So, what is continuous performance management?
Continuous performance management is a new management strategy, which can improve morale and improve the communication between management and employees.
Top managers can adopt some strategies to correctly implement continuous performance management.
Continuous performance management can benefit both management and employees by creating operational goals, and everyone can follow these goals to improve performance and internal relations.
If you are a manager or a human resources professional, you may find yourself full of articles discussing the annual performance appraisal–especially about why you should give up the annual performance appraisal immediately. It is very likely that your performance management system needs to be seriously reformed. Research shows that 95% managers are not satisfied with their existing system. They think it is ineffective and useless in promoting performance, achieving goals and motivating employees. If this is the case in your enterprise, then there is no need to postpone the inevitable. There is a new method, which is called continuous performance management. It combines real-time feedback, assignment of short-term goals and frequent development dialogues among all employees.
Continuous performance management is rapidly spreading. If you don't take advantage of frequent inspections at present, you may have begun to transform. However, you may have noticed that although there are many articles discussing why continuous performance management is the right choice for your enterprise, there is a serious lack of information about how to implement this serious organizational change. Without any guidance, your attempt is unlikely to succeed, and your company is more likely to return to the old-fashioned and inefficient annual performance appraisal. The following is a tried-and-true step-by-step guide on how to transition to continuous performance management.
1. Talk to managers and find out who is already having regular performance discussions.
If it is difficult for managers and employees to have an annual performance appraisal, you may find it impossible to implement continuous performance management. After all, if they can't be excited about one review, how can you make them excited about at least 12 reviews?
An important step is to talk to managers and find out how many of them are already having informal performance discussions. You may be surprised. Many companies that introduce continuous performance management find that their managers have included regular inspections to some extent. When it comes to designing your new process and transitioning to continuous performance management, HR should involve managers. Topics to be discussed include how they organize meetings, the frequency of meetings, and whether they have any useful talking points to make the ball roll.
2. Get the approval of senior leaders.
In order to successfully implement the new continuous performance management system, it must be recognized by senior managers. When your other employees see the top management leading by example, it's easier for them to join in. In the face of organizational changes, especially major changes like giving up the annual assessment, it is normal to face some resistance from senior leaders. Take some time to discuss the business benefits of continuous performance management with research-based evidence. Answer questions about how the new process will identify high-performance and low-performance employees, and how to deal with promotions, salary increases and bonuses. Knowing that these problems have been considered and are being dealt with can give the leadership confidence in the new system.
3. Sell benefits to your manager.
If managers don't know what value the new system brings them, or what role the new system plays in improving performance, then they won't really participate in the new system. To this end, HR needs to really explain the new system, why you want to transform, and how it can help everyone improve.
For managers, we should emphasize the benefits of a team that is more engaged, more motivated and has better performance. They should also know that in the end, regular inspection can save time compared with the arduous annual assessment process.
4. Provide necessary training and guidance.
In order to get the maximum benefit from the new performance management system, appropriate training should be provided. Turn the time usually used to manage the annual assessment into training managers to conduct high-quality performance dialogues and provide meaningful feedback. Don't think that this is a natural thing for all managers.
5. Keep communicating the upcoming changes.
It has been suggested that in order for employees to fully understand a change, it must be repeated six or seven times. Therefore, communication planning is very important in the transition to continuous performance management. Don't rely on one-off emails to announce changes. Organize various methods to communicate the transition, including communication, video, face-to-face meetings, webinars and briefings.
6. Use continuous performance management software.
Technology is an incredible tool that can promote your transition to this new management method. By using the software, you can arrange and track one-on-one meetings with employees, exchange real-time feedback, and track SMART goals, which will be re-examined regularly. With the use of performance management software, you are also given more visibility, which means that you can track performance discussions and feedback meetings while monitoring urgent performance issues. This data is crucial when it comes to monitoring the success of your brave new performance management process.
Tita is such a software that supports enterprises to make continuous performance management changes. Through OKR module, support enterprises to manage their own goals and key achievements first, and through E implementation, let employees know how to land. Around the promotion of OKR, managers and subordinates can communicate anytime and anywhere. Employees can fill in the progress of OKR into the system every week, including the problems encountered. Managers can see employees' feedback in the system at any time, so as to carry out process intervention and guidance. In Tita, in addition to communicating around "work" anytime and anywhere, you can also praise others and reward them with red envelopes at any time. These all happen in the process of work, timely communication, feedback and reward, so that continuous performance management can happen anytime and anywhere.
Benefits of continuous performance management
Continuous performance management is good for both managers and employees. Managers and business owners can encourage their teams to do their best and benefit from it by establishing an easy-to-communicate system. Part of the difficulty of management is to show expectations and create actionable goals that team members can follow in order to succeed in the organization. The continuous performance management system not only provides a criterion for employees to work consistently throughout their working lives, but also encourages feedback. In this way, if anything goes wrong, it can be easily adjusted.
Employees can also get continuous updates about their performance and expectations. If they don't perform well as quickly as they want, continuous performance management can help them get real-time feedback. Employees in trouble can get operational tips on how to improve, instead of checking once a year to know how they failed.
The feedback loop established by continuous performance management is very valuable for enterprises that want to get the maximum benefit from employees.