Misconceptions about performance management

In working with companies over the years we’ve noticed a few common misconceptions about performance management:

1.     Performance management has become synonymous with performance measurement.  Most, if not all, of the automated “performance management” systems in the marketplace today are actually performance measurement (i.e. performance appraisal) systems.

2.     When we use the term performance management, what most people think of is performance measurement – a process of looking back to see what’s been accomplished during the year, usually through performance appraisal- and Balanced Scorecard-type measurements.  Performance measurement is not the same as performance management.  True performance management, as we define it, is “dynamically and actively leading, guiding and directing groups and individuals toward the accomplishment of organizational initiatives.” 

3.     Many executives think of performance management as an HR function, probably because they intuitively understand that the performance “management” systems out there are actually glorified performance appraisal systems.  Indeed, managing the performance appraisal process is an HR function, but true organizational performance management is not.  Organizational performance management is about managing the accomplishment of organizational initiatives and the strategic plan.  That’s owned by senior management and is a core responsibility of every manager down to first line supervisors. 

4.     Most organizations seem to treat planning as a task.  They get the management team together once a year, map out a plan for the upcoming year, and then check that task off their to-do list.  The plan tends to sit on a shelf and get dusty until the next year when they repeat the process.  Most management teams don’t do a very good job of communicating that plan to the rest of the organization.  They also don’t link all of the department and individual goals to the initiatives in the plan, so they never really operationalize the plan.

Read more about organizational performance management at www.keyneinsight.com.