If you are struggling, bet that your team is too.  Now is the time to bring your people together to infuse them with some energy and provide them with clear direction. As leaders, we all understand the importance of engagement in driving business performance. Engaged employees are committed to the organization, their team, and their goals.

• Refresh your memory about the basic goal setting techniques.  Clear goals and expectations – those that are specific and challenging - help direct energy toward action.

• Call a 2011 Performance Planning Session to get everyone focused on performance expectations for the coming year.  Set the stage for success by taking the time to review the organization’s and department level goals.  Solicit  team members’ thoughts on what processes can be improved from last year, and to refocus efforts on the most pressing strategic goals. Ideally, each employee will take the lead on 3-4 goals that tie-in to the larger departmental and organizational initiatives.  Automated performance management systems can help you to communicate performance goals and expectations, track goals/plans progress, and enable collaborative planning throughout the year.

• Leaders can build commitment by involving team members in goal setting, but also by role modeling effective execution. Lead the way by demonstrating energy and drive toward your individual goals and objectives.

The New Year provides everyone with a little extra push to work better/smarter/harder. Get started now to ensure a successful year ahead!

The B-Side, B-List, etc. gets a bit of an unfair reputation. The Alpha is usually king and organizations are not immune to applying these limited metrics when measuring their people.  Recent large-scale research efforts from McKinsey (2008) and Ernst & Young (2010) however have attempted to guide HR professionals towards more inclusive talent management strategies that recognize the contributions of mid-level, steady performers in addition to the traditional high potential focus. Terms like “the vital many” in this research emphasize the idea that organizations are made up of more than a few rising stars, and that companies who embrace their talent in a full spectrum way will outpace their competition.  In other words, attending only to the A-List, while alienating the bulk of your workforce, is just so last decade.

Paying attention to high potentials has become second nature to organizations with established Talent Management practices. However, HR leaders who want to add a second layer to existing programs may find that it is not as easy as throwing a few more names in the hat. Oftentimes, new initiatives will need to be launched to support the talent population on a larger scale, and only then can high-potential programs be placed alongside and complimentary to the more comprehensive programs.

viaPeople Consultants have worked with organizations who have accomplished this in a myriad of ways. Most use some combination of Performance Management, Development Planning, and/or Career Development, and tie the multitude of this data to their Talent Assessment and Management applications. The strength of this multi-pronged approach is in the attention paid to both employee and organizational goals, and how they are linked together. Employees are shown clear maps/paths to organizational roles, as well as the related position requirements (e.g. performance, experiences, other prerequisites, etc.). Organizations now have a talent pool in charge of their own progression, and can focus on providing development support to help employees move between the designated paths/levels. Leaders can help guide talent towards their optimal path: direct paths for high-potentials to higher level positions, and more realistic paths for steady performers that will give these essential employees more time to develop, greater support with challenging experiences, and mentors who can invest in their longer-term improvement.

Organizations who are ready to implement Talent Management for their entire workforce can start simply – by listening to the B-Side. Oftentimes, a few small focus groups tapping the opinions of various departmental representatives will uncover exactly what types of career and development planning programs are desired. Combined with HR and leadership’s input into the essential learning experiences, performance thresholds, and role exposure that it takes to promote internal growth, the organization will have the makings of a true Talent Management program that embraces the potential of all employees.

There were people there that I had never met before and as is typical in these first time meetings we were asking one another what we do for a living.  When I shared the fact that viaPeople develops and sells performance appraisal software I was cut off, politely of course, by a play by play description of how horrible the performance management process was in their respective organizations.

I really didn’t get to talk much, but I did get an earful of how, in both situations, the performance appraisal process didn’t even come close to matching their respective job positions.  These were two executive level leaders in two large, global organizations.  Their complaints were lengthy and their solutions were simple.

The complaints were many, but the highlights that stuck with me were: the evaluation forms did not match their respective jobs, they had to use them regardless; complaints to HR did nothing; the evaluation results were not used for compensation; they had no input into the design of the process or the forms.  The process was mandatory, and as far as both executives were concerned, an absolute waste of time.

Their solution: “Ask us and we will share with HR what works” for their department/division.  Unfortunately it’s not that simple.  It is the line managers closest to the work that know what should be measured and linked to compensation.  There isn’t a one-size-fits-all evaluation form for a corporation with diverse functions regardless of the size of the company.  Yet most companies use this approach to avoid having to deal with multiple forms.

Unfortunately these complaints are more the norm.  I would like to say I am surprised, but I’m not.  Both of these executives agreed that their respective organizations really don’t get it.  In an industry where we so often hear that the “Human Asset is the most important asset” these assets are not feeling so valuable.

HR software applications, if properly configured, can manage an infinite amount of forms.  Data can be aggregated at any level and new information can be provided to managers to aid in their critical decision making.  This will only happen when the C-Suite recognizes that there is a huge return on their most important asset.

Press Release (June 21, 2010): viaPeople Announces the Launch of Next Generation Organizational Charting

Enter micro performance feedback. What is it? A fast and easy way to provide feedback to employees, and to facilitate performance conversations. What it promotes? More regular feedback from busier than ever managers; more relevant feedback on the work issues of the moment; and more timely feedback that can result in behavior changes that have an immediate impact.

In and of itself, this type of feedback is nothing extraordinarily new. We’ve been hearing for ages that best practice performance management feedback is routine, applicable and immediate. The game-changing nature of today’s micro feedback is the technology that support its usage. Ideally, this technology will integrate micro performance feedback with a larger suite of performance management tools such as mid-year and annual performance evaluations and goals/development plans. Micro feedback tools that allow managers and employees to correspond on performance goals, etc. and make this back-and-forth a permanent part of the performance record are key.

While most employees should latch onto micro feedback tools, some may feel that this is just another task HR is forcing upon them. For these folks, use a micro feedback system that allows for easy, one-click type updates that appear on your intranet or Performance Management platform. Even better, let them email or text their updates to their direct reports.

Bottom line: Micro feedback is an easy technology addition that will help your busy managers and employees practice Performance Management the way it was meant to be played.

How then, should these metrics be incorporated? First, decide what outcomes are desirable and will give the program some legs to stand on when presenting your strategic results to the c-suite. Think about measurable increases in:

Performance

• Measuring results on Overall/Strategic business goals
• Targeted individual development for hi-po’s (e.g. competencies, etc.)

Talent

• Successor pipeline for key positions
• Culture carriers who are more highly engaged over time
• Retention, resulting in less external hires

Next, you should define the actual measures to be monitored including:

• Performance scores
• Competency ratings
• Development milestone achievement stats
• # of potential successors by position
• Hi-po engagement ratings
• Recruiting/Selection cost savings (retention risks averted; internal successors identified)

To assemble and analyze such data would take significant manual efforts, and as such you’re better off automating as much as possible. Succession Planning and Performance Management software should be flexible enough to accommodate the specific hi-po measurement criteria that are critical for your organization’s talent. Additionally, the tools should allow you to easily pull-in measurement data from various other systems for comparison purposes. Finally, software that can automatically calculate the relationships among your hi-po data will add real-time results to your business analytics toolbox.