Changing Performance Management Systems Fail Mostly Due to Employee Resistance and Lack of Managerial Support.     

Problems with traditional annual reviews and the search for a better approach

Most managers and employees are familiar with annual performance appraisal forms and reviews used in a traditional performance management system. However, the shortcomings of using annual performance reviews alone for employee performance feedback are well documented and include:

• Inability to provide employees with timely feedback
• Difficulty in accurately documenting an employee’s performance over the prior year

As a result, many organizations are exploring changing performance management systems with frequent or ongoing feedback to improve or entirely replace annual reviews.

For organizations using traditional annual reviews, or no performance management system, most of these alternative performance management systems introduce radically different approaches to capturing and sharing employee performance feedback. Some of these include detailed journaling, activity logging, responding frequently to system-generated questions, and direct feedback from peers.

These alternative approaches can impact managers’ and employees’ job workflows, significantly increase overhead, and introduce major changes to an organization’s culture.

High risk: Shifting corporate culture to deploy a new performance management system

Implementing an ongoing performance management system with a radically different approach to capturing and sharing employee performance feedback requires most organizations to make a large cultural shift.

It is well documented that changing an organization’s culture is extremely difficult. A McKinsey & Company study¹ found that 70% of change initiatives fail and that the primary reasons for failure are employee resistance (39%) and lack of managerial support (33%). Similarly, a Towers Watson study² found that only 25% of change management initiatives are successful in achieving long-term, sustaining gains.

Unfortunately, a 25% to 30% chance of successfully shifting an organization’s culture to adopt a radically different approach to performance management isn’t very encouraging for the organization, Senior Leadership, or an HR Professional’s career. Failure in this attempt would also make future consideration of an alternate performance management system even more problematic. Adding the time and cost for planning, implementing, and training – it’s very hard to justify taking this risk!

Low Risk: Minimize the initial cultural shift for ongoing feedback

A better approach is to deploy a performance management solution that provides all the benefits of frequent or ongoing feedback but doesn’t require a large shift in the organization’s culture – even for organizations starting with traditional or nonexistent performance management processes. This minimizes the cultural change risk as well as the cost for planning, implementing, and training.

The classic performance appraisal form (see Image 1) and its core elements of Goal Areas, Achievement Levels, and qualitative Feedback Details about employee performance are familiar to most managers and employees. The appraisal summarizes an employee’s performance over an extended period of time.

Image 1 – Classic Performance Appraisal Showing Goal Areas, Achievement Levels, and Feedback Details

What are some of the benefits of capturing and sharing feedback as Snaps?

• Snaps are intuitive for managers and employees because they are already familiar with Goal Areas, Achievement Levels and Feedback Details text notes used throughout traditional annual review forms. This minimizes training and the potential for cultural resistance in the organization when implementing ongoing feedback.
• A Snap can be captured and shared in seconds. Smartphones and a mobile app with voice to text support enables feedback to be captured and shared instantly, at any place and time. Because feedback is instantly captured at the time that employee performance is observed or thought of, it’s most accurate and isn’t forgotten.
• Each Snap can be shared immediately when it’s captured (perfect for a quick thank you or acknowledgement), or sharing can be deferred to a future point in time (most appropriate for developmental or complex feedback that should first be discussed in-person).
• A Snap’s Goal Area can be an organization-wide goal or value; or a cascading department, team, job function, or individual goal.
• Snaps can be captured and shared with each employee from their first day of employment. No more waiting weeks or months for feedback as a new employee.
• Snaps universally support employees in all job functions (knowledge, office, and manual workers) and across all industries. Employees do not need to have access to computing technologies or email to receive performance feedback.
• Snaps don’t interrupt normal job workflows with frequent system-generated questions, or increase their workloads with burdensome journaling or activity logging.
• Snaps are a complete solution for eliminating or improving annual reviews with ongoing feedback. Managers can easily aggregate individual Snaps into performance summary reports that accurately reflect an employee’s performance over time.
• Snaps provide HR Professionals with real-time, comprehensive visibility and access to performance levels and trends across the organization.
• Snaps provide critically important documentation for HR Professionals in the event of a wrongful termination lawsuit or EEOC action.
• Inappropriate language filters automatically reject this content before it is incorporated into a Snap. The feedback creator and HR Professionals are notified about the rejected content.
• Based on criteria configured by an organization’s HR Professional, Snaps with potentially problematic feedback can automatically be queued for review and approval, so an HR Professional can proactively coach managers about the most effective ways to construct and deliver feedback before the employee receives it.
• Snap change audit logs and integrated reporting provide HR Professionals with access to all edits and updates to each Snap, and even access to all deleted Snaps.
• Advanced features such as 360 degree feedback, team feedback and external feedback can each be enabled incrementally, if and when desired. Advanced features can also easily be disabled incrementally. This enables very low risk, incremental cultural change over time!

