Performance Management

In economic downturns, all employees need to be high performers – and focused on what matters most.

As organizations try to execute business strategies, focus employees on work that matters, hold people accountable, pay for performance and measure the return on their intangible assets, HR processes continue to be revisited and revamped. Technology has become the great enabler, but unfortunately, it can’t solve the challenges inherent in many performance management approaches.

“Who isn’t revising their Performance Management system? Any three of us usually hold at least four views. The ink isn’t dry on a human resources plan before it needs changing."

— BlessingWhite co-founder, Buck Blessing

Effective performance management systems require:

• Alignment with your business and cultural drivers. Despite an increase in systems that link strategy-driven goals, our research indicates that as few as 19% of employees have priorities linked to a clearly articulated business strategy. And rarely are employees held accountable for living the organizational values that define a sustainable organizational culture.
• Coaching for engagement and performance. Repeatedly, we hear that it’s the managers who make or break the system. They have a significant impact on employees’ clarity of focus and commitment. They’re often well intentioned, but don’t always have clarity themselves – or the coaching essentials to pull off meaningful conversations. And those “mid-year” check-ins? Theory only in most organizations.
• Employee ownership and development. Ultimately, it’s all about the work – the results – of your employees. Yet employee development tends to be relegated to half a page or those theoretical mid-year conversations.

How We Can Help

Our experienced consultants can complete a novel assessment of your current performance management system to determine if it is driving the outputs you need. They will help shape and implement initiatives that connect the dots between organizational priorities and your employees’ discretionary effort. We can help you establish clarity of focus, facilitate meaningful dialogue and drive coaching partnerships about what matters most - so that your system can do its job. We’ll determine a custom strategy and provide tools for:

• Diagnosing and measuring strategy alignment and employee engagement …
• Driving organizational alignment while tapping into the self-interest and motivation of individual employees…
• Helping managers fulfill the role they need to play…

Related Links

Client Case Studies

Our Views on Strategy Alignment

Our Views on Development in General

Compensation BLR: How to Use Reviews to Motivate Employees and Unleash Performance

NEHRA Voice of HR: Death, Taxes… and Performance Management?

BlessingWhite eNews: What Makes an Effective Performance Management System?