How businesses can harness their employees’ full potential

‘The Great Resignation’ may be over for the time being, but unfortunately, the fundamental issues that caused it have not gone away. When confidence returns to the jobs market, the same issues that instigated the great resignation will likely re-emerge.

In 2022, businesses saw rock bottom levels of employee engagement, with performance ultimately suffering because of it. Yet, we understand that employees want to perform better and expect their employers to have the tools to help them achieve this.

At Advanced, we believe that performance management processes often suffer from a bad reputation. After all, how easy is it to look at your annual reviews as little more than an admin chore to be ticked off? We think these sorts of attitudes are a little old-fashioned however and by rethinking your approach to performance management, you can unlock unique insights into your organisation that can have a transformative effect on your ongoing strategy.

In our latest Performance Management Report, we surveyed HR Directors, managers and employees to further understand their experiences with performance management over the last 12 months.

We compiled the results and identified some of the key challenges businesses have faced, leading us to put together some valuable tips to help you harness your employees’ full potential this coming year.

Have open communication

In our survey, we discovered that only 30% of employees feel communication is something their company does well. As a manager, you should look to create a space that encourages clear and open communication that helps to empower your staff in coming forward and being honest about how they are coping with work.

Regular one-to-one conversations provide an opportunity for employees to be open about their performance, and any variables that might be affecting it – like stress or burnout. And by encouraging this sort of sincerity, you will likely see improved trust, engagement and of course performance.

Ask employees what is missing

A trick organisations often miss when looking to transform their process, is quite simply asking the wrong questions to the wrong people. It is all well and good theorising at a top strategic level but when considering what may be missing from an employee engagement perspective- why not actually ask the people impacted?

Go right to the source by asking your staff exactly what it is they are looking for. Find out what’s important to them and what they value most so you can work together on providing the right solutions.

Do they want to focus on building certain professional skills? Do they have personal goals that they need to prioritise? A continuous performance management system lets your employees set different conversation types with you so they can focus on specific objectives.

Offer meaningful support

We found that 72% of managers say they are having performance conversations with employees at least once a month but only 25% of employees say this is true. It is likely that most managers are having conversations with team members regularly, but the question is whether or not these conversations are actually meaningful to the employee.

Managers can use a continuous performance management system to check in with their employees regularly, with a focus on the specific needs of the individual. These meaningful conversations are then recorded and accessible at any time, allowing for consistent monitoring of challenges and goals so the right steps can be taken to keep performance levels high.

Set short term goals

Our survey this year confirmed that traditional performance management – such as annual ratings and appraisals – does nothing to help address burnout and adds little value to employees. Instead, you should set short term, agile goals for your employees to keep motivation high and ensure their goals are not forgotten.

2023 is the perfect time to reap the benefits of a continuous performance management system. It allows managers and employees to set short term targets that can be amended at any time throughout the year. Your workforce can also choose between professional and personal development goals, depending on their ambitions at the time.

Provide ongoing development opportunities

Our survey found that 50% of 18 – 24 year olds say that their employer effectively provides opportunities to climb the ladder and gain experience. As a manager, you can continue working on this by applying your employees short term goals to any ongoing development opportunities you can offer.

A continuous performance management system encourages your team to recognise their achievements and monitor any areas of development they are undertaking. Advanced Clear Review associates these goals and opportunities in line with business needs, so areas of focus can be aligned to company strategy.

Real-time feedback

Stress and burnout have been significant factors effecting staff in 2022, with 42% of the workforce saying they are more stressed than the previous year. We recognise that this is a growing problem and cannot be ignored. Real-time feedback is a way you can regularly check in with your team to help mitigate some of the pressures they may be facing.

Our Advanced Clear Review solution gives everyone in the business the opportunity to give and receive feedback at any time throughout the year. They can let other people know when they’ve done an amazing job or offer a helpful tip they could keep in mind for the future. This feedback is recorded in the system so managers can fully recognise (and reward) the performance of their employees.

Speak with us

A continuous performance management system needs to be a core principle in any business, particularly as they look to prioritise wellbeing and performance.

Many organisations understand the need for performance reviews but unfortunately, it’s all too easy to review performance management through a narrow lens and stick to outdated habits such as annual review structures. The modern working world has undergone a significant change and the most successful organisations will be those who aren’t afraid to upend their processes and be bold in making meaningful changes to the way they work.

Advanced Clear Review is a solution that empowers your teams and helps your business achieve excellence, by improving productivity and employee engagement through meaningful conversations.

Download the full Performance Management Report 2023 here.

HRD Connect Curators of the New Business Landscape. HRD Connect produces industry-recognized content for senior HR leaders. Through articles, case studies, Q&As, podcasts, events, and more, we offer truly progressive and cutting-edge insights designed to help people leaders address core HR challenges and add greater value to their business.

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