Top Trends in Performance Management

The Secret to Successful Performance Management

More than half of all companies think their performance management initiatives are a waste of time. While that might have been partly true in the past, performance management has come along in leaps in bounds in recent years.

The whole aim of performance management is to get optimum results from employees in line with organisational objectives, but in many cases performance management programmes seem to do the opposite by focussing too much on the organisation’s needs and not enough on employee needs. Contrary to the statistics, there is a lot to be gained from performance management, but only if it’s done well. Also have a look at our management courses in London.


Performance management is changing

Certainly, statistics show that yearly appraisals don’t seem to be effective. One survey found that 98% of workers think that annual performance reviews are unnecessary. Which might be one reason why there’s a current shift to continuous performance management with regular one-to-one assessments. This has been found to vastly improve communication between employers and staff and get better results. Increased uptake of performance management software is another factor that is helping companies get more from their review programmes.

But, across the board, we are seeing that when the emphasis is put on personal and career development, as well as delivering gains for the organisation, employees are more motivated and productive.

More autonomy for workers

The focus needs to be on learning and development, giving workers more control and autonomy over their roles and setting their own targets. It’s this flexible approach that is leading to more trust between workers and management. This, in turn, is resulting in better staff morale, higher productivity and the faster attainment of company goals. Employee satisfaction is higher and staff churn reduced. As an added benefit, recruitment costs fall too.

Realistic and meaningful goals

For goal setting to be effective, some sort of meaningful feedback system must be in place. So those handling appraisals must be fully trained in the performance management methodology used by the organisation and clearly understand the objectives. What is clear is that employees benefit huge from having a voice in the appraisal process. This makes the review process feel fairer; it’s less likely for employees to feel like they’re being judged. In a sense, it’s not the techniques used in appraisals that matter but how the worker reacts to those techniques.

To get the most from performance management appraisals HR personnel must be aware of the factors that can get in the way of effective assessments, such as personality clashes between managers and staff. It’s also important to ensure that goals arising from reviews are appropriate based on the role, or job spec. Not all jobs should have the same objectives or targets. Optimising these goal settings are key when getting buy-in from employees and motivating future improvements in performance.