Apparently, Einstein once said that ‘an idea should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler’. Sounds like pretty good advice to us.
I have to admit, I originally set out to write this blog post about ways to improve employee performance management processes. However, as you will soon discover, this post is now mostly about ways to simplify it in a world that is already complicated.
Why the subtle change in focus?
Well, as I was doing my research for this article, I discovered something. Some performance management solutions and approaches, whilst being moderately effective, add significant amounts of complexity to an already complicated world. The annoyance people get from having to do something complicated, that doesn’t appear to add much value is a significant hidden cost that is rarely considered.
At My Employee Life, we believe we are looking at this problem from a slightly different point of view. Rather than trying to create a ‘performance management’ solution, we are embarking on what we refer to as proactive performance support.
In other words, rather than viewing performance as a something to be analysed retrospectively, we consider it to be something that needs to be considered proactively.
Is there any point in someone being told they could have been better weeks or even months ago?
Imagine buying a car, and then weeks later being told there was a better one of the same price in the next room all along but wasn’t pointed out because… that’s not what we do!
Making adjustments in real-time
Why do some people perform well at work and others not?
Scratch the surface and you will start to see how difficult this question is to answer. Is it the fault of the employee (a problem of skill or will), or the fault of the employer (a problem of process)?
Like many people, you will probably reach the conclusion that it’s a bit of both.“Performance is about developing effective success habits. Whilst everyone else is making it more complicated than that, you can simply focus on the things that really matter”
Apart from reminiscing, the most valuable aspect of ‘the past’ is that it helps us to learn and improve. However, the best time to make adjustments is in real-time, so that the benefits of any improvements can be experienced fully. There is no point getting advice about how to improve something 6 months after it happened, the horse has already bolted.
Rather than viewing the role of leaders and supervisors as ‘commanding and controlling’, a more effective approach is to bump and nudge in real-time.
What does someone need help with now?
The only way to truly allow this to happen is to have in place a proactive set of success habits that include discussions about how to improve something.
My Employee Life supports these success habits. If you would like to learn more about this, simply contact us via our chatbox or you may click here to request a free demo of My Employee Life today.
- Date - March 12, 2019
