LEADERSHIP
Successful Performance Management
By Dr . Kellen Kiambati
The core of performance management is the central concept of change . Change that is small , subtle , easy to understand , building on people ’ s experience and low cost . There are tried and tested drivers of successful performance management : people , quality , measurement , smart targets and techniques .
People
To harness the creative spark from the employees calls for courage and good attitude mobilization . There is need to view them as innovative individuals rather than just salaried employees , critical part of the solutions and formidable team members . Skills and knowledge are essential to the success of performance management . The best way to equip employees is to train them but the training must have a purpose which is to answer individual needs rather than general needs . This is done through identifying current skills , identifying the skills the various organization tasks demand , mapping the skill gap and delivering a well thought through training .
Quality
It is the conformance to the requirements or fitness for purpose . Quality is central element in all organizations . To deliver quality to customers , organizations must ; identify customer needs , determine the need to be answered by their products and services , map the traits of the product or service to deliver customer expectations , design the product and service and create the responsive product and service .
Measurement
It is important to get the performance measurement right because it is the data generated that will tell if the customer needs have been met or not . It will also help provide the motivation that will spur improved performance . It should however be noted that getting measuring and monitoring systems up and running takes patience , resilience and meticulous planning .
Smart Targets
Performance measurement will tell where an organization is currently . However , that is not sufficient to cause continuous improvement . There is need to have goals that are specific and quantified , clear results to be achieved and time frame . Benchmarks are also critical because they represent best practice for a task as long as they are related to the organization activities since there is no point comparing apples with pears . Benchmarks helps organizations to ; get to know the internal business activities , competitor ’ s methods of working , best ways of carrying out those activities and the best way in the organization activities .
Techniques
“ Successful performance management is driven by identifying the gap between where an organization is and where it wants to be in future with the ultimate judge being an organization ’ s customers .
There are several techniques to measure performance management ; Ishikawa diagrams , input-output diagrams , pareto principal , cumulative sums and moving averages . The key thing to look out for is the ability of the technique to tease out causes and outcomes so as to decide what to adjust in order to upgrade organization efficiency , effectiveness and adaptability .
In conclusion successful performance management is driven by identifying the gap between where an organization is and where it wants to be in future with the ultimate judge being an organization ’ s customers . Gaining success in performance management is not easy . It calls for hard work , dedication , commitment and challenging the status quo . ■
Kellen Kiambati holds an MBA in Strategic Management from the Kenya Methodist University and a PhD in Business Administration with a focus in Strategic Management from JKUAT . She is a member of the Institute of Human Resource Management of Kenya . She can be reached via :
Kellenkiambati @ gmail . com .
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MAL 47 / 22 ISSUE