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We’re all familiar with the dreary feeling we get when we receive an email from HR setting a date for our annual performance appraisal.
In countries around the world, employees and managers all acknowledge that it is the most loathed HR practice. Research suggests that most performance appraisal systems do not work well.
In fact, some companies have done away with performance appraisal processes because they cause so many problems.
But accountability in the workplace does matter. Without accountability, employees don’t perform as well; they are unlikely to change and unlikely to perform better.
Research shows that companies with performance evaluation systems have higher shareholder returns than firms without them.
Research also shows that out of many HR practices, performance management and variable pay have the biggest effect on the financial performance of organisations.
So, how should we manage performance in the South African workplace?
How can we get past the “live to work” mentality, and replace it with a drive towards meaning, purpose and value?
According to research by global HR guru Professor Dave Ulrich, the paradox of doing or not doing performance management can be (at least partially) resolved by focusing on conversation more than process.
Once we focus on conversation, performance becomes much less about forms to fill out, procedures or policies, and much more about the conversation between a manager and an employee, or among employees on a team.
If you are already in a management position, can
you have a candid, thorough, positive and specific performance conversation with your employees? This is where the key to effective performance accountability lies.
Affirmative conversations of this type shouldn’t be occasional meetings in the diary, but rather a process of regular interaction. Over time, the employee conversation emphasises learning what can be improved more than focusing on what has gone wrong. These conversations all focus on the future, not the past.
If you are a manager, then your conversations should keep the following in mind:
- Tackle behavioural problems without judging the person;
- Validate the person and his or her potential more than casting suspicion;
- Focus on learning from both successes and failures rather than critiquing;
- Offer career opportunities that match skills and commitments; and
- Shift the locus of control for improvement from the leader to the employee.
The conversation is not about the forms, tools or processes, but about creating a positive relationship between leader and employee.
Companies like Adobe and Accenture have successfully implemented positive performance accountability systems.
At Adobe, employees are evaluated on the basis of what they have achieved against their goals, rather than how they compare to their peers.
At Accenture, employees focus less on their ranking and more on the value their create.
When conversations matter more than processes, the focus is on value created rather than on chasing employees to complete HR forms.
When these conversations focus on the positive and what is right, they build positive accountability. When employees take personal responsibility, they create more value.
•Focus more on what’s right than what is wrong.
•Offer immediate and timely feedback and feedforward to employees.
•Help others feel better about themselves.
In turn, employees who receive positive performance conversations recognise how their personal aspirations can be better realised by delivering organisational outcomes.
Most employees simply don’t like complicated bureaucratic appraisal processes that monitor performance, belittle them, and focus on what is wrong. But accountability matters.
If managers don’t measure employees, accountability declines and performance lags.
Without accountability people don’t improve, they lack a sense of purpose, and organisations miss their targets.
In South Africa we need to focus much more on performance accountability where leaders hold positive conversations with employees, mutually establish expectations, implement accountable reward systems, and follow up on performance.
Tyler is CEO of Business Results Group, and will be on stage with Professor Dave Ulrich during his events in Johannesburg and Cape Town, on The Future Value of HR, hosted by Business Results Group and the Gordon Institute of Business Science.
For more information, visit brg.co.za/events
