performance assessment - HR Footprints

7-Parameters for Building Performance-Oriented Organizations

As a strategic HR partner, we are about to complete two performance cycles using a performance management system that we designed and implemented at one of our manufacturing clients in 2019. From a stage of people’s reluctance to the process to voluntarily asking us when are we initiating the goal-setting process, has been yet another phenomenal journey for us. We consistently believed in the below seven parameters which helped us succeed and improve continuously in building performance-oriented organizations 1. Top leadership’s resolve: Unless the top leadership is on the same page these organizational transformation interventions become extremely tough if not impossible. This is the time leaders need to instill belief in the system and inspire the organization 2. Performance management mechanism should be an integral part of the business: Performance Management System (PMS) mechanism may actually be counterproductive if it’s not aligned with the business. It should be simple to understand and yet powerful enabling mechanism to define objectives, criteria for measurement, and tracking progress periodically. Therefore, it is vital to ensure alignment of philosophy, process, terminology, performance objectives, metrics, and evaluation methodology are in sync with the business 3. Communicate – Communicate – Communicate: It’s people who should own this process. This can happen only by consistently communicating the process at all levels. For better understanding, it is important to cite the purpose of each process step and relevant examples on how the mechanism will work and help people to perform better by chasing a purpose 4. Setting goals sharply: Though looks simpler, setting goals sharply is often said to be one of the toughest tasks for business managers and HR. Goal-setting is indeed a validation on the levels of understanding of the process, ability to align thought process with the business and understanding the interdependencies of functions and individual roles. HR has to play a key facilitator role here in supporting business managers to set individual SMART goals in alignment with the business and functional objectives 5. Push managers for periodic performance dialogue: Many business managers see this just as another process. Having a performance dialogue is actually not about what has been achieved and/or what should have been achieved in a period. It’s about deeply understanding the individual team member’s approach and ability to perform a particular task, inspiring and coaching the team member to introspect, resolve and move forward. Having these performance dialogues regularly will immensely help team members in raising their performance bar 6. Ensuring process transparency: For people to believe in the performance management system, it is imperative to have process transparency at every step. The evaluation process can be stringent but need to be consistent across the organization. One must also understand that process transparency is not breaching confidentiality, its rather upholding the standards of governance and making people more accountable 7. Be explicit in handling consequences: The performance cycle is not complete without managing consequences properly. All cannot be goody-goody all the time and this needs to be communicated. While the exceptional performers are asked to sustain their performance, below par performers need to be told to pull up their socks and give their best shot by seeking developmental help; and what happens if there’s a consistent mismatch in the standards of performance delivery AuthorSeshagiri PattamattaPartner & Head – HR Servicesgiri@hrfootprints.com Related Blog: https://hrfootprints.com/happy-employee-engaged-employee-high-performance/ Follow us for more updates :https://www.facebook.com/hrfootprintsmshttps://www.linkedin.com/company/hr-footprints Contact us today to learn how our tailored HR solutions can empower your organization to achieve its full potential. Don’t wait—start building a high-performing team and organization today!

How to take feedback from your seniors?

Leave a Comment / Careers & Concerns / HR Footprints / 08/03/2014

Below are different approaches for receiving feedback from the manager during the review session. Evaluate for yourself which one is the right way. Let us take a close look at three youngsters who work for a multinational corporation (MNC). The MNC has presence across the globe including India. They consider January to December as a performance year and financial year also. Accordingly, they conduct the individual performance assessments during the month of January for the previous year that ended in December. As per the process, for the year of 2013,the performance reviews were conducted in January 2014 and all the three youngsters that we are discussing here received feedback on their performance. For one of them, this was their first review ever in her career while the other two had experienced it once before. Sara: She joined the company about ten months ago from campus. After a 45-day training, she was given a proper role and specific goals. Sara’s manager had a review session, which was her first formal review. Her manager went through each goal, asked her what she did well and what she missed. She was compelled to reflect and admit the mistakes that she committed. He asked her what she would like to improve in her performance and what support she wants from him. While Sara was very tensed up at the beginning of the session, she slowly got into the flow of discussion and felt very comfortable. More so, her manager made the session more of a self-reflection than preachy. When she looked at her own performance objectively, she realized her mistakes and asked for help to improve. Overall, it was a tense but comfortable session for Sara. Rohit: He has been working in the company for about twenty months now and this happened to be his second review. The familiarity with the process was surely an advantage for Rohit. He particularly recalled how dumbstruck he was during his first review session last year. He still curses himself for not speaking up during the last year’s performance review, which he believes caused lower salary increment. When he was preparing for his second review during January 2014, Rohit decided that he should express more and talk out all his problems. Internally, the anxiety started building up as the feedback session was nearing. When he finally went in to meet his manager, Rohit could not execute his plans at all. Looking at Rohit’s anxiety, his manager made him drink water, talked something about his family and tried to put him at ease. The discussion then went over each goal and how Rohit had fared. Manager was very specific and pointed out the areas where Rohit missed out. He even asked Rohit to reflect and see the reason for drop in performance. Rohit’s anxiety was turning into anger, though he could not say anything on the spot. He simply agreed to all that manager said and walked out of the session. His colleagues came over and asked curiously about the session. Suddenly Rohit’s anger found an expression and he blurted out how biased the manager was. He even said that these feedback sessions are useless and they are only meant to reduce the increments. His colleagues remained there as mere spectators. Raghu: Raghu was quite cool and was not much worried about the upcoming performance review session. When his buddies enquired how he could maintain such calm, his reply was that his strategy to tackle the manager is ready. Of course, he did not reveal the strategy to the overzealous colleagues! From the start of the review session, Raghu took charge of the discussion. He went through each goal and explained to his manager why certain things could not be done due to lack of support from others. He refused to accept any blame onto himself and even suggested to manager that he should have a feedback session with the other poor performing colleagues. Raghu used aggression as the best defense and felt victorious. Are they doing right? It is true that every person may not approach feedback session the same way. How do you think the above three youngsters are looking at feedback? Is their approach to performance review right? Place yourself in that situation and think about it! Watch out this space for more discussion on feedback sessions. This article was published in: HR Mirror, Hans India Follow Dr. Raj on Twitter @drraj29

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