting the activities to be successful in a project, and other related activities must be encouraged.
- Feedback:
In place of the age-old annual appraisals, the feedback must be real-time, interpreting the shortcomings to be corrected and the scope of improvement instantly, is another aspect of an effective PMS.
- Recognition:
The managers must never underrate how much the employee care for recognition and the importance of the sense of achievement at work. An effective performance management system must be tied to the recognition and creating a positive sense of triumph.
- Development:
In addition to be fast, personalized, and focusing more on nurturing the environment of productivity, an effective PMS must emphasize on the individual development. Offering the learning opportunities, gathering work related information, and individual encouragement and the capability enhancing suggestions will work wonders.
Malpractices making the PMS ineffective and not delivering expected results:
- Unfair or inaccurate system
- Not taking PMS seriously and treating it as a box ticking exercise
- Not relying on technical advancements and special tools
- More fault-finding and appraisals than recognition and individual improvements
A good system with the right tools set in place, will help the managers in getting the most of their employees & help drive business results instead of just keeping employees busy.
