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The intersection between HR strategy and HR technology

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Performance Appraisals

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Appraisals – and the philosophy behind them – are far too much concerned with “potential.” ((Drucker, Peter F. “The Daily Drucker.” HarperCollins, 2004. Page 274))

Instead of focusing on the future, Drucker says to focus on the prior positions and the employee’s performance against goals. Then, rather than defining how to progress within the organization, define the learning opportunities that are needed to maximize the person’s strengths.

Let’s face it – back-looking performance reviews are not that productive. You’ve already bonused (or not) your employees, but telling them what they did wrong is not as productive as telling them where to improve and putting a plan together to get them there. Ideally, that’s what modern performance review systems (talent management systems) do. The systematic integration of data and implementation of process allows us to steer our front line managers ins a direction we want them to go, rather than the old school method of looking at the prior year.

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3 responses to “Performance Appraisals”

  1. Lavinia Weissman Avatar

    Your remark is interesting because this view is very aligned with organizational learning and adult self-directed learning.

    The premise for this kind of culture changes invites core groups to introduce a culture of network where people can direct their learning drawing from the various types of networks important to shaping a successful career.

    for more on this thinking, go to

    http://www.workecology.com/redesign2/thoughtleadership.html

    and how to build this kind of capacity read over

    http://www.workecology.com/redesign2/capacitybuilding.html

    The Foundations of Portfolio Work – An Introduction of Core Group Theory and Practice is now available for licensing to corporations and virtual partner groups. A certification program is also available for consultants and corporate based work effectiveness leaders.

    Happy New Year one and all.

    Cordially,
    Lavinia Weissman

  2. systematicHR Avatar

    Thanks Lavinia. Also more on my thoughts around what’s not working in performance management here and a listing of the discussion we created around other blogs here.

  3. Lavinia Weissman Avatar

    Dubs, Happy New Year!

    I reviewed a few of your posts and in some respects we are very aligned.

    It somewhat fits with the concept of innovation: If you have not done it before and you don’t count on others to teach you, then its innovation. (There are some excellent articles in HBR, S+B.com and other journals on this).

    I think Pay for Performance Systems can provide infrastructure for this and I believe that you can translate intangible performance into a pay for performance strategy.

    The beauty of technology and I think the folks at Success Factors would agree with me on this, is that you can modify HRM Technology for culture and change or no change.

    Let’s face it — pending the industry, profession and other no matter what you have to track credentials, application of expertise and compliance with regulation, e.g. JCAHO (for health care). In this regard, performance reviews and CEU systems are very useful.

    I think as thought leaders in our field, it is useful to put out our recommendations to clients and then facilitate an examination of its relevance to practice, a culture and the change or innovation a group/organization might want to learn to know and do.

    That is why, in my practice I prefer to be a coach, facilitator and design applications of thinking into practice. It’s the group think that I love to be part of, because then it feels like an organization is comprised of individuals, who live and breath and enjoy coming to work each day. It is easy these days to just do a job mechanistically and not enjoy going to work.

    More and more on my phone, I am seeing the trend of portfolio work where people I chat with on goingly as colleagues or clients are leveraging their next job from a previous success and the invitation to join a group of people who are dedicated to performing well and living life well.