Performance Management Trends

Performance Management Trends

 In our growing digital world, we find more and more of a struggle with remembering what makes our jobs human. And that is the employees! Help continue the success of your employees and your business by implementing a successful performance review process. 81.6% of managers use performance reviews to help employees develop and improve professionally. But if the employees don’t understand how their performance is being measured, what’s the point?Lately, there’s been a lot of chatter in the HR sphere about continuous performance reviews. Just like in Deltek’s recent blog about the MUST in Continuous Feedback, we agree that the push for ongoing Performance Reviews helps keep the employees and managers engaged while continuing their growth as well.  You’re moving the focus from “results only” to “results and behavior”, by identifying employee strengths and how these strengths can be used more effectively.              By giving employees the position to give and receive feedback, employees feel more in control of their standing in the organization. Managers can draw back on instances from throughout the year and reviews are more fact-based than emotional.  Employees are more satisfied in their job because they can use each feedback review as a growing point to learn from. TIPS TO HELP PERFORMANCE REVIEWS “MAKE THE GRADE” Automate the Process: Using a dedicated tool or running document for performance can help streamline your appraisal process. Feedback can be gathered from virtually any source, including clients and vendors. Have a strategic process in place to ensure everyone is poised to help the company meet high-level objectives.Make it a priority: In your calendar, link yourself to the running document or automated system that you are using (having employees have visibility and able to do the same helps both manager and employee be more efficientRename the Appraisal: If the word performance reviews, doesn’t help with your company culture and you are needing a livelier name to get people started, get creative! Include your organization name, or come up with a name like “Feedback Sessions”, or “Team Talks” that inspires well-rounded feedback.This will help you and your employees not fear performance reviews and find them to be more encouraging and lively and not dreaded and boring. By constantly taking a look at you and your employees’ performance you are self-evaluating and helping to see where the company is growing and moving towards.This is just one step, maybe even the first step, towards a successful talent management strategy. In this white paper: learn about better corporate performance, reduced turnover, and organizational mobility.   Don’t forget to register for our joint webinar, Did Your Performance Management Process Make the Grade? on June 27, 2017.

*Giveaway* Receive a $15 Amazon gift card by attending the webinar and signing up fora demo on our Performance Webinar!

Setting SMART Goals

Setting SMART Goals

Why is it so important that organizations set clear, well developed goals? Many of us see goal setting as a chore we must complete at the beginning of each appraisal cycle without really understanding the impact or importance of the process. If done correctly, goals can motivate employees, help align business processes and improve the overall performance of the company.

How can goals help to align employees and business units with the overall organizational business processes? There needs to be great visibility throughout the goals of the company. If realistic goals are set and there is a vast deal of information sharing during the goal creation process, goals throughout the organization will be consistent. Visibility into the organizational goals enables employees to align their own goals with those of the organization to ensure they are helping support and contribute to the future of the company. Furthermore, this can help clarify the roles of all employees in the company so they are clear in how their performance contributes to the overall success.

Not only is determining a realistic timeframe a key factor in monitoring a goal, but also determining how it will be achieved and how it will be measured. In some cases, a particular goal may require several objectives to be adequately monitored. Goals without objectives are essentially meaningless because progress is impossible to measure. It is this level of specificity sets goals and objectives apart.

One of the methods we employ in the Brilliant HR Talent Performance solution is that of using S.M.A.R.T. goals. These are meant to guide both managers and employees through a successful goal setting process. Each letter stands for an attribute every goal should have to be a clear and reachable goal:

  1. Specific – simple, sensible, significant
  2. Measurable – meaningful, motivating
  3. Achievable – agreed, attainable
  4. Relevant – reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based
  5. Time-bound – time-based, time limited, timely, time-sensitive

The bottom line is that goal setting is not just an annual exercise all employees need to go through so they can check off the box in their list of tasks to complete. Goals are critical to the success of a company and when the proper attention and priority are given to the creation of realistic goals, the outcome realized will definitely be well worth the effort invested up-front.