How Managers Can Turn Performance Management into People Development
A developmental culture can fundamentally transform how organizations approach evaluating and managing employee performance
The typical script is tiresome at this point. An employee gets hired and is so excited to get to work. They are thrilled about their new benefits, their higher salary, and of course, the welcome box they just received with their computer and water bottle. They start day one zealous and eager to make an impact.
This lasts about three months.
Between months three and six, the novelty begins to wear off. The work has become less exciting. The politics of the organization are becoming apparent. The commute to the office or the weekly team meeting becomes more and more annoying with each gathering or Zoom call.
Sure, there may be shiny objects that distract, like a team off-site, the company holiday party, or even the prospect of a promotion, but that initial enthusiasm is undoubtedly fading with each passing day.
How does the manager of this employee handle these circumstances?
As the zeal for the job declines, so will the performance. Most companies have a performance management policy based on employee review cadences.
This is meant to be the process by which an employee is told that they need to improve their performance, given a performance improvement plan, and judged, over time, according to that plan. Other companies, who may be grateful to have employees working there, might simply settle with the drop in performance.
This mediocrity in employee performance becomes toxic to the workplace, the culture, and the clients served.
“Leaders are not responsible for the results, leaders are responsible for the people who are responsible for the results” — Simon Sinek
Where We Started: Judgment
As a coach, I work with a number of people who are either struggling to manage low-performing team members or burnt-out team members looking to revitalize their love of what they do. I have realized that the systemic approach to performance management at most organizations is failing both the managers and the employees.
The way to counter this lose/lose cycle of performance decline, mediocrity, burnout, and managerial complacency is by deliberately developing people, not managing their performance. In a conventional performance management system, the primary focus is assessing an employee’s performance against predetermined metrics or standards.
The emphasis is often on evaluating past actions and outcomes, categorizing individuals into performance categories (e.g., exceeds expectations, meets expectations, below expectations), and using this evaluation for compensation, promotions, or punitive measures.
Where We’re Going: Development
Conversely, in a developmental culture, the approach shifts towards seeing performance management as an opportunity for growth and continuous improvement.
The primary goal of employee development is to support and facilitate an individual’s potential. The focus extends beyond the role they are in, beyond their past and present performance, and beyond even what the hope is for the future of the role. The goal is to see and develop the individual’s future capabilities as a human being and how they can be nurtured and enhanced.
A better human will create a better employee. A better human will create a better leader. Better employees and leaders make for better teams. It's quite simple.
How We’re Getting There: Deliberate Action
In my time coaching employees and managers, it has become clear to me that the Why in creating a developmental culture isn’t the issue. It is difficult to argue the premise that people who are deliberately developing themselves as individuals by growing in both emotional intelligence and job-specific skill sets will help the overall performance of the organization.
With the Why covered, let’s dive into the How. I believe there are two core values or approaches to the way an organization can establish a culture focused on people development.
The first is in redefining what success means to the organization. This requires a values shift in the way that leadership communicates and behaves toward the belief that people working on themselves to become better human beings is more important than directly impacting the bottom line. This is no small task and will likely be the biggest obstacle for any organization looking to shift away from typical performance management structures.
The second need will be a deliberate effort to train employees, managers, and leaders to develop a coaching mentality in the way they show up for themselves and others in the workplace. This involves working directly with coaches to show how containers can be created and kept for personal development, as well as helping develop these skills for management and peer-coaching initiatives throughout the organization.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle
Redefining Success
The developmental culture paradigm emphasizes continuous learning and adaptation as crucial aspects of performance and success. Therefore, success must continuously be defined beyond performance metrics. It becomes about learning from lived experiences, incorporating ongoing feedback, and adapting one’s approach to enhance future decision-making.
Success must go through a continuous cycle of evaluation. The best organizations take ownership of creating this cycle so that the content of each role applies to areas of the job or industry that their team members feel connected to, which is usually what employees and leaders enjoy doing and where they feel their skills align.
Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, a developmental culture tailors development plans to meet the unique needs and aspirations of each of us.
This is a success.
These plans align with organizational goals but allow employees to focus on areas critical to their personal and professional growth. The emphasis is on empowering us to take ownership of our own development journey.
The shift to development emphasizes our accountability and ownership of our own performance and growth. As employees and leaders, we are encouraged to take responsibility for our actions, learning, and development plans. This sense of ownership fosters a proactive and self-driven approach to achieving performance objectives. The focus is on encouraging us to venture beyond our comfort zones, take calculated risks, and view challenges as opportunities for growth and learning.
Questions to determine how you define success:
- How do you prioritize contributions to culture versus contributions to revenue?
- What does the long-term outlook for employee development look like in your organization?
- How might the values of the organization differ from the values of the employees?
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” ― Winston Churchill
Coaching Culture
The way this new approach to employee performance management can be established in a developmental culture is through individualized coaching, peer-coaching models, leaders with a coaching mentality, and an overall culture of support from supervisors and peers.
This is not an easy task. A coaching culture takes a deliberate and patient effort to establish as well as ongoing trust in the work each participant is doing.
However, the benefits will become clear over time. Coaches, as well as mentors or supervisors with a coaching mentality, take the time to understand each of the employees’ unique strengths, weaknesses, career aspirations, and personal objectives. This understanding forms the basis for providing targeted coaching and support that aligns with the development journey of each employee and leader.
When members of the organization buy into a coaching mentality and culture, feedback can be given with the intention of supporting individual growth and development. Feedback is a big deal here. It’s not merely evaluative; rather, it is constructive and specific, providing insights into strengths and areas for improvement.
Those giving and receiving feedback are trained, through coaching, to understand that it is not about them or their character but rather about the overall improvement of the organization through an aligned approach to helping each person grow.
Finally, when employees feel supported beyond professional development and feel seen as a whole person rather than just for the work being done, their mentality toward work shifts in a positive direction, and their relationships with leaders are vastly improved.
Coaches, leaders, and peers assist each other in finding a healthy work-life balance and managing personal challenges that may affect the performance and growth of all those involved and participating in the culture. They thrive in recognizing the interconnectedness of personal and professional aspects of an individual’s life. It is in this interconnectedness that people can feel whole at work. This wholeness is what will drive loyalty, enthusiasm, and long-term dedication to organizational success from employees.
Questions to help determine the coaching mentality in your organization:
- What is each member of the organization's relationship to feedback?
- How do people approach difficult or uncomfortable but necessary for growth conversations?
- What experience do members of the organization, at all levels, have working directly with a coach?
“Do one thing everyday that scares you. Those small things that make us uncomfortable help us build courage to do the work we do.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
Development and Organizational Growth
The deliberate development of people will help an organization grow far more efficiently than simply training and reviewing for the skills of a specific job. This is a mindset. A value.
In a developmental culture, the organization nurtures this growth mindset among employees and holds it as an organizational value. This value means that challenges and setbacks are viewed as opportunities to learn and improve, fostering resilience and a positive approach to obstacles. The organization cultivates a belief that everyone can develop and grow through effort, dedication, and learning and that in this development and growth, the entire organization levels-up.
A growth mindset, rooted in personal development, drives self-reflection, introspection, and self-awareness of all of those participating. Imagine an organization with all of its members gaining deeper insights into their behaviors, attitudes, and impact on others. Imagine practices and behaviors being cultivated that help teams understand themselves better, have more compassion for others, and bring more balanced selves home to their families at the end of a work day.
The future of performance management is accepting a cultural shift into helping human beings in organizations thrive as better human beings. Seeing people in their wholeness rather than as someone performing a specific function or role. Imagine an organization that values wholeness for its leaders and employees and trusts that wholeness is the quality that drives the impact it makes.
I don’t know about you, but to me, that feels like an organization that is going to succeed.
