The Evolution of Organizational Performance: Part Three
Part Three: A Change in Focus - The 2000's to Today
Our journey through the evolution of organizational performance has taken us from WWII command and control top down driven leadership, to the age of management of 70’s, 80’s and 90’s where change management, performance management, management by objectives, KPI’s and dashboards were just a few of the performance drivers. As you can still tell in today's climate, most anything and everything that could be measured and managed was, including people. Both the command and control and scientific management era's created performance environments of employee compliance, not employee commitment and engagement.
However, in the 2000’s, a few organizations started to focus less on productivity measures and more on the consumer and creating a different customer experience. Organizations like Starbucks, Netflix, UBER and many others created unique and differentiated customer experiences and changed the competitive landscapes in their respective markets. While operational excellence and standard operating practices are crucial, the key performance focus is on delivering and enhancing the customer experience.
In addition, it's during this era you have seen organizations develop mission and vision statements and many adopt organizational core values. The challenge to proclaiming mission, vision, and values statements is actually staying true to those. In fact, in your organization's, how many people know what they are, and do they support and drive the daily actions and behaviors of all (or at least most) of the employees?
We've also begun to hear about the importance of “employee engagement” in delivering outstanding customer service. So enter in the annual or bi-annual employee engagement survey and the efforts to enhance employee engagement by most organizations today. The challenge is turning that survey feedback into sustained, year over year, increased employee engagement and commitment. Most organizations, unfortunately, fail to move the mark.
In fact, according to the Gallup Organization’s 2017 American Workplace Study, employee engagement has not moved over 2-3 percentages points in the last 18 years.
Yes, you read that right, the last 18 YEARS!
This leads us to where we find organizational performance today. The foundation is set, but what is the next evolution in organizational performance? Next week we explore the future of purpose-driven, employee engaged, leader supported, organization enabled performance.
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For more information on how to more actively engage in your organization join our DESTINATION: SUCCESS page, or contact us!
Cornerstone Learning is a performance and leadership consulting organization that has worked with clients all over the world. Our focus is working with individuals and organizations to create performance solutions that deliver top-tier results by inspiring, enabling, and developing employee-led, leader supported, and organization enabled performance. We are able to successfully deliver this through multiple products and services such as employee surveys, online training, performance assessments, and performance coaching. The goal at Cornerstone Learning is to assist our clients in enabling success by developing a dynamic and customized pathway to deliver role model organizational and personal performance.
The Evolution of Organizational Performance: Part Two
Part Two: The Golden Age of "Management" - The 70's, 80's, and 90's
As we mentioned last week, the performance environment that people experience and work in every day has a profound impact on both personal and team engagement. We started this blog series exploring when and where “command and control” leadership began and the impact that style of leadership has by creating more of a compliant performance environment than committed and engaged.
Just on the heels of command and control leadership came the era in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s of “scientific management” where everything from time, quality, and yes performance, was managed. There were hundreds of books, tools, and theories on how to “manage” your time. You managed work by creating MBO’s (Management by Objectives), and your personal performance was managed by end of year ratings on a “bell curve” or “forced ranking systems” often referred to by many at G.E. as “rank and yank."
Now don’t get us wrong, measurement is a good thing, but taken too far and not having the right focus tends to create a barrier in today’s complex business climate and becomes a de-motivator, significantly impacting overall employee engagement for the worse. Just ask anyone if they think the performance management process in their organization is effective today at enhancing performance and increasing engagement? I venture a guess of highly unlikely.
According to Reuters, 4 out of 5 U.S. workers are dissatisfied with their job performance reviews and want them to better reflect their work.
With the dynamic and rapid pace of organizational performance today, if you are managing change and not leading it you are behind! If you are a leader still reviewing performance and not enabling and pursuing performance, you are managing not leading. And if you are an individual contributor not proactively leading your own performance discussions and talent development you are left to the mercy of others to review and manage you.
So, we ask once again, are there remnants of the “scientific management” era negatively impacting your organizations performance environment? If so let us know and we can assist in evolving your personal and organization’s performance environment. Remember, no one wants to be managed and if you don’t believe us, just ask them!
Next week, Part Three - The 2000's Through Today.
For more information on how to more actively engage in your organization join our DESTINATION: SUCCESS page, or contact us!
Cornerstone Learning is a performance and leadership consulting organization that has worked with clients all over the world. Our focus is working with individuals and organizations to create performance solutions that deliver top-tier results by inspiring, enabling, and developing employee-led, leader supported, and organization enabled performance. We are able to successfully deliver this through multiple products and services such as employee surveys, online training, performance assessments, and performance coaching. The goal at Cornerstone Learning is to assist our clients in enabling success by developing a dynamic and customized pathway to deliver role model organizational and personal performance.
