| If you're not quite sure about the best way to | | | | individual staff. |
| use performance measures or KPIs to manage | | | | If we do come up with some measures anyway, |
| the performance of your staff, and uncover | | | | usually those measures are too broad, and can be |
| who's adding value to the business and who's not, | | | | affected by other staff or circumstances beyond |
| you're looking at it all wrong! | | | | the control of one individual. Or those measures |
| There are two ways that performance measures | | | | are too trivial, and simply subjective statements |
| link to staff performance: | | | | or A-B-C ratings of the individual's work. |
| APPROACH 1: Use performance measures to | | | | Trivial measures of staff performance produce |
| show staff which results matter most. | | | | more fear and defensiveness than they do |
| APPROACH 2: Use performance measures to | | | | motivation to perform better. No-one wants to |
| show which staff are getting the worst results. | | | | support a system that will rank them unfairly and |
| Let's take a closer look at each approach, | | | | trivially, and lead to them losing their job, losing |
| because they are fundamentally different in | | | | financial benefits or losing face. |
| philosophy and in practice. | | | | Most businesses simply don't have strong enough |
| APPROACH 1: Use performance measures to | | | | performance measurement capability to create |
| show staff which results matter most. | | | | meaningful measures of individual staff |
| The number one reason why staff don't perform | | | | performance. |
| at their best is that no-one has ever articulated | | | | Which approach is for you? |
| the results they were employed to achieve. | | | | If you haven't implemented the first approach to |
| Position descriptions are filled with role definitions, | | | | linking performance measures to staff |
| responsibilities and reporting structures, but rarely | | | | performance, don't even bother trying the second |
| the intended results of the position. | | | | approach! And if you have implemented the first |
| Sure, some will talk about KPIs (key performance | | | | approach well, you probably won't need the |
| indicators) but usually these are expressed in | | | | second approach at all. |
| action language, not results language. | | | | As a manager or business leader, part of your |
| Performance measures have to be based on | | | | job is to recruit the right people and to make it |
| clearly articulated results. | | | | easy for those people to perform. It always |
| When staff are involved in defining and expressing | | | | comes back to improving your business |
| those results, through a group dialogue, they get | | | | processes in order to get better business results. |
| much clearer about why they turn up to work | | | | You don't need performance measures to |
| each day - to make a difference, not just do | | | | discover which people are simply the wrong fit |
| enough hours to get a paycheck. And when staff | | | | for your business. And you don't need to humiliate |
| are involved in choosing measures to track those | | | | them when you do. |
| results, the motivation ramps up another notch - | | | | TAKE ACTION:If you have staff performance |
| they start seeing how possible it is for them to | | | | concerns, don't start measuring the staff. Start |
| make a difference. | | | | measuring the results that the business needs, |
| APPROACH 2: Use performance measures to | | | | and encourage staff to work in teams to find the |
| show which staff are getting the worst results. | | | | best ways to achieve those results. Motivate your |
| When we try and establish performance | | | | staff with a clear and specific vision of success |
| measures to track how well staff are doing their | | | | that they can be a part of. Don't scare the living |
| jobs, we're constrained by the problems | | | | daylights out of them with the threat of a |
| mentioned above: no clear results are defined for | | | | rank-and-yank performance appraisal. |