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Performance Management: Processes AND People - The process of performance management

The focus of this article now moves to discuss the importance of the required behavioural factors as a key enabler in developing and embedding a high performance culture within an organisation. Although it is very difficult to fully encapsulate the vast nature of this topic, the need to understand the ‘people dimension’ is a vital part of the corporate management of the organisation. Every organisation’s annual report makes reference to its employees as being the organisation’s most valuable asset. In many cases, employees are also the most expensive asset and absolutely central to the rate at which organisational performance can be increased.

On the premise that the often quoted “people are our greatest assets” statement is true, to support enhanced job performance, this ‘great’ asset needs to be effective in four areas:

• Competencies – How they go about their work;
• Attitude –  How they prepare for work;
• Skills – What they can do;
• Knowledge – What they know.

It is the proficiency of these four areas that contribute to the business success. They can be applied to a number of activities within an organisation, such as those associated with customer focus, team-work, innovation and problem solving, communications, to name but a few. The development of skills, knowledge and competencies are linked into the individual’s performance as shown in Figure 1, which suggests a closer working relationship between HR and functional managers as part of a cyclical business arrangement:

Figure 1:The cycle of recruitment, training and career management as part of a Performance Management system.
(From: The Essential Management Toolbox: Models, Tools and Notes for Consultants and Managers. Published by John Wiley and Sons, UK. January 2008.)

For companies who use a Competency Management system there is a clear linkage to their training provision and a typical five-phase Systematic Approach to Training (SAT), used by a number of the more regulated industries such as Oil and Gas, Nuclear, Rail and others. This five-phase process is outlined below and described in detail in the, Essential Tools for Organizational Performance by the same author.

• Phase 1 involves an analysis to develop a detailed understanding of the task that an individual is required to undertake and requires an assessor to capture information on how the task is performed and the competencies that are needed to perform the task. 
• Phase 2 covers the design phase, which focuses on the development of a suite of training aims and objectives that are directly based on the competencies identified during Phase 1. This helps to ensure that the training is subsequently developed to directly support the trainee in achieving the required competencies for their job/role and written up as a training plan.
• Phase 3 takes the training plan and develops this into the necessary training material required to deliver the training. Typically, the material required will include training aids, handouts, assessment methodologies and their associated competence assessment criteria.
• Phase 4 covers the delivery of the training to meet the identified requirement. If effort is put into the previous development phases, the training should be delivered consistently and reliably to all attendees.
• Phase 5 covers the review of the process and the management of training records. 

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