Tips to transform your traditional performance reviews into energy boosters.

It’s that time of the year again. While most of you are aware of the fact traditional performance management is on its way out, we see some struggling. It’s not always easy to create the right mindset for this change which should be part of a bigger transformation in company culture. Yet, you can start now, by taking little steps in shaping this culture and get your team ready for this rapidly changing and disruptive environment we are in today. Here are some tips:

Create Continuous dialogue

Talk to each other. Ask questions like “how are you, How can I help you? What do you need?” and do this all year long. It may sound obvious, but in many organizations,  it’s not happening enough, especially not in this Remote working era.

Shift responsibility

Instead of imposing top down targets, shift responsibility and ask your employees to formulate targets based on the organizational targets. This is a great way to boost engagement and manage the expectations but will only work if coaching is part of the process. Make sure you or a colleague take that coaching role.

Have Fun

Start the conversation with a story, for example your own experience of a hilarious mistake you made or a somewhat compromising video in which you recognize yourself. Putting yourself in a vulnerable position will result into an open and honest dialogue. Or play a game. To facilitate the dialogue the GoGrow Game can help a lot!

Focus on talent.

Tune into what drives someone instead of disapproving what is not so well developed or on what went wrong. Make sure you ask the question ‘what makes you tick” If you feel that someone can use support in his/her personal growth process advice “The Japanese secret to a long and happy life” (Hector/Miralles). An awesome book to explore your ‘WHY”.

Introduce a 360 feedback system

Get colleagues, clients and other stakeholders involved to get the bigger picture which is impossible for you to review on your own.

Be aware of the impact and start the change

Terms like “appraisals” and “functionerings and beoordelings gesprekken" are demotivators. This annual event has been researched by many institutions and if you still conduct it in the traditional way, be aware that it’s not helpful in your growth process. Apart from the fact that it’s very hard to be in both a coaching and judging role, it appears to be an unfair system which is for only 20% based on performance and 60% on bias which I personally find a very worrisome outcome (source: see booktip)

Booktips and cases:

To get deeper insights in why traditional performance systems won’t work, read “Performance Management in een agile werkomgeving” (Wawoe, Schaapveld, Verbeek, English translation is in progress) and look into the cases of for example modern and agile organizations like Zappos and Google but also more traditional companies like Microsoft, PWC, Accenture, ABN AMRO and Dell changed their system (not sure about their cultural change though 😉 )