I realise that what I am about to write goes against the current orthodoxy pushed by Government, Consultancies and Software suppliers.
Unfortunately, few of them have ever managed people and observed behaviour and measured performance. I’ve been doing this since 1976. Maybe, I’m a slow learner. I know I haven’t finished learning. But I know a lot of what works and what doesn’t.
Rewards, in terms of incentives and bonuses, and threats, politely called in HR-speak Performance Improvement Plans, do not produce the best performance.
It is very easy to do these things. No thought is necessary, you have the measurements, you have a spreadsheet, the figures go red and you move to the next stage in the process.
I think we all know that what is easy is so rarely best.
What happens, what this scheme produces, is a warped agreement that the work produced will be held down to a level that is agreed in the PM system!
You also find a huge increase in dissatisfaction, and lots of gossip about the unfairness of the system, and how to game it to the employee’s advantage.
A proper and effective PM system will deliver much greater performance for the organisation as well as better pay and job security to the staff. Everybody is a winner.
Anyone with a few days’ management experience, with their eyes and ears open, knows that praise is more effective than criticism.
Unfortunately, the reporting mechanisms of traditional PM systems are all in the negative. When the job was advertised the bonus scheme was part of the reward package.
So, when the PM system reports you are below target, it is taking away that bonus, that expected reward. People make assumptions that they will achieve the expected PM levels and build the additional reward into their expectations.
In a traditional PM system, the only news is bad news, as telling me I’m on target is a given, not news. The PM system de-motivates and moves effort to gaming the system.
How do you create a system that promotes getting more work done, given people’s asymmetric view of PM rewards?
The good news is that you can! But it takes some management ability to create and run a truly motivational environment.
This is the subject of all our work and content on various platforms.
Fortunately, the right working environment continues to build performance month after month. It feeds itself.
People do not develop immunity to this working environment, which happens with traditional Performance Management systems.
When you’re ready to talk, book a call https://bit.ly/MMLBooking