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PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

7 Steps to Becoming a Performance Appraisal Process Rock Star!

The performance appraisal meeting is, by far, the most dreaded part of the performance appraisal process. In order to handle the performance appraisal like a rock star, you must be doing the right things year round. The foundation for an effective performance appraisal meeting is built one stone at a time, throughout the course of the performance period. During performance planning, individual performance goals and measures are agreed upon. This process creates a mutually acceptable yardstick for evaluating performance effectiveness. Through the monitoring of performance and periodic performance update sessions, the employee acquires a clear understanding of interim performance. Thus, the path has been paved for reduced subjectivity and stress in the performance appraisal meeting.
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SUCCESSION PLANNING

Avoiding Common Roadblocks in Your Succession Planning Process

We are often asked by our clients to help them anticipate common mistakes, obstacles or roadblocks when implementing a succession planning process. Planning ahead not only enables clients to mitigate these obstacles but also allows for thorough contingency planning should those obstacles arise.
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HR SOFTWARE

HR Technology makes Employee Performance Management SMARTT

The classic research on goal setting and motivation theory states that individuals are more likely to be motivated to perform by creating their own specific goals and working toward those performance goals while receiving feedback on their progress. This theory is summarized using the anagram, SMART, which means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (also see our whitepaper: SMART Performance Goals).
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PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

It's Fashion Week....Time to Re-Focus on Performance Goals

Aahhhh....the week after Labor Day. I have always viewed this time of the year fondly. As a kid, this time of year offered limitless possibilities and a totebag full of new school supplies. These days it offers renewed energy, fall clothes shopping and of course, Fashion Week in NYC.
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SUCCESSION PLANNING

It's Lonely at the Top When Your Succession Planning Process Fails

The recent news on Steve Jobs’ resignation highlights the importance of having a solid succession planning process in place. In the case of Apple, there was, and is presently, a successor for Steve Jobs however for many organizations this is not the case. When executives leave an organization whether for health reasons, desire to move to another company or retirement, not only does this leave a gaping hole in the executive team but it’s very expensive to fill the role externally (and this certainly comes with no guarantee that the new external hire will “fit” within the organization culturally). If the role is filled unexpectedly with an internal leader, then that person’s role is vacant, and so on and so on.
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360 DEGREE FEEDBACK

Case Study: Starwood Hotels Takes 360 Degree Feedback to a New Level

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. owns, manages and franchises some of the most well-known brands in the hotel industry. With over 1,000 properties and approximately 145,000 employees, Starwood is one of the world's largest hotel companies and one of the most well-respected in the industry. BUSINESS CHALLENGE Starwood wanted to provide a valuable developmental offering for all leaders across the global organization. The organization had considerable experience with 360 degree feedback in the past but over the years had decided to refine their approach and had developed specific criteria for this initiative: Implement an easy-to-use 360 degree feedback process to gain more participation across the organization, Tailor the survey questions to best address the skills most critical at various levels of the leadership team, Partner with a vendor that could deliver a highly flexible solution but at a very reasonable cost, and Customize the feedback reports to not only provide critical information on strengths and development areas but also to allow individuals to interpret their feedback report without the use of individual coaching. The HR leadership team recognized that to achieve the above goals, they needed to partner with a vendor who not only had extensive experience working with large global organizations but also had a very flexible technology and consulting experts who could advise along the way (both in terms of 360 survey design, as well as system customizations). Starwood chose viaPeople for this global 360 degree feedback initiative.
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PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

In Search of the Perfect Diamond - The 4 C's of Performance Goals

Creating a balanced set of Performance Goals in the employee performance management process is a challenge for all managers....maybe even more challenging that finding the perfect diamond.
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