In this episode, Lucinda debunks some of the ‘Spin’ around appraisal and performance management, and shares what the research literature tells us about what really works in terms of driving people performance. 
She runs through eight key evidence-based practices with examples on how you can put these into action in your organisation.
KEY TAKEAWAYS

Performance management is, and should be, a people management process that should be aligned with the needs of the organisation and delivering business value. However the process of condensing an entire year’s worth of progress in once-per-year three hour meeting has always been an unproductive way of handling this.

 

Goal Setting - We set goals in our personal lives all the time. It’s how we measure success in health, finance, and our lives in general. So why aren’t we taking more advantage of goal-setting in the workplace? Also, have we made the overall goal of the company itself clear to our employees?

 

Strategic Alignment – We need to ensure that our goals are strategically aligned and relevant to the business goals and to our career aspirations. An affirmative to both of these questions would give us our “why”, our reason for doing it.

 

Coaching and development – Coaches and managers need to get to know their team. They need to know where their team wish to go and what they wish to achieve. It’s worth investing coaching time on our coaches to develop their talent with people. Telling people how to do things isn’t coaching.

 

Feedback and recognition - Giving ongoing feedback to employees throughout the year is an incredibly powerful tool. When we receive feedback, it engenders our fight-or-flight response. To prevent a level of fear arising the moment we tell someone we’re about to give them feedback is to make sure the feedback is high-quality and positive.

 

Communication and transparency – No one should arrive at an appraisal and be surprised or shocked by what they hear. By delivering ongoing feedback, you remove the element of surprise and create a company-wide atmosphere of transparency and communication.

 

Climate of Trust - People need to trust the processes of your company. This leads on from being transparent and communicating well. Building a climate of trust and a healthy relationship with our employees, we increase their productivity and happiness. 

 

Rewarding Performance - Remember that rewards don’t have to be monetary. Development programs, extra holiday allowance, even making sure that a good employee’s input is part of moving the company forward, can all act as an incentive for employees to do their best.

 

Trained Managers - Is your business placing importance on people management? Managing people should be an ongoing process, not just reserved for a once a year appraisal meeting, where the juxtaposition of positives, negatives and career development can make for an awkward and unproductive meeting.

BEST MOMENTS

“The appraisal is dead, long live the catch-up!”
“We all know that these practices are the right ting to do, but are they actually happening?”
“Common sense is not always common practice”
“We have to help managers realise how important it is to manage people well, and give them the tools and methods to do that”
“Coaching is empowering people to make decisions for themselves”
“Catch people doing things right”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Dr Nuno da Camara - https://www.southampton.ac.uk/business-school/about/staff/nrdc1y13.page
Link to the full academic research review - https://actus.co.uk/free-performance-management-resources/whitepapers/research-review-what-works-performance-management/
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ABOUT THE HOST
Lucinda Carney is a Business Psychologist with 15 years in Senior Corporate L&D roles and a further 10 as CEO of Actus Software where she worked closely with HR colleagues helping them to solve the same challenges across a huge range of industries. It was this breadth of experience that