To Appraise Performance..don’t wait for year to get over!!!!

Whenever a manager over heard mere “Performance appraisal”,  you will be able to hear their groan out of stress. Many managers see Performance appraisal as nothing more than an empty, bureaucratic exercise  forced on them by HR. Even for appraisee (a subordinate) when he gets a meeting request from his boss for performance review discussion, he feels just yesterday he has written his goals which is promptly forgotten too and this discussion becomes more of a 'BAJATE RAHO' discussion for him.

 

More than 80% of staff feels that performance reviews are unnecessary and is a waste of time because of lack of efforts put in by managers in to the process. Lackadaisical attitude of management results in Employee apathy.

The sanctity of performance management system is to keep a tap on the achievement viz a viz goals set and to design competency development plan based on the performance review analysis. Regret to mention than this appraisal tool is just being used to identify A,B and C category and decide increment percentage which is too mostly influenced by key business drivers. The annual performance review discussions, if so happens, are not aligned with need assessments, thus barely adds value to them.

Here, we need to change the approach rather than the system. There are four ways I perceive, if adopted, the Trust in performance appraisal system will be restored and employees will find it more effective and generate the desired outcome.

 

 

First is to Keep it Simple, many managers dislike complexity of modus operandi of performance appraisal system and bureaucratic forms. Design a format which is simple to decipher & captures relevant data and focus on structural part of conducting review discussions with reduced stress element.

Second, Frequent Connect between Manager and his subordinate. It is no longer effective to meet your subordinate once or twice a year to discuss on performance appraisal. Frequent appraisal meetings will help to monitor on goals achievements and to keep check on relationship needs, growth needs, motivational needs & learning needs of your subordinate. Meeting once in a quarter or sometimes more frequent will save you from future peril of non achievements of targets and give a pat on a back for achievement & study the shortfalls when they are fresh in memory and  a employee can also express his feeling on his performance. Once or twice a year performance review meeting will force you to drop your criticism at him at once like a bomb, rather 'ZOR KA ZATKA DHERE SE' approach will be easier to swallow and leads to constructive conversation.

Third, Conversations focused on future. Annual appraisals often becomes ‘poker game’ where employees are being asked to lay their cards on the table first, so that managers can identify weaknesses and focus on actions require to improve those weaknesses. To conduct effective performance appraisal discussion, adopt ‘sandwich technique’ whereby, you open conversations highlighting notable achievements in recent times, followed by critical assessments and interactive discussion on areas of improvement and conclude the discussion with landing a hand to him to unleash hidden potentials and tips for learning and development.

Fourth, Self monitoring of performance & learning. Nowadays, modern Performance Appraisal tools track self performance ratings which has been perceived by most of the staff as a data gathering tool for counter arguments by managers. Hence they rate themselves high so that after negotiation they will be rated somewhere in mid range. Whereby, essence is to provide a honest rating for their own performance. By asking employees to keep a track on own performance and learning, write down their goals and keep a check on success and discoveries, the data generated out of it is not being used by managers to critically evaluate but to help each employees to take responsibility of their own performance.

In era of automation, we sometimes get caught in terminologies and having an online PMS module which runs once or twice a year is not at all an issue but this system will only help to capture data, it can not motivate, inspire and develop people. Hence, frequent feedback sessions on performance & creating self organized learning environment where people learn from this feedback meetings which takes place in corridor, lifts or across the coffee. 

Author

Paras Khatri

Paras, born & brought up in city of dreams. A human Resource pro and a believer that having an active presence on social media will not only align you with professionals across industry & domain experts but also a platform to share your thoughts with them, which influenced me to become a blogger. A traveler, who wants to explore world, meet people and walk over no mans land. You can follow him on twitter  @paraskhatri .

 

10 ways to measure employee enagagement...