Rather than attempting high risk cultural change by implementing a radically different approach to a performance management system, why not try an ultra-low risk Snaps-based approach by signing up for a FREE SnapEval account for your team?

I’m David Yeaple, VP of Business Development and Product Management at SnapEval, LLC. I’d love to get your feedback about this blog, our products, or anything else related to employee performance management. You can reach me at dyeaple@SnapEval.com or +1 585-414-5000.

¹AIPMM (2013, September 27). 70% of Transformation Programs Fail – McKinsey. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/aipmm/70-26633757. Slide 11

²Towers Watson (2013, August 29). Only One-Quarter of Employers Are Sustaining Gains From Change Management Initiatives, Towers Watson Survey Finds. Retrieved from https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130829005188/en/Only-One-Quarter-of-Employers-Are-Sustaining-Gains-From-Change-Management-Initiatives-Towers-Watson-Survey-Finds

Here are the Five Continuous Performance Management Myths that need to be Shattered!     

Many organizations are investigating Continuous Performance Management as a process to provide their employees with frequent feedback about their performance. Because it’s a relatively new approach to Performance Management, myths about selecting and implementing a Continuous Performance Management solution abound.

Continuous Performance Management Myths –  #1: Implementing a Continuous Performance Management solution always requires a risky cultural transformation.

Shattered! Just like there are different flavors of ice cream, there are also different types of Continuous Performance Management solutions. The type of solution selected and the organization’s current culture will determine how much cultural change (if any) is required.

Ideally, an organization’s culture should support the organization’s objectives. If it doesn’t, then a cultural transformation initiative is called for. But be forewarned, cultural transformation is very difficult, risky, and fails about 70% of the time!¹

For this reason, it’s important to select a Continuous Performance Management solution that fits the culture and workflow needs of the organization, rather than attempting to re-engineer an organization’s culture simply to implement Continuous Performance Management.

An ideal Continuous Performance Management solution should support an organization’s real work environment and optimal job workflows. Here are a few questions to ask when evaluating solutions:

• Are managers the only ones with access to computers and/or smartphones, or can employees also use them while on the job?
• Does management want to track employee progress against quantitative goals and objectives, or is capturing performance with the familiar elements of goals, achievement levels, and feedback details as used in traditional performance appraisals preferable?
• Would frequently tracking progress against goals and tracking results negatively impact normal job workflows for managers and/or employees?

Continuous Performance Management solutions based on OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) may be a good fit for organizations that want to:

• Track employee progress against quantitative goals and objectives
• Integrate frequent goal setting and tracking deeply into manager and employee workflows

A requirement for OKRs is that all managers and employees have access to smartphones and/or computers. For most organizations, implementation of Continuous Performance Management solutions based on OKRs requires a large cultural transformation.

Continuous Performance Management solutions based on easy-to-capture ‘feedback snapshots’ using the familiar elements of goals, achievement levels, and feedback details are a good fit for organizations that want minimal impact on existing manager and employee workflows. Some of these solutions can support organizations where employees don’t have access to smartphones or computers. Because this type of Continuous Performance Management typically requires little or no cultural transformation, it’s very low risk to implement.

No matter what type of Continuous Performance Management solution is selected, it’s critical that the process and technology to capture and share ongoing feedback is extremely simple, easy to use, and fast. If it’s not, managers and employees won’t use it, and the implementation will fail.

The SnapEval mobile app and web portal enables managers to capture ‘Feedback Snapshots’ using the same goals, achievement levels, and feedback details elements as used in traditional Employee Performance Appraisals. Managers can aggregate these individual Feedback Snapshots into ‘Performance Summaries’ for their assigned employees. A Performance Summary is identical to a traditional Employee Performance Appraisal in structure, except that it also includes these selected Feedback Snapshots. HR Professionals have comprehensive visibility to and control of Feedback Snapshots and Performance Summaries in the SnapEval web portal dashboard.  

Continuous Performance Management Myths –  #2: Continuous Performance Management always replaces annual reviews.

Shattered again! Many organizations continue to use quarterly, semi-annual, and/or annual performance appraisals in conjunction with the ongoing feedback enabled by Continuous Performance Management. These appraisals are the formal documentation used for merit-based pay increases, promotions, and other purposes.

The key is that some Continuous Performance Management solutions are more compatible with these traditional formal review methods than others. Solutions that enable managers to aggregate ‘feedback snapshots’ based on the familiar elements of goals, achievement levels, and feedback details into quarterly, semi-annual, or annual summaries are the most compatible with traditional performance reviews.

