What Impact Can HR Have on Performance Management?

Last month, Deloitte used the Harvard Business Review as their platform to unveil the company's new system for performance management. Although cascading objectives, 360-degree feedback reviews and numerical rating systems are all common components of performance management systems, Deloitte has made the decision to do away with them. The company has decided to put just four questions in the place of all those other components. While there's still a lot of debate around this issue and Deloitte is only initially rolling the new system out to ten percent of their employees, it's a reminder that performance management systems are a challenging but vital aspect of any organization.

Is Now the Time for a Performance Management Change?

Although not everyone agrees with the specific system Deloitte is implementing, there is a general consensus that change will benefit the practice of performance management. The reason so many experts agree with that assessment is because many of the current processes are based on models dating all the way back to the 19th century.

Not only are many businesses stuck with processes that reflect an outdated view of business, but another common issue is that the performance management software being used is over a decade old. Even though that may not seem like a very long time, the Internet has dramatically changed the current business landscape. As a result, the ongoing discussion around change is a very welcome one.

How Can HR Help to Make Progress and Change?

One component of the changing tide in performance management that stands out is a focus on leaders. Specifically, there's a lot of emphasis on moving to more frequent check-ins instead of relying on quarterly or annual reviews. By gathering performance data more frequently, the information that's collected will be much more relevant and actionable in regards to current projects.

Since most businesses are eager for change, the big question comes down to how HR can help facilitate that change. And the most common answer to that question is by finding ways to simplify and focus processes. Even though change is something that's desired, it's not realistic to implement when processes are overly complicated.

The main goal for HR professionals should be to find key areas where unnecessary obstacles can be removed and simplicity can be brought to the forefront. By doing this, it becomes possible to accomplish two key goals.

The first goal that simplicity can accomplish is making performance management systems more responsive. The second goal is making these systems more reflective of how work is done in the modern world. When HR departments are able to come together and come up with the right solutions, the impact on performance management systems can help move the needle for the entire organization.