workplace culture
How Company Culture
Drives High Performance
REPLACE TRADITIONAL PERFORMANCE REVIEWS WITH REAL-TIME FEEDBACK
By Susan Power Pingpao/Shutterstock.com
Imagine having a workplace culture where
your team is inspired by your company’s
vision and values, and consistently delivers
high performance. Workplace culture
runs much deeper than Ping-Pong tables or
free fruit in the fridge; culture is the mindset
and actions demonstrated by your
employees each day when interacting with
each other and your customers. One of the
fastest ways to kill productivity and destroy
a compelling culture is to implement (or
continue implementing) antiquated HR
programs. In this vein, traditional performance
reviews are currently going through
a radical transformation – world-class organizations
are revamping their performance
systems to encourage a growth mindset
that embeds real-time feedback as part of
the culture.
Traditional performance reviews are
cumbersome to administer, and can disengage
employees rather than inspire them.
What’s worse is that performance reviews
typically are not an accurate reflection of an
employee’s performance. Reviews are subjective,
full of rater biases and generally tell
more about the manager writing the review
than the employee. Performance reviews
evaluate past actions instead of looking
forward, and can be costly and inefficient.
They often focus on weaknesses, which
greatly erodes employee engagement.
REVAMPING THE SYSTEM
Many leading employers realized that the
“old” way of conducting performance reviews
is deeply ineffective and have replaced
their traditional annual performance review
system.
The Harvard Business Review featured an
article in 2015 profiling a pilot project by
Deloitte U.S. about the company’s efforts
to change their performance management
system. Deloitte discovered that, collectively,
creating performance ratings consumed
close to 2 million hours per year, and the
majority of this time was spent on discussions
between leaders behind closed doors
about the outcomes of the process. Jason
Winker, managing partner of talent for
Deloitte Canada, says that the company
is now in the process of piloting their new
system across Canada to their 9,000 employees
here.
Deloitte’s reinvention of their performance
system was based on their desire to
create a different talent management experience
for their people. Their new system
is focused on strengths and uses tools, including
a “performance snapshot.” The
performance snapshot is the same four discussion
points each team leader explores for
their team members, regardless of their position
or level. The four discussion points
are:
1. Given what I know of this person’s performance,
and if it were my money, I
would award this person the highest
possible compensation increase and bonus.
The response measures overall
performance on a five-point scale, from
“strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.”
2. Given what I know of this person’s performance,
I would always want him or
her on my team. The response measures
the person’s ability to work well
with others on the same five-point scale.
3. This person is at risk for low performance.
The response identifies
problems that might harm the customer
or the team on a yes-or-no basis.
4. This person is ready for a promotion
today. The response measures future
potential on a yes-or no basis.
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ SEPTEMBER 2016 ❚ 35