Managing Partners/CEOs and Performance Management
It is time for industry to realise that performance management is not a concept of dangling a generic carrot in front of a team of multi-skilled workers, but a specialised process that should seek to perfect the ratio between organisational goals and individual skill set and task. For partnerships, Managing Partner/CEOs are in prime positions to either hinder or help the performance management process in their firm. They can either empower the process by supporting and valuing it firsthand or neglect it and let it wilt.
There is no doubt that Performance Management processes can offer tangible rewards, despite its traditionally fluffy reputation. Today, the concept of performance management is capturing the attention of mainstream headlines. The Harvard Business Review, for example, ran an article in June 2006 entitled ‘The Destructive Potential of Overachievers’, which emphasised that in the global economic climate of today, managers must be clued in on what motivates their staff, and provide appropriate incentives for them to achieve optimal performance. Delivering to employees motivational expectations will ultimately achieve the performance target every organisation idealises. The case for performance management is that it is premised on a foundation of people, and in order for it to work, organisations must pay attention to each individual’s motivation as well as their skill set. This point beckons new light on the firm’s relationship with its marketing and HR functions, but that’s another story (which hopefully I’ll pick up on that thread in near future).
As leaders, Managing Partner/CEOs can either initiate or support a performance management process that focuses on both personal motivation and skill set. What is required from them is formal support, which can include assessing the current performance management process, designing a new process that works, liaising with human resource professionals within the firm and, on a broader level, understanding how performance management ties into the wider operations of the organisation, including that of knowledge management. Whatever the trajectory your firm chooses, valuing clear communication, recognition and reward, equality, development and progression throughout, are all essential success factors to sustain.
Unfortunately, for those Managing Partner/CEOs with gruelling and demanding schedules, there is no cookie cutter performance management solution. Direct involvement and support of your HR staff is essential, as well as your public approval of the initiative. The reasons for this are twofold: your knowledge of the firm as a whole can allow application of the bigger picture to ensure a successful performance strategy, and the inherent power in your position will undoubtedly direct much needed attention in the right direction.
Attention lingers in the area where HR and Marketing meet with the management who spearhead Performance management initiatives – how do these dynamics affect the outcomes of quality of staff retained?
There is no doubt that Performance Management processes can offer tangible rewards, despite its traditionally fluffy reputation. Today, the concept of performance management is capturing the attention of mainstream headlines. The Harvard Business Review, for example, ran an article in June 2006 entitled ‘The Destructive Potential of Overachievers’, which emphasised that in the global economic climate of today, managers must be clued in on what motivates their staff, and provide appropriate incentives for them to achieve optimal performance. Delivering to employees motivational expectations will ultimately achieve the performance target every organisation idealises. The case for performance management is that it is premised on a foundation of people, and in order for it to work, organisations must pay attention to each individual’s motivation as well as their skill set. This point beckons new light on the firm’s relationship with its marketing and HR functions, but that’s another story (which hopefully I’ll pick up on that thread in near future).
As leaders, Managing Partner/CEOs can either initiate or support a performance management process that focuses on both personal motivation and skill set. What is required from them is formal support, which can include assessing the current performance management process, designing a new process that works, liaising with human resource professionals within the firm and, on a broader level, understanding how performance management ties into the wider operations of the organisation, including that of knowledge management. Whatever the trajectory your firm chooses, valuing clear communication, recognition and reward, equality, development and progression throughout, are all essential success factors to sustain.
Unfortunately, for those Managing Partner/CEOs with gruelling and demanding schedules, there is no cookie cutter performance management solution. Direct involvement and support of your HR staff is essential, as well as your public approval of the initiative. The reasons for this are twofold: your knowledge of the firm as a whole can allow application of the bigger picture to ensure a successful performance strategy, and the inherent power in your position will undoubtedly direct much needed attention in the right direction.
Attention lingers in the area where HR and Marketing meet with the management who spearhead Performance management initiatives – how do these dynamics affect the outcomes of quality of staff retained?
posted by Natalie Galluccio at 9:01 AM
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