Performance Management
Dr. Abid Mujtaba (Consultant)

Corporate strategic goals are not possible without inculcating the concept of  Performance Management (PM). It refers to effective management of individuals and teams to achieve high level of organizational performance through shared understanding about the processes and objectives in the organization. PM is more than Management by Objective (MBO) as it has broader perspective in which bringing change in organizational culture, employees growth and learning, and meeting employees' personal objectives are seen as primary steps to obtain business objectives. The idea behind PM is make all employees more responsible so that they act as a partner than a salary or wage seeker employee.

Organizations do not view PM as a short-term strategy but linked it with various aspects of people management and development to grow business in the long term.  It is appreciated that performance will not improve without paying attention on continuous improvement of skills and relationship between individuals and teams. PM is not a simple business tactics but a strategy to change the culture where managers and employees continuously strive to improve business processes and individual skills and abilities to meet organizational and personal short and long-term objectives. Mind it, it is not implemented through communicating "top-down" business expectations but viewed as a two-way communication process in which individuals and teams also communicate their expectations. They are involved in setting the objectives and business plans and how performance should be measured. Performance is measured against the set

To implement PM throughout in the system, all Managers carry responsibility within their domain . They must appreciate that PM does not mean pointing fingers or keeping busy in finding  minor wrong-doings, more importantly is to recognize right-doings. The hard core fact is that human beings and machines are not alike - keeping this in mind, it is important to recognize what is decided will not be implemented mechanically - so here comes the role of shared understanding. Shared understanding refers to the fact that managers and subordinates know what is regarded as high, moderate and low performance; they know what is tolerable and what is not.  Feedback does not mean criticizing but also means giving encouragement and praise for the right and improved behaviors. Managers communications is very important because they have to communicate to subordinates what is expected from them, monitor the performance and capability development, and give feedback on the performance. Managers should also acknowledge that their own behaviors, actions and styles of communication carry very strong impact on their subordinates.

Remember: Eliminating wrong-doings takes you nowhere, however, positive thinking takes you somewhere.

Questions to Ponder

• Are your all employees with high skills and abilities?
• What to do with low performers?
• Do your employees understand what does it mean shared understanding?

To hold strategic discussion or seminar on Performance Management, contact us.

Reviewed by Nadeem Yousaf