Skill case: Managing employee performance

Situation:

In a culture where consultants were constantly at client sites and managers regarded coaching and appraisals as a low priority, consultants were left to do what they felt was best. While this freedom worked for some, overall performance was managed by false perceptions rather than actual results. Furthermore, many consultants felt lost and got involved in activities that did not support the organisations wider goals. Then under market pressure, the management team had to let some people go - naturally, it was hard to know who the lowest performers really were, some bad decisions were made and motivation took another dive.

Intervention:

Before institutionalizing coaching and establishing better appraisals could happen, two things needed to be but in place. First, getting the top management to see the negative implications of their current approach and second to decide on a clear set of criteria to assess people on. This task had proved too easy to avoid internally, but with outside help, we managed to agree on skills, competencies and behaviours that people at each level should be able to demonstrate. Against this structure each consultant was assessed, ranked, rewarded or let go. To make the process run in a fair and equitable manner, managers were trained in coaching, feedback and appraisals; while all staff were enlisted to give comment to the criteria and process. The process ran over a year, starting with objective setting, to mid-year reviews and ended with year-end appraisals and final ratings made jointly with the entire management team.

Results:

'Long, hard and worth it' were the words that summed up the management board's opinion. From the top, they now had a clear view on who was performing, but more importantly had aligned their staff around a set of behaviors that they wanted to see in their group. For the consultants, there were some bad surprises but overall they said it was 'Clear and fair' and that it had given them a sense that their career was moving forward and that the firm was supporting their growth.