Performance Management process... is it so difficult?

Author: Samruddhi Mulye

I’d wonder why few things in HR are treated differently from the rest.... so like generating payroll or organising an event for HR is ‘by-the-way’... Performance #Appraisals become a very serious job. It draws complete focus and attention from all the employees and to a large extent the company’s management as well. We’d think why getting people perform is at times so difficult or also an employee to deliver set targets does not garner complete focus and determination.  After all appraisal in true sense is the result of all the hard-work...something that gets tabulated in a matrix... that brackets your performance into terms like – ‘outstanding’, ‘very good’, ‘average’ & ‘poor’. So what makes appraisals so important and special – it’s the money that gets tagged along with it that makes #appraisals so important. The struggle is to get highest hike. Why is an ‘MBA program’ into an elite or premier I institute or some training program for ‘technological advancement’ or a ‘holiday – with – family’ and may be an opportunity to work in ‘different geography or build an enterprise for the company in an unchartered territory’ not that important or does not seem to be a great reward for an employee! There is money involved in this as well. The organisation is investing in the employee, working towards building a leader in you.

There is only one answer to this – it is the ‘culture’ that we have shaped. It is extensively focused on direct monetary rewards because we have chosen to shape it that way. .. we have failed in making employees see the bigger picture and a better tomorrow.

So here’s something I went through. This is year 2003 [I was about four years in #HR career by then]... and not getting into specifics of company name, industry or employee details... but just the crux and my learnings from this incident. Typical ‘Open Performance Appraisal’ system. With KRA’s that were set last year... you guessed it right, not reviewed through the year!  So, here’s the outcome first... the #appraisal letters are handed over to a set of employees [there were unions prevalent that time].  The increments given to these people were less compared to some other employees, probably the lowest in the grid. So even if we’d say that compensation related information should not be shared [else management will take strict action...!] – the discussion is bound to happen. Some happy expression... some sad.

Therefore the obvious questions from these people were ‘why such a low increment?’  The management anticipated some questions but the force with which it came was not anticipated. The increments were decided with no definite data points and rationale so again the answers to ‘why’ weren’t readily available.  The responses from the management were vague. Event / circumstances specific answers were given. For which there were counter reactions from the employees. In all the entire exercise was unplanned and the process made its flaws and fissures visible to all. All the increment letters given were retracted. Fresh letters issued with obviously different figures and then much expected phenomenal attrition. The Management cuts a sorry figure.

So, in all a simple exercise turned out to be a night mare of sorts for the organisation. While, many years have gone by... things have changed and improved for better but some basic learnings.. we never seem to memorise and practice about Performance Management... though I carry them with me wherever I go and whoever I meet to explain... it isn’t a success always but it is my strong conviction that – Performance can be managed only through culture and only Culture can drive performance. You do not need an HRIS or process with a manual to achieve a flawless PMS [although must say technology does simply and organise life for everybody]. Only know and understand your objective, your goal on a broader and organisational level. The fractions to achieve the bigger picture will fall in to place steadily [which set targets right in beginning]. Secondly.... know your people; gauge their emotions... see their problems. Increments are obviously not based on these but it only helps you creating a different perspective of non-performance. Lastly, keep it simple... stay connected with your people, talk to them often. Communicate your vision, ideas. Let them respond. Keep talking to them about their performance. What you like about them and what you feel needs improvement. Let them know. 

Rest the mechanical steps will fall in place automatically...! Let the culture be performance driven and let performance talk about your organization's culture to the world outside.


Author

Samruddhi Mulye
PlugHR Pro


 

My Tryst with Distance Running

It’s 5am on a Sunday morning, a God forsaken hour for most of Mumbai.. What am I doing? Donning my running gear to hit NCPA for a 15km run. Not a jog… a run.

Who am I? Entrepreneur, Head of User Experience at plugHR, mother of 2, artist.. What the hell am I doing, you wonder? I am training for the Mumbai Marathon, due in January 2013. And… I run with a 300+ strong group, all in their mid-40s (I am not necessarily talking about myself here!); all running enthusiasts, not sportspersons.

My initiation into distance running was a freak accident. However, I never, in my wildest dreams, thought of it as such a life changer.

Distance running, in as much as it's a physical sport, is also a mind game. It is a play of mind over body, a willing mind over an unwilling body if you will. The mind is setting a seemingly unrealistic goal for the body to deliver.

What does it take for the mind and body to deliver on this goal? To break it down simply, I will say:

BELIEVE – ACHIEVE – BELIEVE more

BELIEVE you are upto the task, believe in the training you are putting in.

Then ACHIEVE intermediate goals, win some mind battles,

Hence BELIEVE some more that you will achieve the bigger goal too.

So, when you smoothly run 5km without major heartburn, you convince yourself that another 3k is not such a big deal, so on and so forth.

Its not all smooth sailing mind you. There is the occasional calf pain, knee pain, twist in the ankle, there are bad running days, there is bad weather, there are shoe bites, there are late nights, and there are bad terrains.  At times, the body simply refuses to take direction. Be kind it says!

