Employees no longer want a checklist of objectives recited to them but expect to be involved in developing their individual goals and the plans for achieving those goals. So what will be the future of performance reviews?

Performance management has undergone several changes over the past few years. The most dramatic of course has been the introduction and practice of the360-degree feedback system. The traditional performance review meetings between supervisor and employee were in most cases a tick in the box! With time, those got reshaped into a more results-oriented performance management process. Recently, though, forward thinking companies have begun adopting an agile performance management process  an approach with the adaptability needed in today’s workplace. Agile performance management essentially mirrors the modern work environment, and the people in it. Workplaces, particularly in the knowledge economy, have evolved from a hierarchical top-down structure to an open, collaborative one where multiple teams and management levels join forces to achieve a common purpose. Employees no longer want a checklist of objectives recited to them. They expect to be involved in developing their individual goals and the plans for achieving those goals. This mind-set results partly from a connected world, wherein messages and texts fly instantaneously: Millennials are used to instant communication. Workplaces today are as connected as any online social network, so employees and supervisors communicate in real time. Performance feedback doesn’t need to wait for a yearly review.

As businesses increasingly embrace the concept of “agile”, organizational processes have also started to show signs of agility.

Agile Performance Management

Agile performance management is an approach to employee appraisal and development that replaces the traditional annual employee reviews with an ongoing and interactive process. This approach emphasizes goal setting, measurable results, collaboration, frequent feedback, flexibility to meet the changing organizational needs and effective coaching. It builds on a basic performance management model by being frequent and regular, yet flexible enough to accommodate organizational changes and every employee’s unique abilities and ambitions, and requires supervisors to be more facilitative as distinct from being directional. The basic performance management model that businesses claim to practice has in most cases fallen short of employee expectations in terms of clarity of goals, evaluation as well as the frequency and quality of feedback. To begin with, here are some simple steps to get the Agile PMS right.

Define Work Goals and Objectives for Employees

It is unfair to expect employees to meet performance expectations or company goals if they have not been clearly outlined. Doing this is the first step towards effective performance management. And the second step is to communicate the goals, and thereafter, constantly review these goals in the light of the business environment. They ought not to be seen as cast in stone for the year! Quite often HR heads have a common complaint that employees are neither responsive, not do they come forward to ask questions when they are confused or unclear about something. The reason for this is that almost always, employees are either unclear or uninformed about their performance objectives. This problem can be avoided with clear communication and frequent dialogues. In order to set their goals and ensure that each employee is informed, reduce the scope for ‘loss in translation’ due to poor communication, and digitize the process. Most good HR software systems have built-in goal-tracker options that allow for objectives to be defined, goals to be set, and milestones to be recorded.

Track Goals, Don’t Let them slide 

While clearly communicating company and individual goals is an essential step for any business, communication alone is not going to get you far. It would be a good idea to integrate these goals into the HR software that allows for goal-setting tracking and an alert system if targets are slipping. In order to foster a ‘smarter’ workplace, one needs to invest in a smarter system. If your company’s HR management system doesn’t have scope to customize these settings, it’s time to consider an upgrade. This would also be a good time to listen to your employees. Are they complaining that the existing system is hard to use? Or does your present software low on employee engagement?

Engage in Frequent Performance Dialogues

The single biggest distinction of the Agile PMS is its ability to engage in dialogue frequently to track and review performance. Good performance feedback reinforces strong skill sets and positive behaviors while showing opportunity areas with a clear path for improvement. Feedback is not about giving (as is commonly misunderstood) but is indeed a dialogue with an employee to identify, what is going well and what is not and having strategies for improvement of the latter. This process of a dialogue cannot wait till the HR gets into its annual review cycle. Instead, it should be done in real time and integrated into the company culture. Timely performance feedback conversations are the best way to reassure your employees and their work while also shaping their work effectively. You would be amazed to know how many younger employees thrive on the involvement that the management shows in their progress, and the direction they get from the reviews.

Don’t Ignore Small Details of Peer Reviews

Peer reviews are useful because they allow co-workers to praise other co-workers and highlight positive aspects of their performance, as well as point out where improvements can be made. When this function is digitized, there is further scope to help employees to work together, build better communication, and assess where they can improve themselves while watching their colleagues. However, it is very important that all peer reviews should be studied to ensure that no claims, concerns, praises, or other comments go unnoticed or unaddressed. The right performance software should be able to help you collect frequent feedback, giving you options to implement and customize the reviews.

Set the Agenda, Set the Frequency

Extending on the strategy discussed in point no 2, setting aside time to meet with your team and seeing how things are going with your set goals and objectives is important. Also known as progress reports or progress meetings, these meetings can be held monthly, quarterly, or as often as you think fit. Some companies have weekly reviews, but we believe that such frequent meetings could cause fatigue. Group reviews are more effective in shorter durations, while individual performance should ideally be tracked on a monthly basis.

The meeting objectives should include:

• Follow up on goals
• Addressing peer reviews
• Recognizing high performers, discussing their goals and growth trajectory
• Discussing company goals and aligning all employees to that goal

Work towards Pre-emptive Management

The end-goal of an effective performance management system should be to have a workplace that practices pre-emptive management. In simple words, this means that your employees always know what is expected of them, and they also have a digitized, trackable progress record. And finally, rewards and incentives are the most effective way to show employees that you care, that you have noticed their efforts and you want them to keep up the good work. Validation and recognition go
a long way!

These six strategies for effective performance management may seem simple, but they can work wonders when implemented. When companies get their people involved, see them as contributors not just cogs, the right work environment for success is guaranteed. However, there is no single agile performance management definition. Each organization has to decide how to structure its own processes to best suit its needs. An agile performance management process engages employees in a year-round, continual process of individual development so that they become active participants in cultivating their strengths in ways that benefit themselves and the entire company.