Performance Management Must Change to Fulfill Its Purpose

On June 17 2021 DEVELOR International hosted its 6th webinar in the series RE/Think HR. This time the topic was chosen „The Challenges of Performance Management in Remote and Hybrid Environment.“ The event hosted over 100 guests from 11 countries.

HR Is In a Performance Management Trap

An interesting statement to ponder came from the opening address of Mr Zsolt Pozvai, Global CEO of DEVELOR. He argued that the HR function being responsible for the system of performance management is in a difficult situation. In many companies, the PMS is far from achieving its purpose.

60% of the participating company representatives stated that the purpose of PMS should be to support team and organisational performance growth. At the same time, it is true that the majority of the existing PM systems are built on the EVALUATION OF AN INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE. The discrepancy here might be the driving reason why 83% stated that they want some level of change to happen to the system currently in place.

Another troubling fact is that the system of performance reviews is often tied to the money aspect – whether directly or indirectly. This deteriorates the developmental efforts, because it pushes the managers towards more generous and less accurate evaluation, thus also hindering the skill progress of employees.

Trust Is The Basis Of The Future Of Performance Management

In the main part of the event – the panel discussion – three guests (representing various countries and industries) shared their view on leadership shift and performance management in particular.

Emel Mordo, Director of People & Culture for Philip Morris International in Ukraine, Caucasus & Moldova region, Lászlo Cser, HR Director of Kuehne+Nagel in Hungary and Peter Sandin, Chief Executive Office of ComAp Group from the Czech Republic (connecting from Sweden) brought an interesting diverse perspective on the topic.

It is all about trust.

This statement resonated a lot in the panel discussion. Modern performance management systems should be more focused on the development and less towards control. Control of results is part of the job, however the system, as stated in the survey, should mostly support the growth, not evaluate and measure the result.

Performance Management For A Hybrid Or Remote Work: Personal, Dialogue-based, Teams And Engagement Focused

It was obvious in the presentation and the answers of the panellists that the rethinking of Performance Management for the new era is imminently needed.

It is DEVELOR’s prerogative that the real Performance Management System of the future must reflect the following:

• Personalized, on-demand, data-driven performance feedback
• More a dialogue about barriers and root-causes
• Stronger emphasis on team, rather than individual
• Have some focus on engagement and well-being

DEVELOR as a leading company in the human development field sees the PMS as a critical part of the Employee Journey. To review this obviously lacking Mr Zsolt Pozvai presented a four-part journey:

1. Assess and rebuild your Performance Management system Considering various aspects like purpose, KPIs-set, frequency, technology support
2. Implement the system, with continuous improvement
3. Inform and train managers: mindset, process and skillset
4. Inform and train employees: mindset, process and skillset

DEVELOR is ready to be the partner for all four steps of this transformative journey for any company brave enough to take the action.

Download the slides from the event below for more details or contact DEVELOR to start a discussion about how your Performance Management System could be the driving force of improvement and growth of your people, teams and organization.

What is RE/Think HR?

RE/Think HR is a series of international webinars dedicated to HR and L&D managers. The pandemic-induced changes in the way of working and leading caused complications that required novel solutions. Thus, DEVELOR decided to establish this virtual event series to allow HR managers from different countries to ventilate existing challenges, share experiences and get inspirations and ideas from others.