Continuous Performance Management Myths –  #3: Continuous Performance Management only works in large organizations.

Shattered! Just like payroll and other software products, different Continuous Performance Management solutions are also optimized for large, mid-sized, or small organizations.

If your organization is large, you’ll want a product with the features and options to accommodate the complexity of your organization’s scale.

If your organization is mid-sized or small, selecting a product that’s designed for your organization’s size will minimize unnecessary costs, configuration, and ongoing administration.

Continuous Performance Management Myths –  #4: It’s always best to introduce Continuous Performance Management after the completion of the organization’s current annual review cycle.

Also shattered! Deploying a Continuous Performance Management solution that is highly compatible with traditional performance reviews can be done anytime! The sooner the solution is deployed, the larger the amount of valuable feedback managers will have to incorporate into their next Quarterly, Semi-Annual, or Annual Performance Appraisals.

Continuous Performance Management Myths –  #5: Continuous Performance Management solutions are always expensive with large upfront costs and long-term commitments.

Absolutely shattered! While it’s true that the majority of Continuous Performance Management solutions are expensive, with setup costs and contracts that require a full year’s subscription payment upfront, there are exceptions. Here’s what to look for:

A vendor that’s a true partner to your organization should bear 100% of the financial risk for a successful evaluation, pilot, and implementation of the technology. This means:

• No upfront costs such as ‘startup’ or ‘configuration’ fees. The vendor should assist with configuration, without cost or obligation.
• No commitments, such as an annual contract.
• No 30-day limited trial period. You should be able to deploy the fully functional software to a pilot team for an unlimited period of time.
• You should not be pressured into making a decision to deploy until you’re fully satisfied that the technology will support all areas within your organization.

Then, if you decide to proceed with a full-scale deployment, there should be absolutely no contract or requirement to pay for a year’s subscription upfront.

• Aggressively-priced, full-featured Continuous Performance Management solutions cost as little as $2.25 per enrolled user per month.
• You should only be charged monthly based on the actual number of users enrolled in the tool that month.
• You should be allowed to cancel at any time and to take all of your data with you, without penalty.

I hope that shattering these myths has helped you to rethink Continuous Performance Management for your organization. If you have any questions about how SnapEval can fit your company’s needs, please contact us at Support@SnapEval.com.

I’m David Yeaple, VP of Business Development and Product Management at SnapEval, LLC. I’d love to get your feedback about this blog, our products, or anything else related to employee performance management. You can reach me at dyeaple@SnapEval.com or +1 585-414-5000.

¹http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/leadership/changing-change-management

Send Customized Push Notification Messages to your Organization’s Employees.    

Everyone with a smartphone is familiar with the push notification messages delivered by apps to inform and remind the user about important and timely information. You’ve probably experienced them yourself if you have a smartphone with a weather or news app installed. Research shows that push notifications are highly effective in engaging smartphone users when the message content is relevant and timely for the user.

Push notification messages can also be a powerful communications tool within an organization. Effective push notification messages for an entire organization can include facility closures due to inclement weather, “Rochester, NY offices are closing at 3:00 pm due to snow.” or a reminder to attend a company-wide event, “The corporate luncheon starts in 15 minutes.” Push notification messages to a group or individual can be even more tailored such as, “Please remember to prepare for tomorrow’s department meeting.”

We are excited to announce that SnapEval now enables HR Professionals and other Senior Leaders to send customized push notification messages to their organization’s employees. Each message can be up to 250 characters in length and is accompanied by an email with the same message content to the individuals targeted for the notification. The email provides a permanent record of the notification and communication to any individuals that don’t have the SnapEval mobile app installed or push notifications enabled on their smartphone.

SnapEval enables push notification messages to be targeted to a specific individual or to collections of individuals based on their SnapEval role or group enrollment. SnapEval roles include Organization Administrators, Group Administrators, Managers, and all Users. SnapEval groups are configured specific to each organization, but typical groups include collections of individuals by department, team, or job function.

SnapEval Organization Administrators (typically HR Professionals and other Senior Leaders) can send push notification messages to any role, group or individual. SnapEval Group Administrators (often department heads and team leaders) can send push notification messages to all members of any of their assigned group(s).

SnapEval’s new push notification message capability also automatically notifies employees when they receive performance feedback. We will soon be adding additional automated push notification message support for other SnapEval actions!

For more information, we’ve posted a video How to Create SnapEval Push Notification Messages that shows how to use SnapEval’s customized push notification features with your team.

I’m David Yeaple, VP of Business Development and Product Management at SnapEval, LLC. I’d love to get your feedback about this blog, our products, or anything else related to employee performance management. You can reach me at dyeaple@SnapEval.com or +1 585-414-5000.