Welcome to March - that time of year when warmer winds blow, basketball brackets dominate the airwaves, and you can’t avoid the color green.
March is also the time of year when we focus on performance management tools with our HR clients. (In fact, just this past week, I had a great discussion on how to align a client’s leadership team with the aspects of the business that keep them awake at night.)
Some people think of performance management as the dreaded annual review at the end of the year or a “check the box” exercise used to justify a merit increase. However, I like to view this as an ongoing process and refer to it as performance alignment—how you get everyone rowing in the same direction throughout the year.
Thus, here are a few tips to ensure that your people and organization are set up for success.
Tip #1 - Make sure that you have a good strategy in place
A key part of getting everyone focused on the right priorities is understanding where you are going, and that is where strategic planning comes into play. Thus, be sure to incorporate it into your performance systems so that you end the year with organizational success, high individual performance, and no surprises!
When it comes to strategic planning, or working on the business, you want to make sure that you have a system or tools in place that does the following:
- You have core values, guiding principles, or something that people use as a compass
- You have a longer-range plan or vision
- You have annual goals or objectives
- You have clear accountability about who is responsible for different aspects of the organization
If you don’t have such a system, check out the book Traction by Gino Wickman; his “Entrepreneur’s Operating System” is a great resource for organizations of all types.
Tip #2 - Reward the behaviors that are aligned with your organization
Focusing only on outcomes but not behaviors can cause problems. For instance, you might have a high performer, but they are also a jerk to other people on the team. If you don’t focus on the “how” but just the “what,” you might end up unintentionally contributing to bad behavior. Thus, be sure to reward behaviors that are aligned with the values of the organization. What this looks like in practice can vary. Some organizations are 50% behaviors and 50% accomplishments. When it comes to leadership, you might have a 360-degree feedback process to ensure that the leadership skills are positive, and that people are working effectively with peers.
Tip #3 - Focus on organization success
Don’t make the mistake of focusing leaders on department goals instead of organizational goals. For instance, if your Sales VP only cares about revenue, they will not care about the product development team or the team that onboards new customers. Instead, make sure that part of their bonus is focused on something - often profit - that requires leaders to think beyond their department. This approach also encourages teamwork and collaboration.
Tip #4 - Meet multiple times per year
You don’t want the dialogue to only happen at the end of the year when the opportunity to course correct has passed you by. Meeting quarterly, or at a minimum of twice per year, is key to ensuring that there is open communication and a builtin process to provide guidance and feedback. It is very easy for managers to avoid difficult conversations, or to let things build up where there is a lot of frustration. Instead, have those conversations early when course corrections are easier to make.
Aligning your team’s performance with organizational goals is key.
If you’re interested in learning more about this, let’s connect. We enjoy helping our clients:
- Design effective tools and systems that support employee retention and development
- Design bonus systems that align leadership teams around teamwork and the strategic goals of the organization
- Train managers on how to be great people leaders
