Managing ( Facilitating) Performance Of People In Organisations

 
 
Performance Management in its intended form is a systemic and orchestrated
endeavour for crafting organisational performance and outcomes. Recognising that
everything an organisation does and achieves is due primarily to the performance of
its People, this System seeks to align and facilitate the efforts of individuals and
teams to organisational priorities. Thus, while the purpose of Performance
Management is achievement of organisational results, the focus is on shaping
individual and team performance towards these results.

 At the strategic levels of an organisation, Performance Management  is about

-Evolving strategies in line with the enterprise’s Vision, Mission, and Objectives and
communicating them across the organisation

- Continuously monitoring the efficacy of strategies and adjusting them to be in

alignment with the environment in which the enterprise exists

- Monitoring and ensuring the  appropriateness, adequacy, and effectiveness  of

Organisational Enablers – Structure, Processes, Technology, Culture, Leadership  

- Integrating  ‘strategy execution’at the operating levels and ensuring that they are
aligned to strategic priorities

Operating levels of an organisation are primarily concerned with ‘Execution Of

Strategies’. Performance Management related process focus on providing direction to
and  facilitating  individual and group performance .

                                           

Drivers Of People Performance

 

Efforts made in the right Direction, with Commitment & Enthusiasm, and
backed by relevant Competencies alone have the potential to generate the  
required performance and through it the desired outcomes. The Process and
elements of managing performance of people are hence intended to address
these imperatives through a set of Sub Systems, the combined efficacy of which
facilitate performance across the organisation

People too  have a set of ‘performance related needs’ addressing which is essential
for them to turn out excellent performance.  These are ………

-       To have a Role which provides ‘Psychological Satisfaction’

- To know    what is expected and the rationale to these expectations ……to
carry out  tasks and pursue  goals that are significant
-       To know   how performance and progress towards goals  may be
monitored and steered to desired results
-       To learn about  the appropriateness of one’s Actions ,and to  know how
they can be  sustained /improved
-       To have opportunities  for improving competencies
-       To be Rewarded based on performance

 
 SUB SYSTEMS OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

DESIGNING & CLARIFYING ROLES

 
Designing meaningful Roles,  developing clear and comprehensive Role
Descriptions , and clarifying performance expectations
 
PERFORMANCE PLANNING
 
Role level performance Planning must be preceded by  Deployment of
corporate priorities  through the entire Organisation Structure-  from the
Corporate level to Business Divisions,  Business Units, Functions,
Departments ...... and to individuals in accordance with their Roles
 
1.Setting Performance Expectations
 

          1.1. What should  the person focus on ?

While the Performance of   individuals  in an organisation will primarily be

dictated by  what they are expected to deliver in their  Roles, it must  be
aligned to the priorities of their  Departments / Functions which in turn are
derived from the priorities of the organisation itself.  It is the performance of
individuals  that add up to the Performance of each Function
/Department ,which consolidates further to  create the Organisational
Performance leading to  achievement of Organisational Goals. While setting
Performance Expectations, managers must ensure that alignment between
functional / departmental priorities and individual  (role level) priorities are
established. Towards this, individuals need to be helped to  identify those
issues which are within their responsibility to take care of ,  focusing on
which will make   achievement of the Functional / Departmental Goals 
possible .These issues  are the Key result Areas.

Example:  If the Function concerned with providing Post Sale Service to

customers  has a Goal of ‘improving customer satisfaction rating from  X to
Y’ , the Executive who is  responsible for‘ ‘Warranty Replacements’   may
choose as a  KRA  ‘ On time warranty replacements’

1.2. Setting Goals - What results should be aimed at in each Focus area?
 Goals are specific Results that need to be pursued. Individuals need to set
one or more Goals  in each KRA that they identify. Goals must be Specific, 
Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time Bound

Example : The Executive  who has chosen  ‘ On time Warranty

Replacements’ as a KRA may set a Goal as -  ‘Ensure that  ALL ( 100%) 
requirements arising in my territory during the year  of Warranty
replacement of domestically procured  parts  are carried out in accordance
with  the  Warranty  Replacement  Schedule’

2 .Establishing Performance Indicators

Every Goal is set with an intention of achieving it . Therefore,  when 

someone  pursues  a goal,, nothing is more important   than assessing
periodically  the probability of  achieving it . Also,  when the time frame set 
for achievement of the goal gets over, it is  also important to  know what has
actually been accomplished.  Both these  assessments involves measurement
, which is possible only through a set of Indicators.

           LAG Indicators

These  are  output based measurs and convey the level of actual
achievement. For example , for those who have a personal goal of ‘weight
loss’ to be achieved over a period of time, the Lag Indicator  is the ‘reading’
that is visible when the person steps on a weighing scale at the end of the
period . Lag Indicators are easy to measure, but cannot be  influenced
/altered , for it is about the Outcome.

LEAD Indicators

For those pursuing a goal, it is  more important  to see if the person is
moving in the right direction towards attaining the goal . This would require
measuring ‘Progress’, through a set of LEAD Indicators  which will indicate
the ‘likelihood’  or ‘probability’ of the goal being achieved, making it
possible to decide  whether to continue existing actions  or alter them. Lead
Indicators  help monitor how well the critical enablers for achieving a goal
are performing. For someone pursuing a goal of Weight Loss, the Lead
Measures may be     Calories intake  in  a day, and Calories burnt in a day.