Performance Environment: The Key to Employee Engagement...or Disengagement
Organizational culture, and more importantly, the prevailing performance environment that defines that culture, is absolutely a key driver to employee engagement. It is that performance environment that each of us walks into and experiences each and every day that has a profound impact on our personal and team’s commitment, engagement, and results.
Every organization has a performance environment that defines the organization either by design or, often, by default. We have found in our client work that often history and legacy play a big part in the shaping of an organization's performance environment. Over the next three weeks we are going to explore the evolution going on in organizational performance and as you read this blog series you can begin to identify what historical or legacy influences might exist and how these influences are impacting your work environment and employee engagement throughout your organization.
The Evolution of Organizational Performance: Part One - “Do What I Say”: The Emergence of Command and Control
Have you ever experienced a top down, command and control, task focused, highly employee compliant work environment? This type of leadership style and performance environment can still be found today in many organizations or departments. This style has its roots back to the WWII and Industrial Age where decisions were made by a select few and the rest of the organization followed management directives which cultivated a performance environment of compliance (not very engaging, to say the least).
Fortunately, most organizations and leaders are evolving past this, finding that command and control, while highly effective in a past era, is becoming a barrier to sustained organizational performance and has a very negative impact on overall employee engagement. It limits productivity and often creates an environment of blame, justification, and “not my job” can be heard throughout.
This environment can be tough to change if the top of the organization doesn't see (or won't see) the detriment it causes. And year over year financial or bottom-line success in this environment can make it even tougher since past results tend to dictate future behaviors. However, with only 33% of employees actively engaged at work, this type of performance environment leaves much to be desired. So start today.
While not everyone can be at the top of an organization to make the change easier, we can all start right where we are. By actively working to engage those around you with questions like "How can I help?" and "Why don't you take the lead on this?", the old plan, direct, control, and manage model can be flipped to inspiring, enabling, facilitating, and developing. In doing so employees move from compliance to committed and engaged. It has been shown time and time again in our clients that, while the old model can still show bottom-line results, an engaged workforce exponentially grows that success!
This next week, we are going to continue exploring the evolution in organizational performance by looking at the impact the Scientific era of Management of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s has on employee engagement today and into the future.
For more information on how to more actively engage in your organization join our DESTINATION: SUCCESS page, or contact us!
Cornerstone Learning is a performance and leadership consulting organization that has worked with clients all over the world. Our focus is working with individuals and organizations to create performance solutions that deliver top-tier results by inspiring, enabling, and developing employee-led, leader supported, and organization enabled performance. We are able to successfully deliver this through multiple products and services such as employee surveys, online training, performance assessments, and performance coaching. The goal at Cornerstone Learning is to assist our clients in enabling success by developing a dynamic and customized pathway to deliver role model organizational and personal performance.
UBER and Wells Fargo; Success, but at What Cost?
UBER and Wells Fargo are both paying a steep price to get success right.
It is well documented the growth and financial successes each organization has achieved over the last several years. Unfortunately, it is also well documented the high price in negative publicity, legal action, and in retooling their respective organizational cultures and values each are having to pay to sustain that success.
Like UBER and Wells Fargo, many organizations spend a substantial amount of time and money on developing and cultivating business models and the bottom line results but often lose sight of how that success is being achieved. In the end, it will be how success is achieved that will define your organization and stand the test of time.
In the end, it will be how success is achieved that will define your organization and stand the test of time.
Does your organization currently spend more time on developing technology, processes, and bottom line results than cultivating an environment of transparency, respect, and trust?
Is there a lot of talk about teamwork and personal accountability but daily actions throughout the organization reflect an environment of placing blame, making excuses, and pointing of fingers?
Are people leaders in your organization directing, controlling, and managing people versus inspiring, creating energy, facilitating, and developing them? Focused on the organizations bottom line regardless of what the people and morale cost might be?
You certainly can’t ignore the tremendous growth and financial successes of UBER and Wells Fargo, but don’t ignore the environment and culture that is creating and supporting that success.
Too many organizations are paying way too high a price to get success right!
Is yours?
Cornerstone Learning is a performance and leadership consulting organization that has worked with clients all over the world. Our focus is working with individuals and organizations to create performance solutions that deliver top-tier results by inspiring, enabling, and developing employee-led, leader supported, and organization enabled performance. We are able to successfully deliver this through multiple products and services such as employee surveys, online training, performance assessments, and performance coaching. The goal at Cornerstone Learning is to assist our clients in developing a dynamic and customized blue print to deliver role model organizational and personal performance.
