Re-Calibrating The Focus: Performance Management in an evolved Workplace and Workforce

The traditional performance management process is ripe for an overhaul as the nature of work and workforce expectations evolve rapidly. In the session "Performance Management of the Future", experts explored how HR can realign performance management to drive greater business impact and employee engagement.

Nick Allen highlighted that "the more that you're increasing the effectiveness of Performance Management, the less the effort part even matters." When performance management processes are highly effective at fueling organizational performance, leaders and employees are willing to put in the work.

Three critical strategies were discussed for recalibrating performance management's focus:

1. Make it business-driven - Closely align performance management to each business unit's strategy, key results, and outcomes rather than treating it as just an HR process. Customize the process by job family/function.

2. Make it employee-owned - Incorporate more employee voice through self-evaluations, individualized development plans, and an ongoing dialogue around skills and career growth. Position performance management as a "people process."

3. Make it work-centered - Shift away from a rigid, annualized approach to one that is agile and focused on actual work being done cross-functionally. Create transparency by allowing stakeholders to view others' goals.

By becoming more business-driven, employee-owned, and work-centered, performance management can transform from a burdensome routine into a catalyst for organizational agility, collaboration, and talent development. HR has a critical role in rearchitecting the process and training leaders to make this shift.