Are You Still "Managing" Performance? Try "Enabling" it, Instead

I recently met the CEO of a very unique IT-enabled wellness start-up company called Zoojoo.be. Avinash Saurabh is developing this unique way of helping employees become and remain fit, both mentally and physically, to ensure that organisations have engaged employees. What amazed me was the way Zoojoo.be goes about doing it. The tool that this company has developed virtually does not require a physical trainer or a nutritionist. What it does is replace trainers and instead enable people by helping them access knowledge about the best nutrition and physical training, as and when they need it, by sharing constant titbits of information. Zoojoo.be doesn’t manage people’s fitness regime – it enables them to become fit by constantly prodding them, and helping them to achieve it. There are some parallels to Shared Services, in terms of how to get people to perform beyond expectations. Does setting Key Responsibility Areas (KRAs) and objectives help employees perform to their maximum ability? Or does this approach burden them down? Do swanky offices and a good benefits plan motivate employees to perform? In one company that is setting up a framework for Support Services, the CEO felt that just working in a nice office, and providing entertainment such as parties, would motivate his employees to perform well! However, the company was still struggling with employees’ lack of passion and commitment. Many organisations make the mistake of not enabling employees to perform; instead, they end up managing performance. The results are completely different. So what can you do to 'Enable" performance and not "Manage" it? Here are 3 things to consider: 1. Do you have an "Enabled" Ways of Working mechanism? Your organisation should have defined ways of working that every employee understands. Employees should know where to look for knowledge, where to log issues and where to look for checklists/compliance. Creating a strong Knowledge, Operations and Governance framework is key. Also, share constant titbits, just like Zoojoo.be, as to why certain things are conducted the way they are. This is a sure way to keep employees engaged to the organisation's ways of working as well as its vision. As human beings, we like to innovate. Employees naturally come up with a lot of ideas that would probably improve the ways of working. Your organisation should have a mechanism for collecting these ideas and feeding them back into the employees’ KRAs and objectives. Not all of these ideas will be feasible, but it gives employees room to make changes in their area, in a systematic manner, which in turn increases the sense of ownership among them. [inlinead] 2. Is your organisation's Vision and Values just a statement on your website? Or is it an integral part of your performance enablement strategy? Employees are people and not machines. They need to see more than just KRAs and Objectives. They need to be able to see how KRAs and objectives support the organisation's vision. The best way to do this would be to link all KRAs and objectives directly to your organisation's values. For example: If one of the KRAs is "delivering projects on time" and if one of the values is "executing everything with speed and agility", then the KRAs of delivering projects on time should be: "Deliver projects well in time as we believe in executing everything with speed and agility". Context is everything. Doing this provides a mechanism for living the values in everything that they do, rather than having values which no one remembers. Ideally, every employee in the organisation should have KRAs directly linked to each value of the organisation. 3. Is your performance document Dead or Alive? Closely link your rewards and recognition program to your performance enablement program. Don’t just have a half yearly program/appraisal system to go through employees’ performance. Instead develop ecosystems, where team members discuss their KRAs in weekly/monthly governance meetings on a broad level, and team members find ways to achieve them collaboratively. One of the better ways is to link your recognition program to your organisation's values. If an employee has done something different or has gone the extra mile to do something of value, find ways to associate this with your organisation's values. For example: If your organisation's Value is "Driven to Enable" and one of employees has gone beyond the call of duty to get a particular job done, the R&R policy should recognise the effort under the "Driven to Enable" value, and publish the employee’s story on an online platform for others to read. These initiatives will ensure that your Performance Documents are always alive. One last point One of the things I learned when I was at the Naval Academy undergoing my military training was the phrase "I'll find out, Sir," instead of the phrase " I do not know, Sir". We would be running like crazy in the morning physical training session, when one of the seniors would come along and ask us which dessert was being served at lunch. If you were a fresher at the academy, your logical answer would be " I do not know, Sir". The senior would then correct you and tell you that there is no such phrase as "I do not know" in the Military, and the right phrase would be "I'll find out"; and then ensure that you find out and let the senior know about it. We would constantly be asked this question, over and over again. Over time, this became the culture of the academy, and suddenly you realise that all cadets are performing, not shying away from work. The same goes for an organisation: If you can set up a culture where everyone are constantly reminded of the organisation's values, you will suddenly find that all employees are falling into line, rather than coming up with excuses for why they are not yet there.

Are You Still "Managing" Performance? Try "Enabling" it, Instead

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