Do you still use Nokia 1100? Do you still watch your favorite series on black and white Television? Do you still use a bullock cart for travel? No, right? If someone asks you why you are not sticking to your old ways of doing things, you would simply say, times are changing and technological advancement has catapulted. And there is no reason for you to perform tasks inconveniently. 

Change is the only constant, and in today’s HR space, performance management is done through tools and software and not manually, which is very mundane and time-consuming. Besides, the pen and paper approach is abhorred by the tech-savvy incoming workforce too. The performance management process should be digitized and updated that suits the present fast-paced business environment. 

Here are 6 super tips to make your employee performance management process fast and insightful.

Make it an Ongoing Continuous Process 

The once-in-a-year performance management process has become obsolete. General Electric, which had earlier embraced the annual performance reviews is moving away from them and adopting the continuous system. Most companies are moving toward an ongoing performance process because it assures a higher employee engagement rate and also productivity.  

More than 50% of the employees want the performance review to happen every month, and more than 90% of the workforce would like to have feedback frequently from their managers for real-time improvement. 

Set Goals That are Traceable and Efficacious 

Setting goals is not enough, but a team should be able to monitor and track the progress toward the objectives. Objectives and Key Results (OKR) and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound) are two effective goal-setting frameworks that can help you achieve your objectives easily. With SMART goals, team managers can lead their teams toward a particular objective and achieve them within a stipulated time.  SMART goals give clarity, visibility, and attainable goals to your team. 

Objectives and Key Results (OKR) help your team to learn what is expected out of them and how those expectations can be achieved. The method creates a transparent and open culture within an organization. Attaining the stretch goals in near future becomes possible with OKRs and the right implementation and usage of the tool.  

Make the Bosses into Leaders 

A leader inspires and motivates the team to perform better. He/she guides the team through adversities and difficult paths. But a boss pushes the team into difficulties and gives a lot of pressure on them instead of confronting the workload along with them. There are many reports that assert the employees leave a well-paying job or an organization because of their bosses most of the time. This will, in turn, increase the employee turnover rate and the company’s expenses in hiring a new candidate. Also, the company loses a highly productive employee.

Giving proper training to managers and strengthening the leadership have a great impact on the performance of the employees. Also, the managers, who act as leaders, give instant feedback, track the progress fairly, and give the right recommendations to the employees to improve. They also have the data and insights on the performance of an employee to substantiate their feedback and persuade the employee to work on the areas that need improvement.  

The higher management should provide the required resources and technology to support the leaders of the organization, and it is an investment rather than an expense, and it would give higher returns in a year or two. 

Continuous Check-ins Ensure Meaningful Conversations 

The performance management process used to be a nightmare for managers and employees because they confront each other honestly only once a year. So, the managers try to be neutral, and the employees pray for it to be over soon. But with continuous check-ins, managers can deliver real-time feedback and get to know more about the employees and their concerns. The team members also try to open up during the continuous check-in sessions. 

If managers take the right action on the concerns, the employees will be more productive and perform better. These conversations can be used to do a transparent and fair performance appraisal process, and they give more insights that enable the organization to make data-driven informed decisions.  

360 Degree Feedback Helps to Identify Leaders 

360 degree feedback promotes collaboration among team members, and most importantly, it helps the organization to identify future leaders and high potential employees. No one knows an employee better than his/her colleagues when it comes to working. Gathering feedback from an employee’s peers, primary manager, matrix manager, direct reports, etc., helps the employee to learn about his/her areas of improvement, and the management can leverage these insights to decide the future of the company or at least, the next step of a particular business unit. 

If you are to perform better or even slightly different, you must know the resources you possess and their capabilities. Having 360-degree feedback as one of the characteristics of your performance management system can reap a lot of benefits such as good teamwork, improved performance, upskilling, and data-driven reports. 

Rewards and Recognition Boost the Morale 

Rewarding and recognizing is an indispensable part of an effective performance management system. This is one of the reasons why employees work hard because everyone wants to be recognized or rewarded for the efforts they put in. If the employees are not recognized when they perform outstandingly, they lose their motivation and soon become disengaged. As a result, productivity decreases and it becomes very hard to bring them back on track.  

Disengagement costs a company a lot, and it affects their profitability terribly. Therefore, having a reward and recognition plan in place is mandatory. This serves as an encouragement to the employees; the performance will increase eventually. Also, the recognition should not happen at the end of the year, but after every successful completion of a project.  

Synergita, effective performance management and engagement software, offers the following trailblazing features. 

• CRM & Sales Dashboards 
• Employee Self Service Management 
• Applicant tracking 
• Employee Management 
• Applications Management 
• 360 Degree Feedback 
• Compensation Management 
• Employee Profile 
• Feedback Management 
• Goal Management 
• Goal Setting / Tracking 
• Performance Appraisal 
• Surveys & Feedback 
• Balanced Scorecards 
• Key Performance Indicators 
• Objectives and Key Results 

Implement an effective performance management tool that has the above-mentioned features and characteristics to achieve great successes and stretch goals in the journey of your organization. Comment what makes a performance management system innovative.