Is the success of your performance management process dependent on the quality of your system or is the secret to be found elsewhere?

Your choice of performance management system will certainly have an impact on the success of your process but ultimately, in my opinion, the secret to success does lie elsewhere.

Over the 20 years I’ve spent assisting organisations with performance management, I’ve seen an unbelievable change in the range of systems on the market and there’s no doubt that a lot of them will stand up to scrutiny in performance management terms. That's all very well. But it's not the point.

I need to add a huge "BUT" here.

Having a top of the range system doesn’t automatically guarantee success. Good though it may be, even the ‘best’ system won’t work effectively if it doesn’t satisfy two key criteria; it must suit the culture of your organisation and it must be ‘welcomed’ by your workforce.

Put simply, as long as your appraisers and also, very importantly, your workforce as a whole, actually want to use the performance management system, they fully understand its benefits and they know how to use it, the system should achieve its objectives (and potentially, even more). On the flipside, if people don’t want it, they won’t use it and they’ll tend to pay lip-service to it. This is often the reason why performance management processes become tick box exercises rather than constructive processes linking performance review and personal development with organisational objectives.

So, just how do you get to the point where your appraisers and appraisees actually want to use your system? In my experience, to really want to use it, they must like it. To like it, it’s essential that they find it user-friendly and manageable in terms of time and effort. Critically, they must also understand why it’s worth their while making the effort to commit to it; in other words, they need be crystal clear of the benefits it will bring to them as individuals and the organisation as a whole.

This is where the link to organisational culture comes in. People won’t warm to and embrace a performance management system if it doesn’t suit your culture. The system needs to align with the way your people think, communicate and operate. For example, one organisational culture may embrace a discussional format for assessment purposes whereas another may prefer a straightforward rating system. There are of course many other examples I could give and criteria I could mention.

However, to choose the appropriate system isn’t enough to ensure success on its own. Once a system is in place, education comes to the fore. Some organisations make the mistake of assuming that appraisers and appraisees already know what they’re supposed to do and why they’re supposed to do it.

Proactive organisation realise this isn’t necessarily the case. They make no assumptions; they take the initiative by organising training sessions for appraisers and briefing sessions for appraisees. The aim of these sessions is not so much aimed at teaching people how to use the system, but more to focus on why the system is worthwhile committing to and the benefits that will come from it.

Ideally, these sessions ensure that everyone fully understands the concept of performance management, the part they will play in the process and the benefits they will derive. Objective setting should always be included because this forms a solid base around which performance can be reviewed, managed and developed.

So the main thrust of my post; the secret to the success of your performance management process lies first with matching your system to your organisational culture.  Then second, with educating your workforce on its use, its benefits to individuals and the organisation, and its overall objectives.

Ultimately, appraisers and appraisees must want to use it!