Performance Management

Performance Management is a cyclical process aimed at improving performance (eg: achievement of business objectives). Performance Management involves the following principles (illustrated by a call centre example):

Measurement o You establish performance measures (eg: sales turnover) o You establish measurable behavioural goals that will improve performance (eg: making 30 prospective phone calls a day) o You measure current behaviours (eg: logging actual phone calls) Appraisal o You compare the current behaviours with the behavioural goals and identify the main differences (eg: on average, 20 phone calls are actually being made, giving a shortfall of 10 phone calls). Action o For each difference, you plan how to bring actual behaviours in line with the goals, in order to improve the performance (eg: introduce a revised telephone script that qualifies the prospect more quickly, shortening each phone call and enabling more calls to be made in the time available) o You implement the plan (eg: issue the revised script to all telesales people, perhaps with some training to support its use) Monitoring o Check that the new plans are being followed (eg: review a sample of phone call recordings to determine whether the new script is being used and check that it is 'workable'). o At an appropriate time, you return to the appraisal stage to assess the impact of the changes on the behavioural and performance measures (eg: review the average number of calls made per day and sales achieved).

The term "Performance Management" is often used in two contexts: 1. A way of maximising performance of an individual, team or organisation 2. A process for dealing with underperforming individuals (or teams). Whilst the underlying principles are always the same, the way in which they are implemented varies between the two contexts.

Maximising performance Usually collaborative between management and staff Can be informal, with written records only recording revised targets

Poor performers Involves more confrontation

Is a formal process with each step being written down Is a process that escalates into disciplinary proceedings, possibly concluding with termination of employment Often involves analysis of one individual's behaviours/attitudes

Is a cyclical process, one of constant improvement

Often involves analysis of the process

Conclusion
Performance Management is a term used to improve team performance, based on the principles of measurement, appraisal, action and monitoring. However, it can be manifest in very different forms depending on whether the aim is to further improve good performers, or deal with underperformance. Performance Management can also apply to individuals, teams, groups or organisations.

Performance Management for Teams

Performance Management for Teams is different to Team Building (and it is also different to Performance Management for individuals). There are many different definitions of 'team building', but in most people's eyes it refers to an activity that helps develop the team in some way - it can include a wide range of things, such as:

outdoor activities offsite workshops having a meal out together sharing an email list or bulletin board meeting in the coffee lounge during work breaks etc.

These can be very useful. But they are often a matter of 'hit or miss'. The activities are introduced in the belief or hope that they will improve the way the group operates - but

whether they are seen to impact on collective performance or not depends more on whether you believe 'intuitively' that they are good for the team, rather than the inherent or demonstrable value of the activities. That is where Team Performance Management has an important role to play. Team Performance Management is focused directly on the achievement of the team's key business objectives. It bridges the gap between the team building 'enablers' and business performance results. It removes the reliance on 'faith' - the need to believe that team building works before investing in it - and establishes a direct connection between collective behaviours and team performance. Team Performance Management is predicated on the following three principles: 1. Team Behaviours are different to Individual Behaviours. Most competency frameworks include "teamwork", but these usually refer to what an individual does within a team, not what a team does collectively together. Eg: whilst all the individuals in a team can behave in trustworthy ways, this does not guarantee that the team will build trust together - this is also dependent on other factors such as the environment they work in, or the team processes they use for communicating, deciding, rewarding, etc.. 2. The behaviours that make a team successful vary - from team to team and from time to time. Eg: the profile of behaviours that makes a design team successful is different from the profile that make a financial audit team successful. And if the design team is using a top-down approach, for optimal performance, it needs to change its behaviours once it gets beyond the outline design and starts work on the detailed implementation of the ideas. 3. Team behaviours can be changed using a team performance management process. In essence, performance management involves establishing behavioural goals, measuring current behaviours to identify the gap between the current and desired behaviour profile, and then planning, implementing and monitoring changes in order to close that gap. There are both similarities and significant differences between performance management processes for individuals and teams. The methodology we offer for Team Performance Management achieves these principles in the following ways:

Behavioural goals are established, closely allied to team performance/results, using the "Ideal Team Profile Questionnaire". This questionnaire can be used as a 360 with senior managers, staff, customers and peer groups, to identify what behaviours will make the team most successful. The current behaviours are established using the "Management Team Roles indicator". Target and current behaviours can then be compared in a behavioural gap analysis.

The insight gained from the gap analysis can be used to take action in order to close that gap. By shifting behaviours closer to those required for optimum success, team performance will improve.

In summary, the key difference between traditional team building and team performance management is that the former engages in activities in the belief that they will indirectly lead to improvements in team performance (sometimes they do, sometimes they don't). Team Performance Management, however, identifies the team behaviours that will lead directly to business success, and then uses a process to change the behaviours accordingly.

Benefits
Managing employee or system performance facilitates the effective delivery of strategic and operational goals. There is a clear and immediate correlation between using performance management programs or software and improved business and organizational results. For employee performance management, using integrated software, rather than a spreadsheet based recording system, may deliver a significant return on investment through a range of direct and indirect sales benefits, operational efficiency benefits and by unlocking the latent potential in every employees work day (i.e. the time they spend not actually doing their job). Benefits may include: Direct financial gain Grow sales Reduce costs in the organization Stop project overruns Aligns the organization directly behind the CEO's goals Decreases the time it takes to create strategic or operational changes by communicating the changes through a new set of goals

Motivated workforce Optimizes incentive plans to specific goals for over achievement, not just business as usual Improves employee engagement because everyone understands how they are directly contributing to the organisations high level goals Create transparency in achievement of goals High confidence in bonus payment process Professional development programs are better aligned directly to achieving business level goals

Improved management control

Flexible, responsive to management needs Displays data relationships Helps audit / comply with legislative requirements Simplifies communication of strategic goals scenario planning Provides well documented and communicated process documentation