How To Accelerate Your Performance Management

Performance management can be described simply as “getting the most out of your employees.” These 5 tips will accelerate your performance management.

The real value of a business is the individuals that make up the workforce. The first step in optimizing this aspect of your organization is to hire the best people you can find. The second step is to get the best performance possible out of those under your charge. This is the field of performance management.

I define performance management as “establishing, monitoring and improving the behavior and results of employees and assuring they are aligned with the mission, vision, and values ​​of the organization.” Desired behavior and personal growth of the staff are also encouraged.

The conditio sine qua non regarding performance management is making sure you employ the right people. To succeed as an innovative company, you need hard-working, creative people who like to learn something new. Avoid individuals that have a 9-to-5 mentality. Finally, they should have a so-called “growth mindset.”

When you have the perfect staff, what is the next step? Based on my experience as a consultant for very different organizations, I give some general recommendations below:

1. Measure all varieties of the aspects of employee performance. You need to do this not because you don’t trust them, but to help them become better at their tasks. For example, some people work hard, but at the same time not efficiently. They will need to learn some time-management skills.
2. Share goals and results. This will give your staff the impetus to perform better and learn from things that turned out unfavorably. In the RevelX office in Amsterdam, we have a big monitor which displays our prime metrics in real time. We regularly discuss these metrics and act on them which is the core of growth hacking.
3. Choose an enemy. Ever wondered why Pepsi and Coca-Cola keep innovating their proposition? They are engaged in a kind of arms race, that’s why. You should have an enemy too, to inspire your staff to do better. If you don’t have a main competitor, you can stimulate internal competition. For example, let department A compete with department B to see who brings in the most leads, and give the winners a nice reward.
4. Give employees the time and space to follow their passions. Silicon Valley has proven that this leads to surprising innovations. For a long period, one of Google‘s pillars of innovation was its “20% time” policy. Employees were encouraged to devote 20% of their time to side projects. We all know the creations this policy resulted in: Gmail, Google News, and Google AdSense.
5. Stimulate employees to continue to develop their knowledge and skills. There is a wide array of possibilities. An organization with a tight budget can ask an employee to take advantage of some free online courses from Google. A multinational corporation such as Cognizant has its own academy. And did you know we offer inspiring courses, training, and workshops too?

At RevelX we want you to grow and excel, and we love to help you become one of the best. We do not just tell you what to do but want to make sure you are confident and know how to best apply cutting-edge methodologies within your company. Do you want to lead your business to the next level? Let’s talk!