With changing times as Personnel Management became Talent Management, employee wellness has becomes the focus for any HR Manager. Organizations too have realized that though employees are governed my labor laws but ultimately they are major stakeholders in its organic growth. This paradigm shift has brought a major challenge of keeping employee motivated and engaged within the organizations. More opportunities and technologies have resulted in competitive strategies to have more happy faces around.

However like physicists say ‘ No machine can have perfect efficiency’ likewise hitting a perfect 10/10 can be a  farfetched dream but still there are ways to measure your engagement quotient and timely action can make just turn around stuff.

Best and the most well known is to analyze your exit reports and keep a tab on that deadly attrition factor. Resignations not only adds to ones blood pressure but replacement too come with added cost .So why not channelize the energy and finances on more productive side which can help keep the      attrition counts stay low and engagement high.

Remember what made college better than school? Well college didn’t have any uniform. Truly burden of strict policies such as reporting time sometimes can be highly annoying. Employee are truly engaged if they come on time because they love being at office not because they have late marks counter on.

Do your employees doze off or try to bunk those open forums addressed by the CEO or founder? So next time make sure it’s more interactive. They deserve to know where the organization is heading and let them feel like a family only then they would give their best to you.

How about the last appraisal process? How many reminders did you send to the managers? Do they believe in the appraisal process or is it just another formality for them. Processes can give us some very critical information’s about the employee motivation.

Once somebody suggested about having a ‘Smilometer’ , which can help us tracks smiles in day. Indeed more laughter and friendly behavior on floor suggests that it a happy place to work and smiles are always infectious J

My personal experience says an engaged and motivated employee will always. The feeling of pride to be associated with one’s dream company is too good a motivator and also helps spreading the feeling around.A happy employee would love to refer more of his friends to join the gang.  So you know when employee referrals are low what needs to be done.

Mostly HR faces challenge of maintaining salary confidentiality and more employees are stressed and frustrated every discussion boils around their favorite topic. If they are monetarily satisfied and happily engaged there are no reasons for you to worry on your strict and confidential information to go public.

Have you noticed who all regularly miss annual day celebrations or office parties? It’s similar to avoiding a dinner because your don’t like the host. Do I need to say more?

Trust in management and feeling of belonginess plays a great role too. If an employees is participative and know that his ideas and efforts will be well appreciated and acknowledged, he would be well bounded with the organization values and philosophy .However this comes with due course and here timely and right communication channel is very important.

 Keep a tab on informal and ‘online and social media’ discussions. Technology has opened many avenues for official gossips. Understanding employee psychology and behavior helps to understand their needs and leads to timely actions and further improvements.

Employee Engagement is need of the hour. Today keeping talent motivated and happy is important so that focus on organizational growth is undeterred. Important is to understand that every organization and individual is unique. What works with one might not click with others .But the beauty is to manage complex human brains in the most simplified manner.
However we all know that nobody is married to an organization but being engaged is no less than that !!

Wish you Happy Engagement J

 

Work from home in 10

“ Yahoo Employees Can’t Work From Home Anymore”

When I read this tweet last week, was taken aback and yes not to miss thanked my stars for not being in Yahoo at least ;)

So the topic has been hot for a while now and it being very close to my heart and needless to say invariably my favorite pick I thought to pen down my thoughts as well. Again without taking any sides I quote, Sairee Chahal, Founder Fleximoms, ‘work from home is one of the many formats of work flex’ and honestly require lot of ‘MATURITY’ from both employees as well as employers. Only when both are in sync with the model will it work otherwise without arguments its failure is inevitable.

I have personally been practicing it for couple of months now but again my employer plugHR has been successfully doing it for many years. Still recall meeting Prashant Bhaskar, Founder plugHR saying he started on his own enterprise for wanted more flexibility and now loves the providing the same to others. Here both parties have a very clear picture of what’s happening around on the other side, the reason is ‘CONNECT’. We make sure the all work flex professional are connected on all possible ways. So my day starts with a ‘Sabse Bolo’ call meeting @ 9:15 am with all status update on the day and if I really need to speak to somebody I am rest assured that they are just a call/watsapp/BBM/gtalk away. Trust me sometimes these apps are more effective than face to face follow ups…try it to believe it!!

