Performance Management
Case study
Overview
Smaller technology consulting firm (~20 employees) wanted to develop a performance management process to be utilized company-wide, uniformly and consistently. High level goals with this process included:
- Desire to help employees continue to grow and be promoted.
- Provide regular, consistent feedback.
- Make the process impactful (not a “do it just to do it” type thing).
- Make it repeatable/scalable/sustainable.
Challenge
Process was inconsistent (if happening at all): some individuals received regular feedback/reviews, and some did not depending on the department or manager.
- Leadership team was on the same page, recognized the gap, and was incredibly engaged in the process improvement.
- Leadership also wanted to identify competencies and growth paths for the team, to be reviewed annually at year-end review to support attraction/development/retention plans.
VIVO SOLUTION
We started with a brief employee survey to poll the entire team/evaluate some key areas and create buy-in with the new Performance Management Process, such as how do you like to receive feedback and how frequently?
Created a process that supported the vast majority of the team’s preferred method.
RESULT
We developed a more holistic performance management process that encompassed the following elements:
- Set annual cadence for review of growth path and to set goals for the upcoming year (in December of each year):
- Identified competencies (both technical skills and soft skill areas of focus to be considered for promotion).
- Utilized the SMART framework for creating/measuring goals.
- Set a quarterly review of goals to evaluate for completion, consider any needed adjustments, or to remove goals if no longer relevant.
- Set a monthly touch base for manager + direct report to discuss any issues, concerns, etc. /li>
We implemented a system to help manage and streamline the process; with so many important components and touchpoints, we wanted the team to be able to easily automate the process internally once the project concluded and our team was no longer involved.
