1. Background
In the modern business environment, the intensification of competition requires enterprises to continuously pursue excellence, and optimizing the management mechanism to improve organizational effectiveness has become the key to maintaining leadership. As the core element of the enterprise management system, performance management has immeasurable value for promoting the sustainable development of enterprises. Based on this, WARECLOUD will focus on Hermann Argis's "Performance Management", aiming to study the theoretical basis and implementation skills of performance management with readers, so as to apply this knowledge more effectively in the current and future workplaces, and promote the wide dissemination and practical application of performance management concepts.
2. Overview of "Performance Management" - 6 steps of performance management
(1) Prerequisites
Strategic planning enables an organization to clearly define the purpose or reason for its existence, what it wants to be in the future, what goals it wants to achieve, and what strategies it intends to adopt to achieve those goals. Once the organization has defined the overall goals, these goals need to be refined layer by layer to ensure that the goals of each department support the overall mission and goals of the organization. This process of refining goals layer by layer will continue until each employee has a personal goal that matches the organization's mission and vision.
1.The mission and strategic goals of the organization must be clear and unambiguous;
2.Have a clear understanding of the positions involved.
(2) Performance plan
At the beginning of each performance cycle, supervisors and subordinates should meet to discuss what needs to be done and how to do it, and this discussion of performance plans should include not only outcomes but also behaviors, as well as development plans.
1.Outcome: What work must be done or what results the employee must achieve;
2.Behaviour: Define the behaviour or the way in which the work is done, including competencies (knowledge, skills and abilities);
3.Development plan: This includes identifying areas for improvement and identifying improvement goals to be achieved in each area, both outcome and behavioural goals.
(3) Performance implementation
During the performance implementation period, the main responsibility bearer is the employee, followed by the manager.
1.Employees are responsible for:
1) Commitment to achieve goals;
2) Continuous performance feedback and guidance;
3) Frank and frequent communication between superiors and subordinates (assisted by immediate communication is better);
4) collect and share performance information;
5) Prepare for performance reviews.
2.The manager is responsible for:
1) Observe and record the performance of employees;
2) Update; 3) feedback;
4) provision of resources;
5) Reinforcement. (4) Performance evaluation
Performance appraisal interviews, which play a key role in the performance management process, are often seen as the "Achilles' heel of the performance management process", largely due to the fact that many managers are embarrassed to give performance feedback, especially when employees are underperforming. This intense sense of embarrassment can lead to concerns and avoidance of performance appraisal interviews. However, by providing proper training to those responsible for providing performance feedback, their embarrassment can be effectively alleviated.
1.Performance evaluation is done by both employees and managers.
2.Performance evaluation information composition:
1) Basic information of employees;
2) Responsibilities, objectives and standards;
3) competency and behavioural indicators;
4) Main achievements and contributions (including results and behaviors);
5) Personal development results;
6) development needs, plans and goals;
7) stakeholder involvement;
8) Employee opinion statement;
9) Signature. 3.Performance information**: me, superior, equal, subordinate, customer.
4.Assessment content:
1) Employees achieve the desired results of the organization;
2) Employees exhibit behaviors expected by the organization;
3) Development plan.
5.Methods of measuring performance: behavioural approach, outcome approach (most commonly used), feature approach (intersecting with behavioural approach).
Behavior evaluation: The author derives competency evaluation, which is detached from behavior, and each competency can be decomposed into multiple indicators, and each competency index corresponds to an evaluable behavior.
Methods of competency evaluation:
Relative method (method of evaluating performance by comparing employees with others): simple ranking method (from best to worst), cross ranking method (best and worst group, second best and second worst group, and so on), paired comparison method (complex and less accurate than absolute ranking method), forced allocation method (fixed proportion of good and poor).
Absolute method (a method of evaluating performance without directly comparing employees with other employees): evaluation grammar (not completely absolute), checklist method (hierarchical description of employee competency standards, choosing the closest level to the employee), key event measurement method (which allows managers to focus on actual work behaviors rather than vaguely defined personal characteristics, but collecting key events can be quite time-consuming) and chart level evaluation scale method (similar to the checklist method, The advantage of the graph grade evaluation scale method is that it concretizes the abstract competency in the form of a chart, making the evaluation process more intuitive and easy to understand. In addition, this approach has some flexibility to adjust the level and behavior description according to the actual needs. However, the process of creating charts can be complex and take time and effort).
6.How to eliminate performance evaluation errors?
1) Select the right data sources (which data sources are provided by whom);
2) Train evaluators and evaluators to explain some outstanding indicators in writing and face-to-face;
3) Establish a performance grievance mechanism.
(5) Performance feedback
Performance feedback is an important communication activity between team members and superior management to evaluate and improve the performance of the team and its members. In an autonomous team, there may not be a supervisor in the traditional sense, so the team leader or representative meets with representatives from other teams to give feedback.
At least two performance feedback sessions should be held:
The first meeting involves the whole team, and the team leader discusses the overall performance of the team with all team members. The content of the meeting includes team members' self-evaluation, other teams' evaluations, and supervisors' evaluations. This meeting focuses on the achievement of the team's goals and overall performance.
