The old ways of recruiting, training, leading, and managing employees are over. For too many years, talent and workforce management has focused on heavy processes, antiquated performance management philosophies, and a lack of focus on employee development and growth. The result of companies being stuck in their old ways of managing people and performance has been disengaged employees, quiet quitting, and an overall decline in organizational performance and profits.
As organizations continue to face internal and external existential threats, it’s critical for them to not only acknowledge people as their greatest asset, but put some actions behind those words. In short, performance management can no longer be about lip service, the traditional ways of leading, and managing through gut instinct. For companies, this acknowledgment has led to major shifts in the way employees are valued, measured, and elevated at work. They’ve also led to greater trust between employees and organizational leaders.
This article outlines the differences between traditional performance management and a more agile approach. Read on to understand more about different performance management frameworks and how organizations are embracing a new way of building high performing teams.
Performance management is the process of communicating and clarifying job responsibilities, priorities, performance expectations, and development planning to optimize an individual's performance in alignment with organizational strategic goals.
If you’re more than a few years into your career, you’re probably familiar with the traditional approach to performance management, which typically includes annual reviews, performance ratings, and/or one-sided discussions around your job performance.
This top-down, linear-structure, static process has been in place since the early 1900’s when the U.S. military created a “merit rating” system during World War I to identify poor performers for discharge or transfer. Since then, over 90% of businesses have implemented some sort of performance management process. A traditional (simplified) performance management process typically looks like this:
Traditional performance management, the conventional benchmark of the past, still prevails in most companies. While the process differs depending on company stage, size, etc., what likely is consistent are the feelings of anxiety, the buildup of hope for promotion or raise, and the drain on productivity due to an intensive process.
Today, employees are signaling the need for a mindset shift when it comes to how goals are set, what gets measured, the level of autonomy and ownership of their work, and the cadence of feedback.
Agile performance management is a future-oriented, people-focused approach to employee relations and development. It recognizes that employee engagement drives overall business success, and emphasizes adaptability and alignment. By definition, agility involves seeking out new information and embracing continuous change in a collaborative way – and it promises to become the new competitive advantage.
Within an agile approach to performance management, team members:
To support the transition to Agile Performance Management, people leaders and managers are trained to support, guide, and encourage employees as coaches rather than transactional task delegators. Everyone learns to embrace change and work toward excellence in ways that are both sustainable and progressive.
It’s important to acknowledge that a shift to Agile Performance Management doesn’t happen overnight. You must assess change readiness, thoughtfully pace the changes you want to make, train managers and staff on new processes, experiment through pilots, and continue to iterate as you integrate feedback from employees and managers.
If you’re curious about where your organization is in terms of performance management philosophy and approach, check out the chart below.
Regardless of your organization’s performance management philosophy, it’s important to view performance management as a core discipline and competency, not just an HR program.
Agile performance management represents the future, increasingly adopted by forward-thinking businesses. Organizations that challenge the status quo, choosing agility over stagnation, will benefit from increased employee engagement and retention, and overall improved productivity and profitability.
Includes:
Includes:
- OKR principles
- Formulas & scores
- OKR methodology
- Step-by-step guide
- Free OKR templates
- Common mistakes
08/04/2023
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