At its worst: Performance management can feel arbitrary and capricious.
At its best: It’s an objective tool to uplift people, give them clarity on the skills they need to be successful, and provide opportunities for learning and growth. It empowers everyone involved.
Why it’s important, especially when you have so many time constraints: People will feel and be most successful and content when they can clearly define what success looks like in their role, assess how they objectively measure up against that, and engage in meaningful and relevant professional development.
When individuals are clear on what success looks like, they can guide their teams to be successful.Think ahead: You want to position your organization as an employer of choice now and in the future. You want an organization full of lifelong learners. Performance management is the vehicle to drive that development.
Context: In the next 10 years, 60% of the workforce will be professionals with fewer than 15 years of experience.* These up-and-coming generations are looking for robust total rewards packages.**
Most importantly, they care about organizations that provide opportunities for meaningful feedback, growth, and professional development — all encompassed within a successful performance management system.
How it moves your mission forward?
- Team members have learning and development opportunities → they are more engaged at work → they focus more energy on the work that matters most to your mission
- People stay longer at the organization → they help more junior team members develop new skills → you avoid the costs of having to hire new team members to replace those who leave
Sources: (*Anita Lettink, United Nations Population Data) (**Multigenerational Workforce)
How to Do Performance Management Well
How do you create, implement, and communicate a performance management system in meaningful ways?
First, just start! Putting an effective performance management system in place can feel daunting. Don’t let this deter you. When things are daunting, you just have to start.
Bird’s eye view: Your system should not be binary (“your work is great/not great”). It should rely on evidence, not people’s opinions. When the system is leveraged objectively, you move forward based on what the evidence shows. Otherwise, performance management will feel punitive, subjective, and based on people’s moods.
- “I think you’re good at project management” is not evidence-based.
- “Here are samples of your project plans demonstrating your project management skills” is evidence-based.
Start small, but not too small.
Performance Management Quiz
But wait: Before you start creating or improving your performance management system, do a quick audit of where you’re at.
Take our Performance Management Health Check Quiz!
Find out if your organization’s performance management system is working well for your organization. And what you should do next to continue improving it.By answering just 6 questions, you’ll get our recommendations — tailored for you! — about where to take it next.
Need more help? If you’d like support and/or coaching in revamping your organization’s performance management (or any other part of your organization’s talent ecosystem), we’re happy to help! Book a free, no-obligation, 30-minute call so we can get started.
