By Gary Bourke*
A high performance culture is a priority for most organisations. Organisational gurus such as Drucker, Kaplan, Goleman and others have told us for years about the fundamental need for an effective employee review and support system to underpin organisational efficiency and keep everyone heading in the same direction.
In reality most organisations don’t get value for effort from their employee appraisal system. While there will always be some differences from organisation to organisation, ideally a performance review process should be a positive experience with outcomes such as:
- feedback on performance
- individual goal setting
- alignment of individual and team actions with higher level organisational goals
- review of past training and development opportunities while setting future individual and corporate development plans
- remuneration adjustment.
We all know that most managers and supervisors don’t enjoy the traditional appraisal process. At best it is seen as a chore that gets in the way of the ‘real work’. Too often the emphasis is placed on completing forms and paperwork rather than achieving value for effort. A second major barrier to a successful process is the concept of one size fits all. Whether we are considering different organisations or work units within the same organisation, this approach just doesn’t work.
We don’t expect that a staff member in the finance department will face the same day to day work challenges as a local laws officer, therefore we appreciate that they need a different approach and set of skills to manage their jobs.
Yet many organisations will use the same review process for both. It sounds silly, but the reality is that this occurs because it has been too hard to maintain multiple systems across a single organisation.
Managers today understand the importance of providing regular and timely feedback; it then seems smart to incorporate this informal day to day practice into a performance management system, substantially lessening the emphasis on an annual or half yearly event.
It makes sense that as work plans, goals and objectives are continually reviewed and updated, along with training and development, that the associated feedback provide the basis for the regular formal review.
A simple concept, but the additional workload to collect and collate all this information has always been prohibitive.
The challenge then is to introduce a time efficient, value for effort system that occurs throughout the year, is targeted to specific employee groups and delivers the desired outcomes.
If this all sounds too hard, think about the easily quantifiable cost of an inefficient system (total employees by average hourly cost by hours spent on each appraisal).
Do the sums for your organisation, but remember to include managers’ salaries, oncosts and administration time.
Even then this figure will be conservative, as it does not consider the hidden costs of poorly scheduled and ineffective training programs, lack of goal alignment and the negative impact on morale. The wastage will be considerable for no tangible result.
Cambron Pty Ltd has developed smart, simple to use and cost saving software in response to inefficient and expensive alternatives. The benefits include:
- enhanced risk management, increased productivity and cost savings through structured employee training and development
- opportunities to shape individual behaviours towards a desired organisational culture
- ability to set KPIs for supervisors and managers that are aligned to employee support and performance
- option to set measurable individual objectives that link to higher level business plans and accreditation standards
- significant reduction in administrative costs when compared to traditional systems
- compatibility with other excellence and cultural change processes
- greater adherence to legislative requirements
- compatibility with other leading edge software.
The Cambron software joins the dots; originally developed with Local Government in mind, it is now successfully used across a range of sectors including education, health, insurance, government and welfare.
If you are looking for a simple to use, cost saving and flexible solution to the performance mangement challenge, email your details to nfo@cambron.com.au or telephone us on (03) 5243 9484 or visit www.cambon.com.au
*Gary Bourke is Managing Director of Cambron Pty Ltd. Gary has worked in senior HR roles across the ports, stevedoring, State Government, Local Government and welfare sectors for over 20 years. He founded Cambron Human Resources Consulting in 2002.
