Recently, the world's leading companies have shifted their focus from active scaling to increasing productivity and involvement of each team member in all processes. Why this strategy is effective during a prolonged crisis?
Crisis is a time to focus on team performance
First, the coronavirus, and now the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine became a time of a long crisis, the consequences of which are difficult to predict. But companies have to work in extremely difficult and unpredictable conditions in order to save the business and the team. The experience of previous years has shown that the company will work effectively when all team members know and share its values, main goals, and everyone, within the limits of their authority, makes every effort to achieve them.
Performance Management has become a new activity strategy for many businesses. Its main principle is to manage performance of the team in order to achieve results. And this requires motivation and involvement of the team, clear tracking of results and readiness of all process participants for changes.
In classical terms, Performance Management involves several stages of implementation. First of all, it is necessary to determine the strategic goal of the business, set goals and objectives for the teams as a whole and each member separately. The next stage involves monitoring performance and providing timely feedback to management. Training and improvement of soft and hard skills of individual specialists, which directly affect the team's performance, is a must. It should be constant and consistent. Evaluation of performance of each specialist and their role in achieving common goals is decisive in this process.
From long-term to short-term planning
The world is changing so quickly that long-term planning for a year or more loses its relevance, and existing problems and crisis aspects nullify all forecasts. That is why the most viable management style for businesses during a crisis is short-term planning for a quarter at most. This will make it possible to quickly make decisions, make changes in the process to obtain the desired result and minimize risks. The flexible management system has become the basis for the work of modern managers at all levels.
Trends in performance management
Political and economic changes, crises and the development of certain skills in accordance with the emergence of modern technologies affect the behavior of society, in particular, customers and team members from the business side. This leads to the emergence of new trends in performance management, which are basic.
Flexibility
Given the frequency and speed of changes in circumstances, goals must be flexible to allow room for maneuver. Today, it is important for companies to know in which direction the business is moving in a global sense and what results should be achieved. The choice of the path and method of achieving these goals provides multiple options.
Transparency
The most effective way to engage team members in the company’s goals is to empower them to shape decisions and interim goals. Each employee is a translator of the company’s values and goals. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly monitor that they receive the most reliable information and maintain communication in all available channels.
Employees who know the strategic vectors of the company’s development feel involved in business activities and are able to critically evaluate their role in achieving common goals. This significantly increases the loyalty of employees and responsibility in the performance of assigned tasks.
Risk assessment
The project management system is always effective when it comes to work for results. Therefore, it is important to analyze the risks in advance and implement a set of measures for their leveling at each stage in order to avoid wasting time and resources, including human resources.
Complexity of actions
Effectiveness on the way to the set goals depends on many factors. First of all, one should take into account the strategic vectors of the company and the team, as well as the skills and professionalism of its individual members. It is important to match the employee’s individual goals with business goals. An assessment of an employees’ development directions, their abilities and opportunities at a certain stage will make it possible to determine those indicators of the company’s activity that they can influence and achieve the best results.
Performance Management involves more than just using certain tools to achieve a goal. It is based on a coherent clear system built at all levels of the company, clear processes and the ability for all team members to adapt to current circumstances. The company must work as one coherent mechanism at all levels.
