“I am doing a lot of manual work.  Send the feedback forms to each employee, make sure that they understand them, collect them back before the deadline, etc.  Is there a way to automate this?”

“I do not know the status of the progress until I get the filled-in forms back to my desk. I do not have the data on how many managers have completed their reviews or had 1 on 1 with their team members, what did they communicate, etc. Will I be able to complete the entire appraisal process of employees in time (before my deadline)?”

“I am doing a lot of follow-ups with people to complete the process. It is time-consuming, and I am not able to focus on something more meaningful.”

“Once I get the filled-in papers from managers, I am doing a lot of data entry from printed papers to excel, collate the data from multiple excel files just to know the score and ratings, and get a singular view of the company. How can I get this better?”

And, the solution is…

Digitize your performance management system using Trailblazing cloud-based performance management and engagement software and increase the visibility of the processes happening at your company. Here are the features to be included in your software to create an agile performance management system.

Table of Contents

• Agile Goal-setting Process 
• Continuous check-ins to Increase Productivity 
• 360 Degree Feedback for Collaboration 
• Reviews and Recognition to Engage Employees 
• Customized Reports and Analytics 
• Conclusion 

Agile Goal-setting Process

Goal-setting is an integral part of an effective performance management system, and it has to be set the right way to reach heights. The powerful goal-setting frameworks include SMART goals and OKR. SMART goals allow you to set specific, measurable, attainable, reliable, and time-bound objectives so that your team never goes off track.

In Objectives and Key Results (OKR), you can measure your employees’ progress toward their goals and also direct all their efforts toward one common goal, which is your organizational objective for the year. This implies that OKRs can easily bring alignment to your company. Besides, anyone in the organization can view their peers’ OKRs to not follow the same objective create redundancy. This, in turn, creates a transparent work culture.

And, the good news is, you need not confront any hassle in the process as you can even automate and track the progress digitally. Say goodbye to your pen and paper.

Continuous Check-ins to Increase Productivity

Imagine what would happen if a conversation between your manager and employee happens only once a year. That would dramatically increase your employee attrition rate and decrease your company’s overall productivity. This is where continuous check-ins come into the picture. Global companies adopt this continuous performance management model to strengthen the manager-employee relations and also to provide guidance and direction to the workforce.

With an effective continuous check-ins tool, you can record the conversations in the cloud and can refer to them at the end of the year to have a fair and transparent appraisal process. This mechanism helps to steer clear of recency bias, central tendency bias, halo effect, etc. And, the takeaway is no more manual works, and the system will take care of all the records.

360 Degree Feedback for Collaboration

Sometimes, employees will have some feedback for the managers or one team member wants to share his/her observation on another team member’s performance. In those situations, 360 degree feedback enables downward, upward, and also horizontal ways of communication. The peers and direct reports can share their feedback anonymously, and the exchanges are kept confidential.

Most companies implement 360 degree feedback because they want their employees to learn their strengths and weaknesses, which happen to be in their blind spots. It is up to the management to decide whether the conversations should be used for the appraisal process or not. 360 degree feedback helps a company to identify the future leaders in their workforce and nurture them. No filling in manual forms anymore!

Reviews and Recognition to Engage Employees

All employees need recognition for their efforts and hard work. If a company does not value them, they eventually get disengaged and start looking for other jobs. To prevent that from happening and create mutual trust, you will have to have a strong review and recognition program in place. How about a social digital platform for use within an organization? Isn’t that cool?

You do not need your pen and paper or excel sheets to note down who performs well. The platform has everything that you need to know about outstanding performers. Digitizing your recognition program is an added advantage to keep your workforce engaged and make them stay in the company for a long period, which would cut down your hiring and termination costs.

Customized Reports and Analytics

This is the best part of having an automated performance management system. All the reports, data, and analytics that you need on an employee’s performance will just be a click away if you leverage the power of software like Synergita. In robust performance management tools, the one-stop dashboard gives you insights you needed on specific activities.

For example, in Synergita, the report on the COVID vaccination status of your employees can be seen through a chart in the dashboard.

Data is the new oil, and so you should make sure that the reports you get are accurate and reliable. There can always be errors in humans’ calculations, and it might take days to gather data on a large number of people’s performance. Therefore, digitization and automation are the right choices to make your performance management system an effective one.

Conclusio

Implementing an effective tool for your performance management needs helps HRs and managers to focus more on productive work rather than administrative tasks that can be automated. Talents should be managing tools and AI, formulating strategies, developing a new product or feature, supporting customers, and innovating instead of filling in form after form just for records. Therefore, adopt the mentioned features in the blog, digitize them, and create a great culture for people to work.