Columbia, MD. June 3, 2015. – Global performance improvement solutions provider GP Strategies Corporation announced today that its BlessingWhite Division has released a new research report entitled “Performance Management: Assess or Unleash.” The report provides insights and guidance to organizations looking for a new approach to performance management.
Companies around the world are transitioning away from the traditional approach to performance management, the process by which an employee's performance is assessed, often annually, and ranked against the performance of others. This old-school approach is now widely accepted as counterproductive and out of touch, time consuming for managers, broadly disliked by individuals and seen by executives as delivering little in terms of improving actual performance.
The new approach championed by progressive firms is to have managers provide coaching year-round, focusing on future development and personal improvement. Using a survey of over 1,000 managers and employees, the report provides six principles and describes the four key phases in transitioning from the old approach to the new.
Key findings from the study include the following:
- Those who receive coaching have a more positive attitude towards the performance review and a more positive perception of fairness, accuracy, etc.
- Regular feedback and coaching conversations are still the exception, rather than the rule.
- Incrementally, the higher up in the organization, the more positive your perception of the approach (fairness, accuracy, etc.). The challenge is to understand how the performance management approach is experienced throughout the organization.
- Traditional performance management processes seem to place little value on career conversations or development, despite these being key to engaging individuals.
- Ultimately, the formal process itself matters less than how it is used.
As a result of these findings, BlessingWhite recommends that organizations that are still using traditional industrial-era approaches to managing human performance should evaluate the outcomes and critically evaluate their process. In most cases, an approach that looks to build employee engagement in the process is more productive than one that aims to rank and “score” individual performance.
To download the study, visit: http://blessingwhite.com/research-report/performance-management-research-report-2015/.
About GP Strategies
GP Strategies Corporation is a global performance improvement solutions provider of training, eLearning solutions, management consulting and engineering services. GP Strategies’ solutions improve the effectiveness of organizations by delivering innovative and superior training, consulting and business improvement services customized to meet the specific needs of its clients. Clients include Fortune 500 companies, manufacturing, process and energy industries, and other commercial and government customers. Additional information may be found at www.gpstrategies.com.
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