The theme of performance management comes up quite often when I talk to HR executives and business leaders. Most of the time, they are dissatisfied with the processes put in place in their organizations, highlighting that the one-off and unilateral mode of campaigns is an obstacle to reflecting the real performance of the teams.
The discussions then quickly arrive at the idea of a more agile method, which would be better perceived and more useful for employees, managers and management. This is an opportunity for me to tell them about what we have implemented with Flashbrand for our clients: continuous performance management.
By choosing this method, we are responding to the challenges of agility and flexibility of the modern world, as well as the need for a fluid experience centered on the needs of employees (employee experience). To do this, management must:
Here is what I propose to detail in this article.
I mentioned in the introduction a form of dissatisfaction with performance management experienced in many organizations. I have seen that this dissatisfaction has increased over the past 2 years.
Traditional processes are unsuited to the situation we have experienced and to the ways of working that have since become widespread. I have, for example, always wondered how the managers who had set objectives at the start of 2020 without the possibility of reviewing them over time managed the failure to achieve objectives that had become unachievable during the end-of-year review…
They must therefore evolve, and this evolution must of course be accompanied on one hand by a process of change management (starting with the adoption and exemplarity of top management), and on the other hand by a digital tool that encourages new managerial practices.
Here are some of the things that have enabled companies using Flashbrand to achieve this ambition:
By adopting this approach, our clients have observed a better alignment of the organization’s strategy, and greater initiative taken by employees who are committed to collective success.
“Our continuous approach to performance management allows us to become more cooperative, to give more autonomy and a greater role for the employee in the managerial relationship. We first started by forging strong convictions on where we wanted to go in terms of the culture of feedback, the role of the manager, the role of the employees and their ability to propose objectives, to drive them themselves, to have objectives which are adapted to their activity, to their rhythm and to their own calendar”
Arnaud Garni, Director of Employee Experience and Engagement at Louis Vuitton
In order to function, continuous performance management must rely on the manager, who is an essential link. It is therefore necessary to strengthen managerial relations, which the check-in allows to do.
The check-in consists of a face-to-face meeting between an employee and his manager, during which they can address difficulties, review projects and objectives, talk about development, agree on action plans, etc. HR teams can help identify topics for discussion, and suggest them as recommendations: diversity, work/life balance, training plan, etc.
I have noticed that in discussions with the Talent teams who have deployed Flashbrand in their organizations, the ritualization of regular discussions encourages the individualization and contextualization of the exchanges sought by employees today. The check-in also allows managers to switch perspectives, moving from an evaluator once a year to a facilitator who must continuously support the members of his team.
From a tool point of view, practices and usage rates confirm a strong expectation: check-ins are used in 95% of cases at least twice a month, most often on the initiative of employees.
Once you have implemented the approach described above on the objectives and the check-in, your performance evaluation can be considered as continuous. This raises the question of the interest of the annual performance interview...
Personally, I don't consider that we should get rid of it at all costs. On the other hand, it should no longer be this dreaded and anxiety-provoking exercise! It should be made a point of passage allowing to collect and freeze certain information, relying on the resumption of elements discussed during the year to appreciate an overall performance, without surprise:
In this regard, I have seen an interesting practice adopted by some organizations: they leave the creation of performance reviews to their managers. They launch them according to their needs and those of their team, for example when an internal mobility takes place outside the campaign dates.
The implementation of this continuous performance management approach has shown many measurable benefits, such as:
I can therefore only encourage you to take the path of continuous performance management, at your own pace, by supporting your managers. To conclude, I am going to take the liberty of quoting Arnaud Garni once again, whose analysis I share:
“I think that all companies today seek to make themselves more fluid and to facilitate the relationship between individuals: what we call cooperation or collaboration, autonomy, trust and agility… These are fundamental questions that will make companies and organizations successful from now on”
If you want to know more, do not hesitate to contact me at denis.descause@flashbrand.me