Developing a High-Performing Workforce

In the prologue of the December ASQ Roundtable topic to its Influential Voices, it is noted there is a growing trend in the workplace suggesting that end-of-year performance reviews are no longer effective. According to a Deloitte Insights survey, 58% of the companies polled reported that they view their current performance management process as not being an effective use of time and only 8% reported that their process drives high levels of value. To remedy this, some companies have decided to utilize software to improve their process. Other companies have elected to eliminate reviews altogether.

The topic for the December roundtable discussion is, "What is the most effective performance management approach to encourage high performance year-round?"

As a Baldrige Examiner, I like to begin my roundtable discussions with a review of the Baldrige Criteria. Category 5 of the Criteria focuses on the Workforce. The Workforce category asks how the organization assesses Workforce Capability and Capacity needs and builds a workforce environment conducive to Engagement and High Performance. The Baldrige Criteria defines High Performance as ever-higher levels of overall organizational and individual performance, including quality, productivity, innovation rate and cycle time. High performance results in improved service and value for customers and other stakeholders. High performance stems from and enhances workforce engagement. Some characteristics about workforce high performance:

• It involves cooperation between management and the workforce; cooperation among work groups and teams; empowerment of employees and building personal accountability.
• It may involve learning to build individual and organizational skills; creating flexible job design; decentralized decision making and making decisions closest to the front line.

 

My career experience, and observations of applicants to state and national quality programs using the Baldrige Criteria has revealed six key processes necessary to effectively encourage high performance:

1. A Formal on-boarding as part of the New Employee Orientation process 
2. Providing immediate, open and honest feedback
3. Regular, periodic "pulse" surveys to measure employee satisfaction and engagement
4. Frank, two-way skip-level meetings between management and its people
5. A Career Pathing process to manage employee progression
6. A Learning & Development System that supports organizational needs and employee development
7. Systems & Structures supporting compensation, benefits and policies, rewards, recognition, as well as incentives to encourage continuous improvement, intelligent risk-taking, innovation and customer focus.

For more information about these key business and workforce processes, I highly recommend learning about the Baldrige Excellence Framework and attending Baldrige Evaluator training.