Performance Management is Not about the Forms

Written by Sheri Mazurek | Edited by Rory Hart
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    If you are working in HR, you should already know that talent management is critical to organizational success. You can find the research to support it and if you want you can read 1000 different books that will confirm it and show how to do it the right way. So why do so many of us still get it wrong? Why is it hard to create, roll out, and execute the strategies we know will work?

    We already know that most employees hate the performance review process. The managers hate it, the employees hate it; even HR hates it. And we also know that people tend to put off things they hate. It is easy to find a million other things to do than fill out that impossible form and have a meeting with an employee. So what do we do? We improve the forms. We find new technology that takes the form of a cool online format. Even in the coolest online format, the form is still the form.

    And people still hate the process (maybe a little less, but they still hate the process.) Performance and talent management shouldn’t be about the forms. It has to be about the conversation. The daily support and feedback given just at the right times to drive performance makes the system successful. People want to be successful. They want to do a good job. And they want a leader that supports them in that endeavor. They want conversation, support, and feedback. And they don’t want it all delivered in the same way. Sometimes support means you get out of the way and let them perform.

    If you want to improve your performance management system, don’t start with the forms.

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    Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to [email protected] or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on Twitter @Sherimaz

    Sheri Mazurek