COVID-19 has disrupted the way we work. With a remote workforce and the growing strength of the WFH movement, traditional performance management programs rate poorly.
Research shows programs based on autocratic management styles with top-down goals, infrequent feedback, and lack of agility to respond to issues can contribute to poor staff morale.
Many workplaces are now re-evaluating how they can inspire their employees to achieve their best.
Listening, allowing more autonomy in personal goal setting, and regularly checking in on progress are powerful tools to consider and it’s part of a new ‘coaching-style’ approach that suits our new world of work.
This style requires good communication skills from managers and aims to help employees show their best, rather than reprimanding or threatening when they don’t achieve what is expected. The job of the manager in this scenario is to instil confidence and to provide the tools and direction to help the employee develop and grow. This is likely to have a positive effect on staff turnover.
There are three key components to coaching performance:
- Agile Goals
The current disruption due to the pandemic calls for a more agile approach to goal setting. Goals need to be immediately adjusted to focus an aligned effort on business needs and how employees deliver value. Employees own their goals and should be encouraged to lookout for opportunities to pivot with changes that a business needs and be rewarded for identifying new ways to make a positive impact.
- Ongoing Conversations
We need ongoing coaching conversations that establish an atmosphere of collaboration and shared accountability for performance and development. These can be short informal chats based on goals at weekly, monthly, and quarterly intervals.
When managers have frequent, meaningful conversations, employees are able to capitalize on the advantages of working from home or in stressful conditions like those presented by COVID-19. When managers fail to communicate or to ‘check in’ on employees individually about their progress and experiences, engagement plummets for at-home workers. Frequency of feedback is important.
- Accountability
Don’t hold employees to a metric or incentive that doesn’t make sense in the current business environment. It is critical for those teams to focus on clearly defined outcomes and performance indicators (e.g., metrics, goals, deliverables). Don’t mistake activity and participation — such as emails, meetings, hours on a timesheet — for high-quality, productive performance outcomes.
Managers should be given the flexibility to tailor goal setting to the team and the individual as required. The worst possible strategy is to avoid having progress review and pay conversations altogether.
Coaching is the new way forward
In the new world with employees needing to find engagement, to be appreciated and often working out of the office, how you work as a team will be more important than ever. It’s time to make a change.
Adapted from an article by global workplace advisory firm Gallup, 2020: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/318029/performance-management-evolve-survive-covid.aspx Further reading on this topic: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/380488