Evaluation - Measuring your performance to plan & evaluate the effectiveness of your measurement tools

Abstract

Performance measurement and management is one of the most significant developments in the sphere of people management. Within organisations, it has become a key business process. It is viewed as a major lever for achieving the culture .change needed to enable organisations to respond to the challenges of the business environment of the 1990s.

Performance measurement and management is a set of processes for developing a shared understanding among employees of what needs to be done to enable an organisation to achieve its strategic goals. These processes include developing appropriate performance measures, and managing and developing people using approaches that are likely to produce continued success.

Performance measurement and management is about the "how” as well as the "what" of performance. It is not about "quick fixes" and "panaceas”. It is about developing a culture of confidence and trust among all employees, which reinforces both team and individual achievement. Success stems from demonstrable commitment from the organisation's senior level and from investment - of time and resources - into developing and training employees to deliver good performance.

Most organisations have some sort of process or framework to help measure and manage the performance of their employees. There is a growing awareness of the need to move away from the retrospective top-down annual appraisals to a forward-looking and two-way approach to communicating objectives, and so delivering performance for the business by valuing the contribution of all staff irrespective of status or job title.

The design of any performance measurement system should reflect the basic operating assumption of the organisations it supports. If the organisation changes and the measurement system doesn't, the latter will be at least ineffective or, more likely, counter productive. Traditional measurement systems tell an organisation where it stands in its efforts to achieve goals but not how it got there or, even more important, what it should do differently.

The challenge is to raise awareness of, and encourage dialogue about, performance as part of the daily business of an organisation. It is a matter not of only defining, measuring and managing performance, but of planning development activity and developing problem solving approaches to meet objectives. This approach relies on the ability of all employees to work as a team to common objectives and with a common sense of ownership and success.