Performance Management and Management Strategy

I have known people who are very skilled at being busy, but do not understand the difference between busyness and business. Today everyone talks about performance, yet this can beg the question “WHAT PERFORMANCE?” 

What do we mean by performance?

One of the biggest challenges that I faced during my MBA studies, was the selection of a management project. I wanted to select something, which should be highly objective. It should not be merely nice to have, but something must to have, and last but not the least, it had to interest me.

A topic had always been on my mind…

I always looked at the opportunity to find out how I was doing as compared to others. Soon I started realizing that Performance Management was a once a year nightmare, and if I did not take notes on my activities during the year, I would always lose the battle. I have often found myself at the short end of the stick.

And although I was dexterous enough upon a piece of paper in the performance management system, yet in common actions, I have seen myself to be clumsy and unhandy…I became interested in the use and application of the complete system, including performance appraisals and performance review.

Therefore, I embarked upon assessing the effectiveness of the Performance Management tool that our company employed at that time. The entire activity was so insightful that I learned a lot from that project.

The observations and understanding of the performance management process reduced my imaginary and perceived difficulties, along with the want to overcome solid objections which I endeavored, in vain, to find. A monumental task transformed into something more manageable.

I am very keen to help you to manage your appraisals since you could be in a similar situation. Since then I have run many “Managing Performance,” workshops. Therefore, in this section, I am going to share some of my thoughts from that period of experience.

Coming back to the same rhetorical question – What do we mean by performance?

Of all the definitions, I find one by Rudman to be the most relevant and easy to remember. It can be simply defined as “focused behavior or purposeful work” (Rudman 1995, pg-1) and this definition applies to organizations themselves as well as to the people who are engaged to perform the work.

Cascio (1996, pg-11), strongly suggests that managing performance requires the manager to define:

• Define performance
• Facilitate performance and
• Encourage performance

In other words, Performance Management System should have two main purposes:

• Appraisals or past performance against objectives or goals and
• Development plan –planning future performance by enhancing core competencies

If you carefully notice, two new terms have emerged from our discussion.

One is “Objective” and the other is “Competency.”

Let us dilate on these new terminologies. Competency can be defined in many ways.

One way of defining competency can be the individual’s ability

To apply personal attributes or knowledge

To achieve a standard of performance, which contributes to the overall objectives of the company?

The key point in the first category is the word “apply.” As a leader, you should be in a position to see and describe examples of behavior that demonstrate that the individual is using capability in the workplace. Behavior is the only thing that is observable and thus allows an assessment to be made as to an individual’s level of ability.

Under the second point, the achievement is a key point, “achievement of a standard of performance, means a particular competency that can be measured against a baseline, and that an individual’s level on a certain competency can be rated.This is a broad definition of a competency. Several characteristics make a competency clearly recognizable or visible.

A competency must be:

• Observable – which means you must be able to observe a behavior.
• Measurable- You must be able to measure it against a set of behavioral characters.
• Coach-able- An individual should be able to develop the right training.

I am assuming that your company has a competency framework. Each company’s competencies will look quite different. Some companies might have ten to fifteen, or others have even more than fifty. The point is you should be aware of your competencies, know what the competency is and also know positive behavior indicators, associated with each competency.

Let us come down to the second terminology – Objectives

So what is an objective?

There are many definitions. First let me put it simply as, an objective is:

"a statement about what is to be achieved, is measurable, clarifies expectations and has a time frame attached to it.'

Objectives are very important in managing performance because they:

• Communicate direction,Increase an individual's understanding of what is required of him.
• Can be motivational, if stretching and agreeing with employees.
• It is a self-management tool
• Can increase the level of ownership

Objectives can be set at many levels:

while the individual and the team level objectives may be most applicable to you. It is important for you to understand where they come from and where they are linked.

It is logical to think that the individual’s objective

should link with the team’s objective, the team’s objective should link with the department’s objective and the department’s objective should link with the overall corporate objectives.

Though we are dealing with leadership coaching in this website,

I would like to add, while developing the objectives at the individual level, there must be a clear link with the job accountabilities within the job descriptions. If there is a discrepancy then the job description should be updated to reflect the current reality, which links with your departmental/corporate objectives.

These ideas will give you spirit for the task, and your ability to handle a performance management system will surpass anything you have demonstrated before. It will also have a direct bearing on the employee's motivation.

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