The benefits of Performance Management for HR

You’ll have read the HR news articles which report on how some well-respected organisations have moved (or are moving) way from their annual appraisal system. They’re moving towards a more on-going, continuous conversational approach to encourage their managers to check-in on progress towards objectives and goal achievement of their team members. 

Such a shift in approach requires immense effort, commitment, time and energy - not least by the HR team as they seek to upskill managers, educate employees and change hearts and minds.  

So what’s in it for HR? Is it not easier just to stick with the status quo and not make this transition?

Perhaps a starting point should be looking at the status quo. Perhaps the performance management is in a similar position at the moment to that of other organisations when it comes to performance appraisal - as is the role of HR within this.

• It’s an annual – possibly with a six month interim review – meeting between manager and employee.
• It follows a fixed calendar which usually has nothing much to do with the business itself but about neatness for reporting or feeding into another HR process.
• It’s seen as a bit of a chore by managers – and you, in HR, are having to chase and cajole to get the forms (and they are usually standard ‘forms’) completed and returned on time.
• And employees don’t much rate the process either. They see it as an annual meeting when at best they talk about future goals, ambitions and development which may or may not actually happen, and at worst, they’re faced with a historical conversation about objectives that have passed or no longer apply. How meaningful and engaging is that?

Now fast forward to the not-so-distant future in your organisation.

If the HR team are following up deadlines, checking that review meetings are scheduled, chasing form completion, and number crunching the results – how quickly will it be that all of this is simply managed through the online review system?  If it isn't now, it should be.

You as an HR and talent expert could be adding far more to the organisation than this 'admin'.

You could be involved in the improving the quality of and engagement with objectives – rather than form chasing. You could be taking the number-crunched data and doing something with it – rather than crunching the numbers. You could be adding more strategic insight rather than tactical administration.

So, what’s in it for you as HR?  And what will your next steps be?

You may like to take a look at this short video to hear how one client got to grips with this.

With our experience, we know what works – and we’ve distilled this down into 9 essential foundations that you need in place to get to grips with Continuous Performance Management. 

You find out what these are in full by signing up for the article.

It covers:

• how to get buy-in and support from others in the mapping out of this approach;
• how to make the ‘little and often’, quick and easy – and what you need to look for;
• what you’ll need to do to up-skill managers, employees and yourselves in HR – and why this is important;
• the actions to take to update your policy on performance management and checking on the quality of the performance conversations.

Sign up to get your copy of the article now.

Learn more about how to transition to continuous performance management