Therein lies another lesson… very early on, it is amply clear to any runner, that a good run is just that - ONE good run. You understand that “Past performance is no guarantee of future return”. If and when you begin to become smug in your achievements, nature very quickly deals a sobering effect. So, you learn to take each day as it comes. Each run is “the” run, each run has its own outcome. There is no time to celebrate one good run, and no time to gloat over a bad one. You just basically get on with it!

Of course, this also takes other kinds of preps:

1.    There are the groaning and back breaking stomach crunches, knee exercises,  pushups – yes, those too!
2.      .    Don’t forget, the carbohydrate loading, throwing all weight loss dietary habits to the winds
3.     And then, and this is the tough part, no partying late into the night, watching the booze intake, watching meal times (all the boring stuff)

The focus always being on conditioning the mind and body to endure the rigors of training and the mental and physical strain you are about to inflict on them.

Why endure all of this you ask? Well, the buzz and the adrenalin rush that you experience on crossing the finish line, with breaths to spare, are altogether something else!

So - and here is where I get philosophical - are there lessons here to use in a corporate setting? The lesson, to my mind, is in the area of performance management, goal setting, motivation.

·      How do we create an environment where people are able to experience and live out the cycle of BELIEVE – ACHIEVE – BELIEVE more?

·      How can rewards and recognition be fine-tuned to not only pat a good run on a bad day but also support a bad run of an otherwise smart runner?

·      How do we put enough stress on fortification while all the hype is on the run?

Would love to hear view on some of these.. 

Writer is Entrepreneur, running enthusiast, artist.

Keep it simple honey!!

Keep it simple honey…

My days are generally busy and though I start quite early still squeezing out time for my favorite section of News Daily becomes next to impossible, courtesy my adorable son. Today was no different just that I managed to catch a glimpse of Times Ascent and came across this great article on performance management system based on an interview of Mr. Thomas J DeLong, professor at Harvard Business School.

As per the Professor an organization has three types of workers. A, those who exceed expectations, B who meet expectations and C are ones who are below expectations. Now I wish most of the organizations could keep it that crisp rather than further dividing it into some five to six categories, all because the managers are either not equipped or are not aware how to measure the expectation. This does nothing but in turn complicates the entire appraisal system and leads to confused employees with respect to their performance and even more stressed supervisors who spend months convincing them regarding the ratings they themselves never understood.

All this reminds me of BCG Matrix where Business units are categorized into Stars, Cash Cows, Dogs and Question Marks. Though it refers to a marketing lesson but same can be applied on Human assets where Stars are ‘A’ performer, ones who are future leaders and viewed as critical mass in an organization. Cash Cows are however the ‘B’ performers ones who are not just competent but most steady and reliable ones, infact just like cash cows they are ones who run the show and Dog are definitely the ‘C’ performers who are below expectation and should be either pushed toward being more productive or asked to exit from the system. Any organization should not hire question marks at all!!

We all know this but what lacks here is that mostly the focus is on A performers who are self driven and high on aspirations which if not satisfied internally would move out of system voluntarily, no matter what. After which, mostly we are concerned about C category and how can they be pumped to perform better. Now what we mostly ignore is the B category that works the best, balances work life with personal fronts and is extremely engaged to the organization. But ignoring this category raises unnecessary concerns which if not handled maturely and timely leads to exits from the block and ultimately affecting the profitability of the system.

Cutting the long story short, lesser categories will make life easier for all and not to mention will have more happy faces around.

 

 

 

 

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.

Verdasco won, you didn't notice may be

First one to realize was Nadal himself. He jumped over the net to hug one of the best player I saw this season, Verdasco made Nadal sweat it out for every point for some 5 hours finally double serving the match into the net. If not a winner he's no loser either, this was probably the best Tennis of the tournament.

World loves the underdog and there's so much support for anyone who tries hard. Scenarios in organizations is no different. While there is so much hue and cry about organizations focus on training, its interesting to see that very few people actually try harder. While employees want the perks, lifestyle and recognition of a Nadal, they do not want to sweat it out for 5 hours. Fact remains that for those who try harder, there is no dearth of support and encouragement from organizations, even companies want new winners, more winners.

To turn into a winner is tough, even attempting to win is tougher, no one else can make you one, not even your organization no matter how much they spend in training. First you have to decide to run for the win.....and the sweat, the cramps, the breath, the focus......

Do you have it in you?

Monday Morning at Diamond Mine

"There's a Diamond in each one of you" - were the words with which we started this work week. Not a bad start would say even the pessimists.

Team members of Rigved - The retail Infrastructure company headquartered in Mumbai were not showing any signs of Monday morning blues when I walked in for the session. A neat rug on the floor of the conference room was the seat for all from CEO to the Office boy all sitting at random. And while the facilitator moved on to variety of things from small prayer to, moments of silence, deep breathing, praising the colleague, some self discovery, I remained amazed at how an hour on Monday morning can energize teams for the day, the week and may be longer. For some members, this was the first session to see how each member has things to deal with, for some the rare praise from someone they never thought even looks at them.

I have by now met at least 100 - 200 CEOs who have spoken about transformation of their teams. I have seen less than 5 really attempting that. A few more have delegated it to senior people (you can guess the result).

