PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: BUILDING THE CORPORATE ATHLETE

By Rochelle James rochelle@rochellejames.org

“Performance management is a process by which managers and employees work together to plan, monitor and review an employee's work objectives and overall contribution to the organization.” http://hrcouncil.ca/hr-toolkit/keeping-people-performance-management.cfm

Performance management is a very involved process of feedback, coaching, monitoring and guidance. It can be seen as a linear track that links the targets of an individual employee to the organization’s goals. For any performance management process to be seen as effective it must show clear alignment between the employee's output and driving better business results.

Barry Wolfe expresses in his book “The Little Black Book of Human Resources Management” that there is nothing within an organization that creates more anxiety that performance appraisals. If you fail at the goal setting stage then the appraisal cannot be saved. Additionally an ineffective appraisal tool will throw the entire process into disrepute. Wolfe explains a philosophy for definition the 1 to 5 scoring system that I find highly effective if communicated consistent with company culture.

For your 5-point rating scale he proposes the following definitions:

As in the cartoon below the achieving 3 and above takes a team. I view each employee as an athlete whose performance involves 5 key players.

Fitness Coach aka Training Department: this team is expected to support the development of the employee with the necessary knowledge, and tools to execute and succeed at their job.

e.g. 1.             An analyst is trained to master excel and use the company’s data management software.

e.g. 2.             A runner is trained to perfect his start and running form.

Performance Director – Senior Leadership: they provide a clear strategic focus for the organization with targets the company will achieve within the year. This is filtered down in a clear manner to ensure each employee knows the role they play in achieve the overall goals of the business.

e.g. 1.             Corporate goal is to increase sales by 20%. An analyst is expected to provide quarterly performance reports on the sales performance in relation to the established target of 20%.

e.g. 2.             The team goal is win 2 gold medals. A runner is expected to outperform the world leading time by 5 seconds in order to medal in 2 of 4 races.

Fellow Athletes – Co-worker: provides a barometer of the employee’s efficiency and alignment. While it is not a competition the pace and efficiency of one team member will in turn have a positive impact on another. This will improve the performance culture of the team and the organization.

e.g. 1.             An analyst who submits their quarterly sales performance report 1 week late will note that their colleague makes the submission a week earlier and strive to emulate the practice. It is later noted that Analyst 1’s report includes a trend analyst and predictions of future performance. Eventually Analyst 2 provide the same or more detailed analysis.

e.g. 2.             Runner 1 is able to shave 5 seconds off their time while training with Runner 2. By the end of a week of intense training both runners are able to shave 8 seconds off their best time.

Sports Psychologist – Manager: Setting clear goals that are aligned to the corporate goals is the responsibility of the manager. Once the goals are set the real work of ongoing performance updates must begin. The manager is expected to have at least quarterly reviews with the employee to ensure the goals remain top of mind and to arrest performance gaps/shortfalls before it is too late.

e.g. 1.             The manager advises the analyst that the last report produced was incomplete. Feedback on the information gaps is provided and the analyst explains that this is a skill gap. The manager offers coaching or refers the employee for training.

e.g. 2.             The team manager notes that the runner is consistently late for training and thus has not been able to shave any seconds off their best running time. They probe to discover that the runner has to travel a great distance to get to training and has trouble getting reliable transportation. The team manager arranges for a residential training for the runner.

Lifestyle Coach – Business Partner (HR Department): Check in with the managers for goal alignment and employees for goal clarity. The Business Partner is expected to play a supporting role to both employee and manager to help them set and meet their professional goals that will help them to build their career. They come into play when the employee is stuck or simply wants to make a transition for which additional support and coaching is needed. 

e.g. 1.             The analyst has a career goal to become a Data Scientist. With this in mind the Business Partner would assist the employee in identify skill strengths, knowledge gaps and develop a career map to plan for their career goal.

e.g. 2.             The runner has a career goal to become a 3 time Olympic Champion. With this in mind their Business Partner/Manager would ensure they are building a strong brand and participating in meets that contribute to their growth as an athlete.