Your top-performers consistently go the extra mile – how can you inspire every employee to be committed and focused on the company and its mission? A recent article from TalentManagement.com author Jeff Kristick covers a few things talent managers can do to drive employee motivation levels.
Typically you have the group that comes in in the morning and leaves in the evening and does a good job … but that’s all. Then there is the other group that may come in early and will stay late to help out with any extra task. And there you have it – your top-performers and your, uhm, performers.
There are different strategies that talent managers can use to create and maintain a high-performance employee culture and inspire your employees to have a deeper commitment to the organization. Most top-performers were just born that way, and as for everyone else, a little inspiration goes a long way.
One way organizations can accomplish this is by aligning corporate objectives with individual employee goals, cascading down corporate goals so they’re interpreted as individual performance objectives.This instills a more direct connection between employees’ day-to-day work and the organization’s success.
It’s important that talent managers implement not only performance management but performance measurement as well. Typically appraisal is based on assessing an employee’s job. Instead, it should be appraised by measurable goals and competencies for each individual employee. A goal-based environment can be a powerful motivator.
Before talent managers can create a high-performance culture, the culture must be defined for their specific organization and employee pool. In order to do this, talent managers must take a very close look at where the organization stands. Here are a few questions to ask when evaluating the organization’s current state:
1. What performance management processes and tools exist?
2. What competency models, if any, are in place?
3. Is performance management currently integrated with other processes such as learning, recruiting, compensation and succession planning?
4. What challenges exist within the organization such as high turnover, skills or leadership gaps and pressure from competitors?
In order to build a devoted workforce, it’s crucial to define and measure the ROI for efforts and resources needed to build a high-performance culture. How will this strategy effect HR operating costs? How can it help to reduce turnover rates among high-performers? Defining the expected outcomes and competencies that characterize a high-performance culture for your organization will help.
Integrating performance management with compensation, learning, and development are keys to successful performance management. Technology can assist talent managers in this integration period. A system should make it easy for the talent manager to keep up-to-date records of competency alignments, job profiles, and compensation.
The steps outlined here present the road map to a high-performance culture – one that identifies, develops, and rewards existing top performers – and also helps all employees develop the skills, knowledge, and motivation to attain greater levels of performance.
To read the full ‘road map’ to attain a high-performance culture within your organization, click here to read the full article.