Oisin e-Newsletter: February 2005 - Performance Management
 
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Table of Contents
   
Upcoming Workshop: Coaching for Cultural Transformation
News from Oisin: New e-Newsletter Format
Article of the Month: World's Best Performance Management
Link of the Month: www.themanager.org
Recommended Reading: Fierce Conversations
   
 
   

Upcoming Workshop: Coaching for Cultural Transformation

On Thursday the 3rd and Friday the 4th of March 2005, Paula Flynn will facilitate our popular Coaching for Cultural Transformation workshop.

Come experience a powerful developmental intervention that has been utilised by leaders in the following organisations to successfully leverage people capability and attain the most critical of organisational objectives: Virgin Blue Airlines, Foster's Group, Kraft Foods, Minter Ellison Lawyers, and many others.

Topics to be Covered in this Two-day Program:

  • Organisational Coaching Trends

  • Coaching in the Business Context

  • Distinguishing between 'Being a Coach' and "Doing Coaching'

  • Advanced Coaching Skills

  • Building Strategic Organisational Coaching Capability

  • Demonstrating Coaching Agility

  • Leveraging Each Phase in the Coaching Process

  • Managing the Psychological Framework

  • Developing Ourselves as Coaches

  • Implementing a Transformational Coaching Culture

Where and When: Melbourne 3 and 4 March 2005

Cost: $1175.00 (plus G.S.T.) - *groups of 3 people or more attract a discount

Click Here for More Information or call and speak with us on (03) 9855 1436

   
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News from Oisin: New e-Newsletter Format

This month’s News from Oisin welcomes reader’s to the new format of our e-Newsletter. We’ve listened to your feedback and have modified our e-Newsletter to make it easier to read from computer monitors. In addition, we have added the facility to easily print our e-Newsletter so that people who prefer to read from paper now have this option. We would be very interested to hear any additional feedback regarding our e-Newsletter. Please click on the following link to email your feedback to us: feedback@oisinsuccess.com.

   
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Article of the Month: World Best Performance Management - More than a Tool (Part I of II)

The business environment today, with increased global competition, accessibility to new markets, increased focus on risk management, improved technology and information systems and declining budgets combined with aggressive targets makes it critical for organisations to maximise the value of each employee.

Best practice in performance management is merely the price of entry into today’s marketplace. High performing organisations have developed their own “World’s Best” performance management strategies to ensure that their organisations drive the type of performance that will make their organisation successful in the short, medium and long-term.

High performing organisations ensure that that the performance management strategies they implement propel organisational behaviours toward the achievement of strategic business goals; behaviours that enable a sustainable high level of performance at all levels of the organisation. Furthermore, these behaviours are clearly articulated and demonstrated by the Leadership Team and underpin organisational processes; they provide the foundation for creating cultures of high performance.

Over the next two editions of the Oisin e-Newsletter we will take a detailed look at the impact of performance management on organisational performance. We begin by defining our view of performance management, highlighting the key drivers of successful performance management strategies and identifying the critical elements of an effective performance management system.

In the next edition of the Oisin e-Newsletter we will investigate the key ingredients required for the creation of high performance cultures and detail the role of managers in the implementation of performance management strategy. We will also provide a check list that can be used to evaluate current performance management strategies and determine how they compare to the “World’s Best”.

What is Performance Management?

Performance management, as we define it, encompasses all the organisational drivers, systems, processes and strategies relating to the management and measurement of employee performance.

When discussing the topic of performance management strategy, many organisations focus primarily on the performance management system (PMS), the tool used to assist with the execution of performance management strategy. This typically occurs because the PMS requires a large investment of both time and money.

However, while the PMS is a critical element in driving and managing employee performance, it is really only the tool used to implement and measure the effectiveness of an organisation’s performance management strategy. Without a robust and effective performance management strategy, sustainable high performance by the workforce will not be achieved regardless of the design and efficiency of an organisation’s PMS. What is essential is a performance management strategy that develops the sustainable organisational behaviours required for long term economic growth.

Recent research by the Corporate Leadership Council (CLC) provides ample evidence to support this view. In 2002 the Corporate Leadership Council investigated the key drivers that are critical to the success of a building a high performing workforce. The seven key drivers are:

  1. The performance management system (PMS)

  2. The performance culture of the organisation

  3. The interaction between the employee and their Manager

  4. The formal review process

  5. The informal feedback about performance that the employee receives

  6. The day to day work done by the employee

  7. Perceived job opportunities within the organisation

While the PMS is important, it is only as good as the performance culture that it supports.

The Performance Management System – Critical Elements

Research indicates that the PMS needs to be more than just the tool by which a performance management strategy is administrated. It is critical that an understanding of the PMS and the way that the PMS is utilised within an organisation be understood by the workforce. Furthermore it is absolutely crucial that the PMS is seen to be a fair and credible administrative tool.

Furthermore, employees need to have a clear connection between the performance standards of the organisation and their day to day activities and be able to align this connection to the evaluation procedures within the PMS. The system must be seen to be fairly applied across the organisation and credible in the consistent application of performance ratings. The inclusion of a suitable 360 degree feedback review tool has also been shown to have a significant impact on the degree to which a PMS is seen to be credible.

Conclusion

In this article we have begun to unravel the complex topic of performance management and its impact on sustainable organisational high performance. In next month’s edition of the Oisin e-Newsletter we will broaden this discussion and investigate how performance management strategies can help create cultures of high performance and detail the role of managers in the implementation of successful performance management strategies. A diagnostic check list will also be provided so that current performance management strategies can be compared to the “World’s Best”.

   
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Link of the Month: www.themanager.org

http://www.themanager.org

Themanager.org is a web-portal with a focus on management topics. The portal offers quick and direct access to the enormous variety of management knowledge available on the internet: articles, studies, checklists, FAQs and more. Themanager.org is a very useful site for Managers in all functions, at all hierarchy levels and in all industries.

   
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Recommended Reading: Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work & in Life, One Conversation at a Time

In Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work & in Life, One Conversation at a Time, the author Susan Scott reveals a powerful methodology for holding effective conversations. Using a series of practical exercises designed to impart the requisite skills, Scott walks readers through the individual steps she's developed to build better associations through more robust and honest discourses. Addressing all aspects of the process, from several methods for listening more attentively to specific ways she's fashioned to confront and resolve issues "...that stand between you and success".

   
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