So what did Nirav do? You walk into Rigved office and you'd realize the attention of the CEO in everything around. Colours please you, walls talk, reception lets you catch a breath, you can visit rest room without infection worries and I can go on and on... point is, these are not small things for Rigved, these are essentials. No surprise then, that Nirav doesn't find it difficult to find that hour on Monday morning, when team members get their concentration right and warm up with other members to head into the work week.

Rigved operates in fiercely competitive space and they know how to fight it out. So next time you want transformation, don't talk.....take a walk around work bay, you'll know where to start...

Where's MOM?

You can make out the difference between companies that respect MOM and those that don't.

Yes, I am talking about "Minutes of the Meeting". Its a surprise to find that though such a simple tool, MOM gets sheer neglect in so many organizations. I find MOM simple and highly effective tool to drive weekly kind of routine. In fact I think MOM can replace every other planning tool that people juggle with in day to day work, just paste last week's MOM right in front and keep striking.

May be it starts at taking notes right during review or weekly meetings, but once recorded along with action items and timelines, it can act as a single tool binding all teams and all committments.

So while corporate India, gets down to learning Chinese, spending an hour on how to write MOMs can be highly rewarding.

Next weekly meeting, ask, Where's MOM :)

Get a Manager - set KRAs right !!!

How to make a manager do his job?

A run through the manager hiring process in companies tells a story - that no one differentiates managers from frontline staff and hence hiring basis remains the same - is he good at work.

Now the big question is "What is work for a manager", writing codes, getting sales orders, attending client complaints or hiring team, making plans, communicating, motivating team, reviewing performance.

Love for action orientation of entrepreneurial leadership teams has completely eroded role for managers which has become almost same as frontline. What can managers do, leaders themselves are doing frontline work themselves leaving no space for managers to do their real job. And frontline is wondering why they were hired in first place.

Job of a manager is not doing but getting done and only if this is clear can a manager focus on right deliverables like team formation, risk mitigation, monitoring, coaching, redundancy building. This way managers can contribute significantly towards organizational goals.

Starting point in this direction can be setting manager's KRAs right. Try not to put more than 50% weight on core output putting rest across team building, planning, review, derisking their deliveries, coaching teams, innovation etc.

Similarly while hiring managers, assessment must be done on managerial qualities as indicated above. Remember a good manager can give performance upside from whole team, so do not waste talent letting him write codes.

Comments/ questions can be directed to prashant@plughr.com

Indian Appraisal Time

Its appraisal time in India - an activity where whole corporate India would spend time and effort. Believe it or not, performance appraisal is one of the most wonderful activities in the entire gamut of human resource management for managers.

Here is a list of advantages that performance appraisal offers to all stakeholders.

It is an opportunity for individuals to take stock of the whole year’s effort which would have seen good days and bad, accolades and brickbats, upbeat moments and stressful nights. Annual appraisal is time to unwind a bit and look back at those moments with the luxury of having passed through them.
For managers, its time to spend some quality time with team members when the agenda is not around consuming alcohol. Almost 80% managers would find this as the only time they got discussing work-life one to one with team. Smart managers would also find huge value in feedbacks from their team members around their own performance, behavior and get direct insights into what works directly from their consumers.
For organization, its an opportunity where by virtue of quality time being spent in the belly of management, huge value can get generated. Appraisal also provides for normalization of relationships, smoothening of operational kinks etc.

Now I can write a book on possible gains but I guess you’ve got the point. This whole gain rests on one fact i.e. Quality time spent during appraisal. So here’s a way to spend that quality time.

1. Appraisal is a two way process and should be conducted that way. Its important to check convenience of people to set appraisal appointment. Both people involved must do some preparation in terms of putting together indicators of performance. Preparatory notes should be made for discussing conflicts, confusions or disagreements.
2. Its advised to chose business hours to conduct appraisals, avoid early morning or late evening when unnatural pressures like reaching in time or leaving for home apply. Remember appraisal discussion is not additional work, on appraisal day, this discussion is THE WORK.
3. The value of learning, exploring and discussing would get realized if listening and talking is balanced properly. Managers must give their team members opportunity to talk enough. Members should be encouraged to discuss facts and data behind their assumptions. Insights would come out only if both work together on highlighted areas.
4. If for some reason argument erupts, it’s a good idea to take a break and again start discussions. There is no hard and fast format of conducting appraisal, mutual comfort is paramount. Also note down things on paper after some amount of talking has happened, its not required that from first sentence everything should be written down.

Quick points to remember

1. Appraisal is a much team member’s activity as it is for manager.
2. Any conversation that begins on pleasant note has higher chances of creating value.
3. Lot of times perceptions speak where as fact have to be found out. Find facts together.
4. Outcome of appraisal is not the paper, neither is it a rating, true outcome is the quality time spent between member and manager discussing performance issues, organization issues and methodologies to do better over time.
5. Increments, bonuses and other rewards only have a connection with appraisal process but that’s not the purpose of doing appraisals.
6. Last but not the least everyone has a right to disagree.

Please feel free to write to prashant@plughr.com if you have a direct question around the subject. Be patient for the reply, its appraisal time :)