Monday 1 October 2012

Performance management is an oxymoron too!

I always read with interest the New World of Work newsletter from the great people at Tomorrow Today.

The following in the September 28th issue caught my attention:

“It seems amazing, but many businesses still don’t understand the positive impact engagement can have on their bottom line. For example, various recent studies have found:

- that the most engaged companies have 5 times higher total shareholder return over 5 years than the least engaged companies (Kenexa)

- that companies with high levels of engagement outperform the stock market index and post shareholder returns 22% higher than average.  (Aon Hewitt)

Yet Gallup still reports that 71% of employees are disengaged.”

I am not at all surprised by these sad numbers.  Most people don’t yet get that employee engagement is an outcome of what we think about people and how we treat them. Indeed engagement is a way of life.

Performance management systems are so often a contributor to poor performance because the focus is usually trying to manage people and appraising them.  We need to stop trying to manage people (see my article here.) We also need to stop appraising people.  Appraisals are for houses and cars.  Even then I doubt the value of appraisal.

What we should be doing with people is appreciating them and making it simple for them to be accountable.

Performance management is an oxymoron.  It’s the third of the big three oxymorons that lead to bad business.  The other two are strategic planning and change management.  You can read my thoughts on these two here.

I am on a mission to rid the world of dull, boring, unhelpful, disliked, unproductive, meaningless, useless, valueless, dumb, uncaring, unappreciated, and pointless conversations about performance and the devastating negative effects they have on people and productivity, I am about putting fun, candor, joy and meaning firmly back into such conversations. Authentic employee engagement, optimum performance by the majority of your people everyday, and the guaranteed execution of your strategy are the key results.

Last week I was asked why I do what I do.  I answered in a heartbeat, because more human beings need to be fully alive.

My father taught me that a key to success in life is to be spiritually alive, physically active, and mentally alert.  Over the years I added emotionally healthy and universally aware to my Dad’s three to state what I believe it means to be fully alive.

My work is about helping people to be fully alive.  The results of course take your breath away.

Please set aside 12 minutes and 57 seconds and watch my video You’re Special below.  If my story resonates with you then my work could be a godsend for you.




Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.

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