Pivot, Adapt, Change

What constitutes productivity and success is a constantly moving target, and static performance management models are simply no longer fit for purpose.

- Lisa Smyth

Collectively, we asked a lot of people to step up their performance in 2020 – doctors, nurses, supermarket workers, hairdressers and more – but it’s not an exaggeration to suggest that, for most people, it was not a peak performance year. With so much disruption and uncertainty, is it even fair to measure performance in the workplace like we used to? Are performance reviews, before now usually conducted in person, even a valid tool in a COVID-19, remote-working world?

As it turns out, regular performance management theories and tools may not have been much use before the global pandemic anyway. “Over the past decade, it has become increasingly apparent that the systems used to measure performance are ineffective, broken, out of touch with people, archaic and only meeting a compliance agenda,” explains Michelle Bihary, a leadership and resilience specialist and author of Leading Above the Line.

In fact, according to Mercer’s ‘Global Performance Management’ studies in both 2013 and 2019, only two per cent of companies believed that their performance management approach delivered exceptional value. Which means that, even with vaccines on the horizon and an end to the pandemic in sight, rethinking the way your business measures performance is critical for future success.

MEASURING YOUR PERFORMANCE

1. PROMOTE AGILE GOALS