Lead  Indicators must be established in respect of  those  tasks/ processes/

factors which are vital for  the achievement of the Goal, for these need to be
strong for attaining the goal.  Such tasks/ processes/factors are called Critical
Success Factors. For a Goal  related to ‘Improving Customer Satisfaction
 Rating’  one of the Critical success Factors may be ‘Complaint Handling
Efficiency’.  Critical Success Factors enable achievement of Goals and hence
have to be accurately identified for each goal, and their status monitored
continuously.

            In the organizational context, Revenue, Profit, Costs, Employee Retention,

Customer Satisfaction etc  are  Lag  Indicators. They are results of  activities 
of the  organisation or of the manner in which things are done in the
organization.

As an example, let us  look at an IT outsourcing organisation

Goal - Ensure that all High priority  incidents  occurring every month are
resolved within 48 hrs

Lag Indicator - % of high priority incidents resolved within 48 hrs

Lead  Indicators-

- % of incidents not attended to till  2 hours of submission

- % of open incidents older than 1 day.
- % of incidents received more than twice
- Average backlog of incidents per Service  Executive

When this organization   starts measuring  performance in respect of these

LEAD MEASURES  at a predetermined frequency and focus on improving
them, it is extremely likely to see an improvement in  compliance with
Service Level Agreements , which is the expected Result

It is not just enough to establish the Measures, one needs to access data in
respect of these measures so that assessment of performance in respect of
them is possibl

  3.ON GOING PERFORMANCE REVIEWS

Ongoing  Review of Performance  is about  taking stock periodically of

performance and progress towards goals as well as  emerging performance 
requirements. It involves a vital task of carrying out  Performance
Conversations with team members, assessing performance using LEAD
Indicators,  providing Feedback and determining further courses of action

        3.1.Providing Feedback

 Feedback is  a facilitative task that involves  conveying to a person
Appropriateness  of an  Action initiated by him /her , so as to guide the
person’s future actions. Feedback is perhaps the most potent performance
facilitation tool

             There are two types of feedback

-       Positive Feedback

-       Developmental Feedback
 
Positive  Feedback    is about discussing an Action that was appropriate to the
Task and the Situation .It involves explaining to the person why  the Action  and
the manner of its execution was appropriate and how it contributed to achieving a
desired Result. A Positive Feedback indicates that the said Action / Behaviour
must be sustained and repeated under similar circumstances.

Developmental Feedback is intended to help a person understand the

shortcomings in Actions, Behaviours ,Efforts, and Execution in a given context
and how these shortcomings contributed to an inadequate outcome or gave rise to
undesired consequences. Developmental Feedback should include discussion and
agreement on Alternative Actions /Behavior that would have been appropriate in
the given context, and thus help receiver alter the Action /Behaviour under
similar circumstances in the
future                                                                                   

Feedback should focus on ‘Performance’ and NOT on ‘Results’. It is  the nature
and quality /appropriateness of Performance ( what is done and  the manner in
which it is done in a situation ) that will determine the extent of outcome. 
Discussion on  performance should hence  deal with Actions initiated or missed
out, the manner in which these Actions were executed ,and their appropriateness
in a given context.

4. END OF CYCLE REVIEW OF PERFORMANCE

End Of Cycle Review of Performance involves analysing an  assessing the quality

of performance in the entire performance period in the light of actual outcomes.
It helps  identify  aspects of performance that ned to be improved  in the ensuing
Performance  Cycle , in assessing competency development needs of the
individual , and  in  working out  Performance Improvement Plan and Personal
Development Plan for individual .

           
 Objectives of End Of Cycle Review (Performance Appraisal Conversation)
 
Discuss, Analyse, and Assess the quality of Performance of the individual for
achieving goals/ targets.
Provide feedback and guidance

Help  the persons to recognise and improve their Strengths and work on overcoming
Weaknesses, and thus enable them to sustain / improve their performance and that of
the team/organization – Performance Improvement Plan

Identify Competency development needs and provide  inputs

for formulating Competency Development  Plans – Individual
Development Plan

The Performance Appraisal  conversation is meant to assesses  ‘quality of

performance’ of an individual rather than merely taking stock of the Results. The
underlying idea is that ‘it is Performance that contributes to Results’, and hence what
is influenceable is the performance.

5.Rewarding

Designing  and administering Reward mechanisms for recognising those  who excel
in their jobs by meeting / exceeding performance expectations

The Performance Management System sets the platform for aligning individual and

team efforts with the organization’s objectives. Deployment of corporate priorities
and goals through the organisation ensures that everyone is able to see how one is
contributing to a larger purpose and focus on a set of common outcomes.
Establishing clearly expectations of results, actions & behaviours, and establishing
clear Indicators of Performance provide  the much needed ‘direction’ to  efforts.
Performance Conversations provide   people the opportunity to   recognise
opportunities, problems, constraints, and contingencies at an early stage and
prepare to respond to them. They also help discover ‘learning needs’ in individuals,
leading to competency development initiatives.  It is thus a set of proactive processes
and practices for achieving   organisational results by facilitating People
Performance in an integrated manner.

A.Venkateswaran

16th Nov, 2022