‘SOCIAL MEDIA’ definitely has been a boon for such set ups, it not just keeps me informed about latest happening but also is a good way for a team connect. I know my virtual colleagues as much as I knew mine with last employer. Also meeting physically once in a week helps a lot in rapport building, taking over gotomeeting or Skype with webcams on trust me works wonders. Why not... you can always show off your latest wardrobe addition!!

Having a ‘SCHEDULE’ and work space like the one you have in office would always help you focus on the job. Pursuing personal chores while at work should be avoided, though you can have breaks. Working from home need lot of ‘SELF DISCIPLINE’ and is mostly suited for people who are self motivated and for jobs which requires more concentrations.

Another approach which really helps is being PROACTIVE. In a physical office I could have explained about not meeting deadlines much more easily but when operating from home one has to very sure before giving up. Here only results a visible not efforts and to make it more transparent it’s the individual who has to be vocal enough to share concerns rather than waiting for the ugly turn.

A very important aspect of work from home is that many think it’s only boon for working moms, but in the changing dynamics men too prefer it. For now just it saves on ‘TRAVEL TIME’ but also ‘COST’ both for employee and employer. This work format also provide employers to target a potential latent talent which are otherwise females on sabbatical and for organizations which can’t afford to have a full fledged in-house crèche facility , this work as wonders.

But yes one size can’t fit to all!!

However in profiles where team work/brainstorming/product development is required one might to operate face to face then virtually .Again expecting fresher’s /junior members to be productive in this model can be a challenge. So as much as it can be a benefit of one, many might just be demotivated enough to give up.

Infact, many individuals find it difficult to operate remotely and are more comfortable in physical set up with people around. I remember we hired somebody recently and she quit because found it boring, working all by herself. We can’t blame anybody here, for humans are social and that’s the secret, why social networking is so useful in connecting virtual beings. Any achievements or failure which we would have shared with our team member otherwise are now shared with a larger audience. Trust me many people envy me for being on Face book and Twitter the whole day J

So guys to be honest this works for me, because I want it to work for me. At the end of the day I am ‘ACCOUNTABLE’ to perform and by virtue of my experience can be productive without much surveillance. If you are ready for such high ‘COMMITMENT’, you are in….

 

Additional Responsibilities- Are you game?

There have been discussions about what to do in the free time at office/work. If at all we all have any free time, do you think taking some extra responsibilities without giving any hints to the seniors or bosses about the free time is possible? Why not? Give it a try.... Recently while taking an interview of a senior HR professional, the similar discussion cropped up- The guy was just not ready to sit relaxed and hence he took up the additional responsibility of handling operations.... what's your take?  How can we do that...read on

Being handed new work duties is part and parcel of restructuring drive within an organization. Saying yes to new challenges at work is always an opportunity to learn new skills, contribute more towards the growth of the company and career building bridges. However, the load of new responsibility will require some extra input on your part. Here’s how you can make the role transition a smooth process:

Rendezvous with your peers Before you assume charge of some new work responsibility, it is important to gain insight into the role from the person who held the responsibility before you. Go beyond discussing the mere protocol involved; rather have a discussion over the nature and scope of the task you are about to take over.

If it is a newly proposed work, then discuss with the colleague who initiated the idea and/or gave you the responsibility for the same to develop an action plan in order to get started.

Amalgamate new work with existing one. Next, you will need to integrate the new tasks with your present work schedule. An addition to already existing responsibilities can leave you overwhelmed and mismanaged for both time and thought.

You can begin by grouping work that is similar to some existing work in adjacent slots as it gets done faster, with your thought process already aligned in the particular direction. Thus take stock of your daily schedule and create concrete work pockets for different tasks ensuring that the increase in duties does not hamper your original work arrangement.

