What is needed for continuous performance management

There’s a shift taking place in the world of performance review.

It's a shift away from an annual or six-monthly performance review and towards a more agile performance management approach.

The traditional, typically annual or bi-annual appraisal process is being replaced by a more on-going and flexible way of managing performance. To make this shift change successful, we think that there are nine fundamental ‘must haves’ - and you can read about these in our article.

So, why it there this shift in approach to performance review? Why is annual performance appraisal now seen as an outdated, time-consuming process that is no longer fit for purpose?

An accepted move away from performance rankings

Part of the reason is the backlash to forced rankings and bell-curves. Critics say that forced ranking and the associated moderation process inhibits teamwork, stifles creativity and can be very demotivating for genuinely high performing employees when they’re forced into the average category.

The speed at which goals change

There’s a growing need to accommodate a more fluid approach to work in which objectives and goals change and in which a six-monthly review is just too distant. What is required is a more on-going, continuous performance review process.

Greater individual involvement in goal setting

There's a stronger demand from employees for greater involvement in setting and achieving objectives and a drive to increased ownership and engagement. Regular performance conversations and an easy-to-update agile performance management tool helps in this.

Stronger performance conversations

We’ve also seen the need to create more real-time performance data for senior managers and a desire to improve the quality of conversations between managers and their teams. HR need to access data easily and move into a more value-add, strategic role than simply checking on completion of performance forms.

With such a shift happening, what do you need to have in place to make this happen? And, indeed what is Continuous Performance Management?

Read our article.

Read more about how to transition to Continuous Performance Management - and sign up to get your copy of our eBook - Continuous Performance Management - and how to get started.