The second meeting is a one-on-one meeting between the supervisor and each team member that focuses on how individuals contribute to team performance. Information** includes individual self-evaluations, peer evaluations, and supervisor evaluations.
Both sessions covered the past (performance throughout the performance cycle), the present (compensation adjustments based on current performance), and the future (goals and performance development plans for the next performance cycle).
The purpose of performance feedback sessions is to provide feedback, set goals, plan development, and recognize team members' contributions. This feedback mechanism helps to improve the efficiency of team collaboration and individual performance, and promotes continuous improvement and development of the organization and individuals.
Note: When an employee's performance is not up to expectations, the following steps should be taken to manage it:
1) Review and confirm responsibilities, goals, metrics and expectations;
2) Analyze management and employee actions during performance execution;
3) Collect and evaluate performance information and conduct performance evaluation;
4) Clarify any misunderstandings and provide amendments;
5) Discuss performance outcomes, including reflections on the past, specific impacts on the present (e.g., compensation, promotions), and plans for the future (e.g., setting new goals, capacity improvements);
6) Inform employees of their rights to performance grievances.
Practical suggestions: 1) Use specific examples to illustrate the positive or negative behaviors of employees and clarify the improvement points;
2) Obtain feedback from employees on behavior, pay attention to their reactions and explanations;
3) discuss the importance of improving behaviour and provide positive feedback to reinforce good behaviour and warn of the ongoing impact of bad behaviour;
4) Demonstrate how to use employees' existing skills to overcome new challenges;
5) Jointly develop an action plan to improve performance, encourage employee input, and provide timely support and feedback;
6) Arrange follow-up meetings to track progress and ensure consensus and goals are achieved.
(6) Update and re-sign the performance plan
Renewal and re-contracting of performance plans, required:
1) meet the prerequisites;
2) performance plan;
3) performance execution;
4) performance evaluation;
5) Problems found and information obtained in each stage of performance management, such as performance review.
3. Zhiyu case - take the ** subsidiary of a municipal state-owned enterprise as an example
(1) Clarify strategic objectives
Define your company's long-term and annual goals that are measurable, relevant, and achievable. The clarity of the strategic objectives of the enterprise helps to provide a clear direction and basis for performance management.
(2) Formulate a performance management system
According to the strategic objectives of the enterprise, formulate a performance management system applicable to the enterprise. The system should include performance appraisal indicators, appraisal cycles, appraisal subjects, and application of appraisal results. In the process of formulation, it is necessary to fully consider the industry characteristics, organizational structure and business process of the enterprise.
(3) Set performance appraisal indicators
In the performance management system, set specific and clear performance appraisal indicators, which should be closely related to the strategic goals of the enterprise. Different companies set different indicators, and there are generally no special circumstances to set financial, market, operational, team building and other indicators.
(4) Establish a performance appraisal process
Clarify the implementation steps of performance appraisal, including performance plan formulation, performance communication, performance appraisal, performance feedback and other links. Ensure the transparency and fairness of the performance appraisal process, so that employees understand the standards and process of performance appraisal.
(5) Implement performance appraisals
According to the performance appraisal process, the performance appraisal of employees. In the assessment process, ensure the accuracy and completeness of the assessment data and avoid the interference of human factors. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to the feelings of employees in the performance appraisal process and solve possible problems in a timely manner.
(6) Application of performance results
According to the results of the performance appraisal, the performance of employees is evaluated. For outstanding company employees, give commendations and rewards; For underperforming employees, develop improvement measures, provide training and coaching. At the same time, the performance appraisal results are used as the basis for employee promotion and salary adjustment.
Fourth, experience and perception
The core of performance management is to support the realization of corporate strategy and the rational distribution of value (management purpose), and its extended function is to promote organizational transformation and talent development (development purpose). This concept not only highlights the key role of performance management in business management, but also highlights its far-reaching impact in the long-term development of enterprises.
Performance management is not only a mechanism to evaluate and motivate employees' current performance, but also a dynamic process to promote organizational development and talent growth. Through effective performance management, companies can ensure that their strategic goals are firmly executed, while also laying a solid foundation for future growth.
5. Fun Assessment – What is your coaching style?
There are a total of 15 lines of adjectives in the ** below, of which each line contains 4 adjectives. Pick the two adjectives from each line that best match how you think about yourself and circle them. If you think all four words in a line match, pick the two words that match best. If you don't feel like any of these four words match, pick the two closest words out of them. Then count the total number of words selected in each column.
Once you have counted the total number of selected words in each column, you can label these numbers in the corresponding positions in the coordinate axes of the figure below. For example, if you select 6 adjectives in column a, make a mark near the number 6 on the a-axis, and then mark it on the b, c, and d axes as well. Finally, these markers are extended up, down, left and right, thus forming a rectangle. Let's say you have selected 7 words in column A, 8 words in column B, 7 words in column C, and 8 words in column D. Then the shape of this rectangle is shown in the following figure:
In this example, the area covered by the rectangle suggests that the person is primarily a promoter and analyst, but it is also possible that he is a persuader and a moderate. Now, draw a picture of yourself with your stat score. What is your coaching style? Take a look at any of the four quadrants that are covered by this rectangle and show that one of your styles is clearly dominant. If so, what can you do to make good use of other coaching styles?