Take on only as much as you can handle. As your work responsibilities expand, so will the need arise to create a work plan to judge how well you can manage your previous and newly added duties. Be clear on how much you can add to your plate without hampering your productivity and efficiency. There are times when we think our plate is not full and we just keep on filling it and then one day we realize that we are stuck. We have no idea how all this came to us and we cannot do it. So, just take it easy and go on slowly while asking for new tasks.

Initial regular assessment is important. As you assume the new responsibilities, take out time to gauge the progress and impact of your efforts. It’s best that you define the methodology and the projected outcome of the tasks in the beginning before they become accepted processes. Take the feedback from your seniors at various intervals, so that you know you are on the right track and taking a suggestion and advice from experts will surely add value in the long term prospects.

Take challenging tasks: Be open to work with new challenging assignments if you have any free time. Don’t jump over to any opportunity that comes your way, evaluate, introspect and work as per your areas of strength and where you can have some new opportunities of learning.

Learn new things for job enrichment: The same work, less work can add monotony and going to the office may start feeling like a burden. Yes, that’s what happens we all have seen such phases in our career. So what do we do? Start learning new things, look around and whenever an opportunity strikes at your door, just grasp and learn. 

For example if you are in HR role and just handle recruitment, start learning about other HR functions in spare time. Observe, understand and then learn best practices while still working your own thing. This way you can get better opportunities in the future.

HR in the Times of Slowdown

Slowdown may not be all that bad for organizations if they retain the balance to pull out all those quadrant two items that never saw daylight during long period of growth.

Here’s a list of things that HR departments may want to run through;

1. Take time from CEO and run through manpower plan just in case it was given to you before mid-September 2008.

2. If you’re still hiring, take a hard look at salary structures that you’d offer. You’ll be surprised how much de-risking you can do for your organization now.

3. Offer a salary correction rather than raise at interview. Remember if all assets were over valued, so was human asset and there is no reason that later shouldn’t get corrected. My guess is 20 – 25% correction is a fare call.

4. Functions where deliverables can be easily measured, keep performance linkages to payouts. You can provide for higher payouts on better performance considering value of high performance during slowdown can be much more than usual days.

5. It’s a great time to test senior management commitments, propose a salary cut. Up to 15% salary cut doesn’t hurt anyone’s lifestyle at senior level.

6. While you look at costs, please note that cutting a few cups of tea may not impact costs much but can cause discomfort to large part of the team, so avoid high visibility low impact calls.

7. This is a great time to bring everyone’s attention to performance. Leaders can inspire people to deliver unexpected performances in tough times. This has been seen during wars, natural calamities time and again.

8. Lastly do not stop smiling, playing, movies, rewards, recognitions. Interact with teams regularly and in high spirits. Listen to some Bob Dylan...times they are a changin... :)

plugHR launches "sharedPages" - The Book Club

In most of my meetings with senior management at corporates, training needs are discussed without exception. In almost 80% cases the need is severly felt in behavioural & attitudinal enlightenment space rather than core skills.

This makes the job difficult because unlike skill training that revolves around transfer of skill and then fine tuning through practise, behavioural changes are more evolutionery in speed. Behaviour, beliefs and attitudes developed over some 25-30 years of cconditioning do not get addressed in 3 day seminars. At best these efforts can act as triggers through which one can identify and establish the need to change.

Actual process of change is more long term, self driven and isolated attempt in most cases. In absence of a robust mentoring machinery around this goal in organization, learning material like books, movies, cases etc can provide enthusiasts with the required armery.

Having entrusted with the task of talent development at our client organizations, plugHR initiated an attempt in that direction by launching sharedPages - A book Club that allows members to benefit from recommended selection of such learning content without investing time & money.

Currently launched as a private club for plugHR employees and those of its clients, sharedPages works through close relationship with organizations.

Check out www.sharedPages.wordpress.com for more details.

sharedPages is on now!!! Happy reading.....