Leading Personal Performance in a Lagging Performance Management Environment
It is well known that most performance management processes being used today actually promote and measure lagging performance. Goals and expectations are set at such a high level that by the time they get cascaded to the front line it can be days and weeks and with job specific clarity lacking or non-existent. Then the measures of that performance are “reviewed” either annually or semi-annually where little can be done to accelerate performance or intervene, if required, until it is too late to have any meaningful near term impact. Even more importantly, in today’s constantly changing business environment these goals are always a moving target throughout the year and can be completely irrelevant by the time they are actually discussed.
However, even working in a performance process that might be lagging in nature, you can lead your personal performance by doing these “lead where you are” activities.
1.
Proactively set expectations with your manager. Don’t wait for leadership to set them for you. Take the initiative and set time on their calendar to outline expectations with them.
Set what your manager can expect from you as it relates to your daily performance activities, team contributions, personal behaviors, et cetera that will enable positive and sustainable performance results no matter what the specific goals might end up being as they get cascaded to you.
2.
Set 20-30 minutes every 3-4 weeks with your manager to proactively lead the discussion on your performance results and how well you are delivering on the expectations you set. Highlight your areas of success and have a plan for closing any gaps that might exist.
3.
Create or update a personal learning plan that specifically enhances your eligibility (technical, leadership competencies), suitability (personal behaviors), and your viability (personal and team impact). Gain continuous performance feedback from others on your areas of strength to leverage and areas for development. Talk through your growth progress during your regular performance connection meeting with your manager each month.
To lead your performance, control what you can, and as a result, begin to influence what you can’t by your performance success. Don’t let lagging performance management processes hold you back from leading performance.
Cornerstone Learning is a performance and leadership consulting organization that has worked with clients all over the world. Our focus is working with individuals and organizations to create performance solutions that deliver top-tier results by inspiring, enabling, and developing employee-led, leader supported, and organization enabled performance. We are able to successfully deliver this through multiple products and services such as employee surveys, online training, performance assessments, and performance coaching. The goal at Cornerstone Learning is to assist our clients in developing a dynamic and customized blue print to deliver role model organizational and personal performance.
Performance Management - Make it an Evolution, not a Revolution!
There is no question the current state of most performance management processes need to change. However, a rush to change can have a devastating impact on morale and productivity and in the end not produce the sustained performance every organization is looking for.
It is true, performance models like current day forced ranking systems tend to produce more negative morale issues than enhancing personal and team performance. And just think of the millions of collective hours spent reviewing, discussing, and justifying (often arguing) performance in those HR/Department “talent calibration sessions”. If those same hours were redirected to developing, training, and enabling performance versus “calibrating” it, think of the impact that would have. And what if people leader’s time shifted from managing, directing, and reviewing performance to facilitating, developing, and pursing performance?
And furthermore, what if the money currently spent on customizing, implementing, and maintaining very expensive and complex performance management modules in HRIS systems, that rarely deliver results as designed and end up documenting performance instead of developing it, was used to cultivate an employee-led, leader supported culture with targeted development activities and experiences.
The opportunity to reimagine and redesign performance management as we know it is here. However, it takes long-range vision rather than succumb to the ground swell for rapid and sometimes radical change in the short run. As with most change, the pendulum tends to swing too far and will eventually find the right rhythm. To that end, there is a tidal wave of quick fix feedback and coaching app’s rolling out every day claiming to be the next tool that facilitates performance success.
And while constant and real time feedback is a key to future performance success, an organization must prepare and cultivate an environment through training and practice to enhance an individual’s capability and capacity to self-assess, be accountable for personal and team performance, turn feedback into change, and how and when to provide good, objective, and most importantly, actionable peer assessment and feedback.
"...an organization must prepare and cultivate..."
Organizations must enable a culture that values performance development over performance documentation by assisting all people leaders in making the shift in their leadership style and competencies from managing performance activities and conducting performance reviews to developing and cultivating the leader in everyone by facilitating, not directing, ongoing performance connections.
Performance management can and should evolve, but care and caution should be taken to implement it properly. Enable organizational performance success with the proper clarity, alignment, and resources. Support it with leadership that inspires and energizes, not directs and manages, and create a powerful employee-led culture that takes ownership and leads both personal and team performance. Remember, it is an evolution, not a revolution.
"Performance management can and should evolve..."
Cornerstone Learning is a performance and leadership consulting organization that has worked with clients all over the world. Our focus is working with individuals and organizations to create performance solutions that deliver top-tier results by inspiring, enabling, and developing employee-led, leader supported, and organization enabled performance. We are able to successfully deliver this through multiple products and services such as employee surveys, online training, performance assessments, and performance coaching. The goal at Cornerstone Learning is toassist our clients in developing a dynamic and customized blue print to deliver role model organizational and personal performance.
