Beyond Performance Management

Why Integrated Performance Support Processes Are Replacing Traditional Performance Management Strategies

By Chuck McVinney
© 2000 McVinney & Company

Why Performance Management Must be Integrated

Since individuals can learn faster and more easily from more available information, broader relationships, richer resources, and expanded training options, organizations have to try harder to find and retain the best people for their needs.

To summarize the current and future conditions in which supporting performance is now geared, we list these:

1. Changing and unpredictable work and work options;
2. Availability of quick and thorough information sources (the Internet, etc)
3. Highly interconnected world economy;
4. Mobile and empowered workforce;
5. Qualitative results as essential as quantitative results;
6. The need to extensive teaming and teamwork;
7. Expectations by workers that they will participate in company decisions and definitions;
8. Organizational and environmental sustainability;
9. More dependence on skills and competencies than on specific job descriptions;
10. Evolving and shifting organizational structures and interactions;
11. More accountability and decision making further into the organization;
12. Blurring of the lines between organizations; customers, vendors, producers, etc.

For these and other emerging reasons, managers and leaders are approaching performance management programs in more integrated ways. Integration means tying the feedback and learning loops of the organization into the broader cultural definitions and expectations of the employees. This means being sure that the company's overall vision, values, missions, goals, and objectives are more accurately defined and disseminated, and that more of the organization is part of that process. The opportunity to buy into the organization more deeply is an essential strategy for keeping the right people.

The power of integrating performance management with other aspects of company life is becoming more and more obvious, too. Since integration refers to the conscious act of tying all feedback and performance management strategies to organizational culture and purpose, each individual is more specifically tied into the organization's overall effort to succeed. This means that everyone has an opportunity to see clearly how the work he does, and the role he plays is important to the company, and how each person is accountable to the company. In fact, without these definitions, there is no accountability in terms that really matter.

In addition, integration highlights the importance of tying the work of individuals and teams not only to the company's greater needs, but also to the overall ambitions and career directions of the employees themselves. This allows the integrated feedback systems to become learning loops, not just for superficial results but to serve the greater contract between company and employee. That contract, simply stated, is that the employee works diligently to perform consistently and excellently for the company, and the company provides an opportunity to do meaningful and enjoyable work, while helping her grow the skills that will enhance her individual career choices.>>