OlmaYoma: Are you Stuck with a Stale Performance Management System?

Does stale ring a bell?

Yoma: How do you ascertain if a Performance Management System is stale and is no more relevant?

Olma: I believe, it's not that difficult to ascertain. I would just ask my favorite set of exploratory questions :-).

Yoma: What are those questions? Go ahead, please.

Olma: Sure. Whatever I say here is entirely my own opinion, Yoma. And, this is, most probably, going to remain a thought-in-progress :-). Because, I probably do not have any definitive answers to any of the questions I ask here. Neither, am I trying to teach you how to do it right; nor, I am trying to draw conclusions here. The thoughts I express here are probably not exactly firm yet and are open to suggestions, feedback, questions and contributions in the form of comments. Here we go.

Performance Management: The Essential Questions

1. What is in focus? Is it more about performance measurement than performance management? I ask this question while I understand that measurement is supposed to be a part of management.

2. Are the targets set not that good and not that helpful for the people in the organization? Do the targets provide not enough and relevant guidance? Do people not eagerly wait to get their performance targets?

3. Does it (the Performance Management Process) not result in a higher level of overall engagement in the organization?

4. Does it not make people feel that they are the organization, and the organization and them are not two separate entities?

5. Does it not generate a voluntary commitment in the people and strengthen the existing degree of commitment?

6. Does the Performance Management Process encourages more competition, than collaboration, among the people in the organization?

7. Does it not make people feel that it is indeed one team, Organization and Them, and there is indeed a common goal or a common set of goals?

8. Does it not make people feel that their supervisors genuinely interested in their growth and progression?

9. Does it make people feel that the organization is playing against, and not in favor of, them through Goal Setting and Performance Measurement?

10. Does it not result in strengthening people's trust in the organization and a sense of fairness in their minds?

11. Does it make the supervisor look like a person with malicious intentions?

12. Does it not encourage people to offer the most of their abilities and potential to the organization?

13. Does it not result in enough of People Development achieved through Coaching and Mentoring?

Olma: If the answer to most of these questions is a yes, there is a great possibility that the organization in question is stuck with a stale Performance Management System. Are you with me so far, Yoma?

Yoma: Yes, I think so. Please go ahead.

Olma: Besides these essential questions, I would like to ponder over some fundamental questions, and thoughts, as well.

Performance Management: The Fundamental Questions

1. What is the psychological impact of Performance Evaluation on human beings and their performance?

2. What is the psychological impact of comparing individual based on their performance?

3. Do human beings inherently like to be evaluated based on their performance?

4. Do human beings inherently like to be compared against each other based on performance?

5. Do human beings inherently like competition? To what extent do they like to compete, if they like competition? Under which circumstances and in which contexts they would like to compete? Is Performance Management the right context for competition?

6. Do human beings really like equality and to what extent under which circumstances?

7. What is the ratio between the focus on the past and the focus on the future in the context of performance management as a process and as a system?

8. Is it possible to make Performance Appraisal a thing that people would inherently like? What could be it in Performance Appraisal that people would potentially like?

9. What does really motivate human beings to perform better? Do Targets, Evaluation and Comparison really provide motivation for better performance?

10. What is generally considered ethical, and what is not, in Performance Management and why? What can an organization do about it?

11. What targets do really make sense: the targets that require comparison of performance delivered by different individuals, the targets that result in competition among individuals in an organization? Are comparison and competition considered ethical in general, why and by whom?

12. Does just one system of performance management really fit all the possible personality types in an organization? What can be done about it?

13. Does the introverts and the extroverts feel the same way about the performance management system that prevails in an organization? How does a specific performance management system impact the introverts and the extroverts? Do they get impacted differently? What can be and should be done about it?

14. How does one single system of performance management impact a multi-generational workforce in an organization? What are the challenges and what can be done about it?

15. What type of performance management system can potentially lead to a culture of innovation in an organization while it potentially ensures that the routine business still gets really taken care of?

16. Can we live with a performance management system that allows the members, including the manager or supervisor, of a team to autonomously create a list of the names of the members ordered on the basis of the performance delivered by each member, where each member of the team has a direct day-to-day view of what other members contribute and achieve on an ongoing basis? However, this way of doing it is not free of the need to go for comparison, again.

17. Do we really need a Bell Curve based distribution or fitting? How does it help us? Do we need that help in this era?

18. Is your organization aware of the exact cost of running the performance management system? Is your organization aware of the quantum of benefits that gets generated out of running the performance management system? Has there been a cost-benefit analysis done, ever? Should this not be done? I know it is not easy.

19. If you believe in 'Employees First, Customers Second', and the industry globally believes that it really works, what kind of performance management system actually makes 'Employees First, Customers Second' a reality in the organization?

20. Here is a puzzle for you :-). If comparison and collaboration compete in your performance management system, which one would win? If you compare competition and collaboration, which one would look better in your performance management system?

21. Does your performance management system treat an individual as an individual with uniqueness to encourage the individual offer it's best to the organization? Is not every individual unique, naturally? Is it practical to expect that many individuals will exactly fit into one given category when it comes to their performance?

22. We create teams so that they can perform and produce results that are difficult to produce without forming teams. However, when it comes to evaluating performance we compare performance delivered by individuals. Does something sound potentially strange here?

23. Let's go a bit beyond the cost-benefit analysis. What is the real return on investment? If X worth of man-hours are invested in performance evaluation based on a bell curve and peer-to-peer comparison and Y worth of business result gain is achieved, does this return on investment Y/X make sense? Would we really achieve far less than Y in terms of business results if the managers just set the right targets at all the levels and everyone knows and does what is expected?

24. Is you performance management system designed to 'get' the best from the employees or it is designed to encourage the members of the organization to 'do' their best what they do best? Getting and giving are, kind of, contractual; and employment is just a context. Employees are a group of individuals (People). In that sense, a group of Human Beings can potentially do and deliver much better and more than what a group of Employees can, as mentioned in the SHOD Core Belief.

Olma: I would not like to stretch it too far today :-). I believe, a performance management system operates effectively within the framework of a correct organizational culture. And, one of the easiest, and effective, ways of sustaining a great organizational culture is to get the right people into an organization. And, in more cases than not, the people with the right attitude are the right people. I hope, you understood my questions and thoughts. And, I really appreciate your interest. Thank you. We will talk again.

Yoma: It was my pleasure. I am looking forward to discussing with you again. See you. Till then, take care.