Making Performance Managment System Work

ConsultPro

Enabling Positive Change

Making p erformance management system s work By N.Balajhi Performance management is as old as business and industry. It is in the recent past that specific

frameworks

like

balanced

scorecard

have

come

to

facilitate

performance

management. These frameworks do n’t work magic. They are no panacea. Balanced scorecard and other frameworks are mere tools in ones hand. Using them successfully in Indian

working

environments

require

a

fundamental

change

in

the

way

work

and

performance is perceived, both by the employer and employee. For long increments and promotions were tied to the time frame. A mere passage of time raises one’s expectation for increment and promotion. It is so deep rooted in Indian minds that even now in these changed conditions we can find many empl oyees, especially the ‘S t a y e r s ’, thinking along these lines. A mere ex ecution of their daily routines, as defined a decade ago, is performance for them. Expecting PMS to succeed in such an environment is like ex pecting Bangladesh to defeat Australia, thoug h it happens once in a blue moon. Making a performance management system to work 1. The term ‘Performance’ should evoke positive feelings and not fear. Launch campaigns and create awareness . Involve people in the exercise of implementing PMS . a. Communicate

gen eral

ideas

on

performance

through

ev ery

mode

of

communication. Use people who are most acceptable to employees to take these ideas across. b. Communicate organisation ’s current performance levels using the framework adopted . Briefly describe the framework and how to read the performance picture presented using the framework . c. Present the competitive scenario and stress on the need to improve performance 2. Present the desired performance levels, using the adopted performance management framework a. Ask what it means to each department / d i v i s i o n and how they should respond to this need for higher performance lev e l s. i.

Each department to analyse and come up with their proposal on how they can contribute to corporate performance plans in specific manner

i i . Resources and fac ilities required for enhanc i n g performance

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ConsultPro

Enabling Positive Change iii.

Ensure participation of every decision maker in the department/division

iv.

Obtain

department

wide

ov e r a l l

o p i ni on

with

empathetic

ears

and

communicate promises and concerns to the management . 3. Study each plan from de partments and i d e n t i f y a. Alignment with corporate performance plan b. Gaps in performance promises c. Over optimism d. Resources and facilities required e. Degree of commitment and concern , as can be seen f rom departmental overall opinion 4. Communicate feedback, raise qu estions, objections, point out misperceptions and call for revised proposal, if required, with respectiv e departments 5. Draft corporate / department wise performance plan and goals a. Receiv e and s tudy modified proposals from departments b. Identify gaps if any st ill persists c. Compare with corporate performance plans and goals d. Assess resource and facility requirements e. Make necessary modifications, wherever required, in the corporate performance plan / goals f.

Make

necessary

modifications,

wherev er

required,

in

the

dep artmental

performance plans / goals g. Finalise

the

visualized

performance

picture

both

for

the

corporate

and

departments / divisions 6. Communicate the final picture to respective departments / divisions . I t w i l l a c t a s performance target for respective depart ment 7. Launch a ca mpaign to win over employee support and help keep their morale high a. Communicate

perfor mance

goals

of

the

company

and

their

respective

departmental goals b. Share the visualized picture, through graphical representation of visualized state of t he company on various performance fronts

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ConsultPro

Enabling Positive Change

c. What it would all mean for the employees, financially, socially , psychologically and for the company d. Communicate what is expected of employees e. List

the

support

that

management

will

provide for employees to enhance

performance f.

Dispel fears and instill confidence among employees. Roll out a period of moratorium for performance , so that performance pressure is off their back during the time of com i n g up the curve to meet heightened performance expectations

8. Ascertain emp loyee inv olvement , morale and get their feedback through informal sources . Launch re - designed campaigns, if necessitated 9. Overhaul job profiles a. Redefine the scope of work for each job work profile b. Redefine job responsibilities and authority vested with eac h p o s i t i o n c. Define performance in specific terms for each job 10. Link increments and promotions to specific performance levels 11. Put in place the PMS infrastructure and p rovide resources and facilities required 12. Organise learning and awareness programs 13. Review and ev a l u a t e performance periodically and communicate to all concerned on actions taken, if any 14. Reward and honour exceptional performances 15. Do not allow any letup in monitoring and realignment of interests. As and when required launch and re -launch educatio nal and awareness campaigns +++End of article+++ Mr.N.Balajhi is a business consul tant , who runs business consultancy firm ConsultPro. He has more than 7.5 years of experience business consult ancy f i e l d. His interests include organisation development, perf ormance management, knowledge management, change

Phone – 91 422 2447198

E m a i l – consultpro @gmail.com

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management

and

[email protected] .

corporate

training

programs.

He

can

be

reached

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