Moments of Truth
5 “Moments of Truth” for checking your Performance Management System is on track
Tess Thompson was responsible for Performance Management at Marks and Spencer before joining MaST. She now heads up MaST’s team of experts in this area. At the recent forum on Performance Management she offered some “Moments of Truth”. These factors have all been gained from her experience and she has found that they make the difference between success or failure when it comes to making Performance Management work in a wide range of organisations.
The 5 key areas to focus on for a successful Performance Management Process:
1. Communication of Strategy and Competencies
It is vital to show how the PM system links to the corporate mission and vision and how it contributes to it being achieved. It is also vital to show how the competencies cover the behaviours that will be needed for staff to achieve the corporate strategy. If this is part of the training, staff will see that it is a key for everybody’s success.
2. Setting Objectives
So often it is considered enough for objectives to be SMART. Some people, however, are masters at playing the system so that “what gets measured gets manipulated”. People manipulate both the objectives and the results to ensure they get what they want. The answer is to ensure that objectives really do measure what is key for success and are transparent and empowering.
3. Giving Feedback
Organisations create poor performers by not having regular feedback. Therefore regular conversations are very important.
Managers’ willingness and ability to give balanced feedback is too often an indicator of whether Performance Management will work in an organisation.
Managers need to appreciate that having the right evidence in the first place makes for an easier discussion if it is about poor performance. They also need to give positive feedback when performance is good and be able to coach effectively.
4. Handling of Difficult Conversations
Too often managers avoid having difficult conversations. In the current climate many of these conversations need to be with high performers as there are limited opportunities and no salary increases available to reward above average performance. Not having these conversations could mean that good people feel that they are not valued and leave the organisation.
A key is to get managers to think of what they want the person to be thinking as they go back to their desk... Are they feeling encouraged to stay with the organisation? The key is that even with difficult subjects, if given in the right way, people will still want to stay.
5. Consistency of Ratings
The language used for ratings too often ends up demotivating those who receive them. Who wants to be described as “Average” or “Satisfactory” when they have worked hard all year? Also cultural differences can mean that in the US everyone is described as “Great” whilst staff in other countries get lower ratings. In addition cultural differences can mean that it is considered rude to confront poor performers so it is not discussed and the ratings given reflect this. Tess often advises on which rating scale to use to ensure fairness.
Ensuring that senior management review ratings given to all staff is another method of ensuring consistency. This can mean that managers who rate higher to ensure that even poor performers get a salary increase will have to justify their ratings! Greater consistency may also avoid staff wanting to move to departments with managers who give higher ratings and avoid those who are more demanding.
Where a rating is imposed it may be resisted. If a process for providing and reviewing evidence is in place, then the rating can be agreed on the basis of the evidence provided rather than the opinion of the manager!
Thank you for reading these 5 “Moments of Truth”. We hope they will help you in the future.
The 5 themes mentioned above summaries deep and complex areas for learning and change in relation to managing performance effectively.
If you would like to talk further with a MaST consultant about any of the issues mentioned, please contact us on 01628 784062 or email learningsolutions@mast.co.uk
