Feature insight - Performance and talent management
having a pool of individuals with the right skills and enhancing leadership skills on a broader level. ● A team is more important than the sum of its parts. Choose the best player for the team as well as the role. ● Leaders should be responsible for and have the skills to develop their people. Some leaders tend to focus on correcting weaknesses rather than capitalising on talents. The paper lays out this map for successful talent management: ● create your vision ● list crucial leadership skills needed to meet business drivers ● identify high potential leaders ● assess readiness and select ● accelerate development ● deploy talent, and ● ensure alignment and accountability for performance. Items 3, 4, 5 and 7 are perhaps where the rest of the organisation plays more of a part and are areas that need regular, focused reviews of the human capital. Smith et al list the use of management reporting and key metrics as the main ways of achieving these points, such as performance management. Whether we are actually involved in the strategic decisions and operational support or are aware only as a user of the process as a manager or employee, we are all aware of staff appraisals; but what do they actually mean, and why do them? Reactions to them vary – some see them as essential to their business due to engaging the workforce but some see them as a complete waste of time. How you and your organisation will see them may well depend on how well they are used as a tool. Some go through the motions (and this can be a top down issue or a manager issue), whereas some organisations use them thoroughly to ensure talent pipelines, succession planning and developing staff to ensure they are fully equipped to carry out their roles and have a development plan for next steps. An article published by SAP’s SuccessFactors (https://goo.gl/eHV5Fh), starts with mentioning the many hours HR departments expend at least annually administering performance evaluations with seemingly little payoff. (Maybe the frequency – or lack of it, could be partly why the appraisal system isn’t always
successful.) The article mentions two main reasons for carrying them out: namely to address poor performance and to track and reward high performing team members. My opinion (and management training) is that the annual performance appraisal should not be the first time poor performance is discussed. There should never be any surprises during this process and not addressing performance issues until this time is a failure on the part of the manager. SuccessFactors state that it is important to acknowledge and reward employees who exceed performance standards, to let them know that they are important to their colleagues, department and the organisation as a whole. It is important to have a set system and acknowledged standard basis for this reward, as it will encourage continued behaviours from these employees and will encourage others to do the same. Many companies now link performance into pay reviews whether in part or completely, having set percentage increases for differing brackets of performance, usually with at least three sections: exceeded expectations, met expectations and below expectations, but there can often be more brackets than this. underperforming, stating that people don’t set out to be bad employees. I don’t like the term ‘bad employee’ – it is extremely negative and immediately suggests that someone is not good, when in reality there may be several reasons for people not meeting expectations, such as not having adequate tools for the job, poor management or unrealistic expectations. SuccessFactors go on to say that the appraisal system should allow for a baseline for employees to improve performance and be viewed as successful in the future. Generally, employees want to do well and a performance to pay culture makes employees engaged, productive and loyal. I would agree, that as long as the system is effective this can work very well, but I don’t think an annual appraisal is enough interaction and development planning to maintain that motivation. ● Rewarding high performers – The article points out that this system allows managers to: measure individual The article also points to those who may be only meeting and
performance in the team; identify top performers; review behaviours from the previous year; and carry out fair compensation based on the results. In reality, for some managers, this may be the only time they sit down with their employees on a one-to-one basis for a significant period of time. ● Reducing employee turnover – The article lists reasons for leaving as better pay, low recognition or respect, better work conditions, more interesting work and opportunities to learn new things. All of these can be tackled with an effective appraisal system. Talent management as part of a good appraisal system can be essential to compare current skills with those required for advancement, to develop a training plan to prepare employees for their next role. ● Identifying areas for improvement – Addressing areas most closely linked to an employee’s inability to reach their goals is essential. As a manager you should be discussing ideas to aid the employee and working together on resolutions and problem solving, identifying skills gaps and negative behaviour traits to move the employee from poor performance to at least meeting and eventually exceeding expectations. It is also important to focus on and capitalise on high performing areas and to try to learn from and utilise them. If done properly, this should be an ongoing process, rather than a once-a-year event and should begin when a consistent drop in performance happens, rather than during a performance review. Appraisals should not be seen as a negative experience, otherwise the message of what an appraisal is will be lost. ● Documentation as legal protection – Appraisal systems can also be a good way to protect your company, although they shouldn’t just be used to record negative behaviours. They should be used so that your employee can put forward their side of the situation so that you can resolve the issue together. A good audit trail is essential if the poor performance leads to a dismissal as you may well need the evidence should a case be taken to a tribunal. Be aware that under a subject access request made by the employee, you would have to show any or all information held for that employee, so be aware of this when documenting your plans and conversations. The SuccessFactors's article also has a
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Issue 23 | September 2016
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
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