Don’t wait a year to have those important conversations!
January 26, 2009
In my organisation we’ve been carrying out annual appraisals over the last few weeks, and I would say that overall the process has been a success. Managers have had very informative conversations with their members of staff, and have been able to better understand their concerns, ideas and future aims as a result. For more than one employee, the appraisal has been an extremely positive event, because they have finally been able to air their issues and explain what is making them unhappy in work – and as a result a clear action plan has been developed to resolve these problems which will have a positive effect on the employee’s job satisfaction, and will ultimately help to retain those important members of staff, some of whom have openly admitted that they have considered changing their job in recent months.
Whilst I am really pleased with the outcomes of the appraisals, and I feel that many people’s futures will be better because of the open conversations that have taken place, I am disappointed that valued employees have had to wait for a number of months before being able to voice their concerns and find a resolution. I wonder how many leavers we could have saved in the last year if we had made more of an effort to ask them how they are feeling and listen to their concerns on a more regular basis than an annual appraisal?
It might sound silly saying all this, but I bet that in many organisations employees go a long time without having the important conversations with their line managers; there’s a difference between speaking to someone every day and giving them the opportunity to discuss their overall happiness and job satisfaction. There are different types of people of course – some people don’t have a problem approaching their manager without being asked if they have a concern, others will sit back and keep all their worries in, whilst feeling that the company does not care about how they are doing – and these are the people companies will eventually lose.
So basically the message is this: managers need to take more time to speak to their staff at regular intervals, and not just once a year in the annual appraisals. The key is listening to (and not simply ‘hearing’) what the employee has to say and acting on anything that may be negatively impacting on the employee’s job satisfaction or ability to achieve their job effectively. It’s simple stuff but will make a huge difference in the workplace.
Expanding technology and employee feedback
September 8, 2008
The other day I was in my local shop purchasing a bottle of wine, and I paid by card using the chip and pin machine. Just before I went to key my pin into the machine, it asked me if the service I had received had been polite and efficient.
This is an example of the extent to which technology is now being used to gain useful feedback from a variety of different people. The information gained from the chip and pin machine is probably used by the head office of the grocery chain to benchmark local stores and feed back on whether improvements need to be implemented, but it could be used to feed into the performance management process for staff within the store.
Using technology in performance management processes can help to gain more data than the traditional manager-employee methods such as performance appraisal. It makes sense that the more data gathered and the more people involved in the process, the more objective and accurate the assessment of personal performance is likely to be. Many companies now use online 360 degree feedback systems which allow participants to answer a series of specific performance related questions about the individual quickly and easily, and also confidentially if required.
Technology is developing constantly, and the chip and pin example shows how new systems used in retail can be adapted to help organisations assess and review the performance of their staff. However, even as technology advances, there is no substitute for effective people management as the impact of the performance of employees, good or bad, is still crucial even if new technology emerges that improves some of the processes within the organisation.
Staff motivation
April 25, 2008
According to a new survey carried out by YouGov on behalf of Investors in People UK, 30% of workers are de-motivated in their current role, and the main reasons for this are lack of development and career progression opportunities. The research found that people who had been in their role for one to two years are most likely to want to leave. This is because their employer focussed all of their efforts on the induction period, where a lot of development and progression took place, but once the employee was settled in the role the focus on development tailed off. I was speaking to a colleague of mine the other day and he said that personal development had always been more important to him than his salary prospects, and I suspect that for a lot of other people this is also the case.
The research also highlighted the important link in making this happen – line managers. 28% of survey respondents to the survey who had a line manager felt unsupported by them. I can’t express enough the impact of the line manager’s actions and management style on the morale, motivation and job satisfaction of employees. No matter what great policies and procedures are in place, an employee will still be de-motivated if they do not feel that their manager takes an interest in their work and their future career path. Staff who do not feel this connection with their manager will be those who lose track of their goals, lack commitment through low motivation and will probably eventually leave after one or two years.
The UK supposedly has one of the lowest productivity rates in the world, even though we work longer hours than most other countries, so there has to be something in staff motivation levels. From the findings of this research, it looks like many companies have a lot more to do in terms of staff development and career planning; something that’s probably quite obvious if you think about it.