Evolving your organization by aligning your talent’s strengths with your core strategic values

The 2008 market crash cast doubt in many leaders’ minds in regards to the future of their organizations and the possibility of sustained growth. It led to a retrenching of companies and their capital, both human and financial. Fortunately the economy is now undergoing a consistent recovery and businesses must shift from survival to evolution mode in order to ensure that they profit from current opportunities.

A host of factors make today’s business environment unique and, as has been the case in every era, those who understand the spirit of the age and capitalize on its possibilities possess an undeniable edge over competitors and are ensured maximal success. The distinctive trait of business today is the rapidly changing nature of the workforce: baby boomers are reaching retirement age and are steadily exiting the market, while Millennials are entering the market and bringing about new notions of what human capital is and what one expects from a career. Just like capitalizing on the “nuclear family” model fueled the post-World War II economic boom, the ability to effectively employ this new type of human capital while maintaining a balance with the existing talent will enable visionary leaders to super-charge the current economic upturn.

Millennials have particular expectations and skills which must be harnessed to serve an organization’s strategic goals, while their talent must be thoroughly managed to ensure that individual attributes don’t translate into organizational flaws. Moreover, this new type of talent is as mobile as it is global, creating an ever-evolving paradigm of competency and specialization patterns. For example, The Intelligence Group Study[1] found that 74% of Millennials prefer flexible work schedules and it is common knowledge that they possess outstanding skills and sensibilities regarding social media. These characteristics could either be strengths or weaknesses, depending on how they are aligned to strategic values.

For any organization, the key to successfully balancing human capital needs and business objectives is to have internal alignment between the people that make the organization work, and the stated objectives the organization has given to the internal and external stakeholders. Powerful tools can be utilized to match your talent with the strategies they best serve, and monitor performance in order to ensure alignment and enrichment of both the workforce and the organization’s bottom line.

Nakisa can help you streamline goal alignment and the performance appraisal process so that you can focus on developing your top talent and calibrating their efforts to support your company’s most important objectives. With Nakisa® Goals & Performance™ you can:

•       Cascade strategic goals across the organization using Nakisa ‘s configurable structures

•       Respond quickly and accordingly to changing market conditions by leveraging the on-going performance management model

•       Provide visualization and reporting tools for easy identification of where your organization is going and how it will get there using  the flexible charts and robust analytics

•       Make performance appraisals a joint and transparent activity with the employee by using Nakisa’s  collaboration tools such as discussions, feedback and ratings

To learn more about Nakisa® Goals & Performance™, don’t miss the upcoming Nakisa webinar on September 3, 2014 at 10:00am ET.

[1] Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/robasghar/2014/01/13/what-millennials-want-in-the-workplace-and-why-you-should-start-giving-it-to-them/

HR: It’s time to redesign your performance management strategy! 8 strategies to make your workforce soar!

According to Bersin, “organizations that have employees revise or review their goals quarterly or more frequently are 45% more likely to have above-average financial performance and 64% more likely to be effective at holding costs at or below the level of competitors.”[1] If that statistic alone is not enough to persuade your management team that it’s time for a performance management strategy redesign, than here’s more.

Performance management comprises all activities that ensure business goals are met. Building a high-performance culture has become more challenging because of geographically dispersed teams, matrix structures, and changing workforce demographics. Nowadays, businesses need to be more strategic and forward-thinking if they want to build a top-performing workforce, engage employees, and compete with the biggest players in their industry.

The business world is changing, so performance management needs to change, too. Businesses need to move towards effective performance management including goal setting, managing, coaching, development planning, and recognizing, not only be successful, but also to survive.

Here are eight performance management initiatives you need to consider to make your workforce soar!

1. Abandon annual performance reviews

Agreed upon goals and progress should be easily accessible and visible throughout the entire work year. Sure, this process can be time-consuming, but with the help of the right technology solution, ongoing performance assessments can become a second nature.

2. Align cross-functional departments on strategic business goals

Managers need to develop departmental goals that align with the strategic goals and show employees how their individual goals link to both the departmental and company goals.

3. Provide consistent and meaningful feedback to improve employee engagement

With the help of a performance management system, managers can more easily and readily communicate business and departmental goals with their employees, directly contributing to employee engagement.

4. Improve goal communications between managers and employees

Having a structured process that includes setting and tracking goals, enabling coaching and measuring results helps managers and employees are more effective when done on a daily basis rather than annually.

5. Monitor goal progress, completion and alignment with access to KPIs and analytics

Reporting tools can help organizations achieve effective performance management by assisting the workforce in tracking the number of employees who have goals in place, the percentage of goals that are aligned to the corporate strategy, goal priority, and goal progress.

6. Use an integrated talent management platform

Although many organizations know that integrating talent management processes is necessary, it has always been difficult to achieve. Technology solutions today have made it much easier.

7. Use a flexible performance management system that is built to adapt to the entire workforce

Different leadership methods should be used depending on both an employee’s personality and the level of direction and support he or she needs on a given project. Having a history of this information could help managers be more effective when giving feedback.

8. Build a sustainable workforce: the balance between employee performance, potential and risk 

While effective performance management identifies how employees are performing in their active role, it does not consider if they are in their right role or if they are a flight risk. To make the right strategic decisions about your talent and build a sustainable workforce, performance, potential, and risk of loss should all play equal roles in the evaluation process.

Forward-thinking HR departments are putting their people first by building a workplace that uses the right combination of formal and informal performance management techniques to close the gaps between strategy and execution. Through the implementation of these key strategies, a clear performance management process can be adopted across the organization. The workforce will receive the support they need to improve skills and complete milestones in order to achieve their personal and professional goals. The end result will be more productive, engaged employees, and a more effective, high-performing organization that meets and exceeds business objectives.

Learn more about performance management and the solutions available at Nakisa to help support your goals & performance strategies. Download the whitepaper today or watch the webinar!

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[1] Source: Bersin by Deloitte

Key strategies to optimizing organizational performance

Most organizations have a system in place to evaluate workforce performance. Typically, performance evaluations are conducted annually and used to determine pay raises and drive career development. Despite numerous reservations about the effectiveness of the annual performance evaluation process, managers, human resources professionals and executives need to keep employee productivity levels up and make the most of the resources at their disposal. Effectively managing the performance of an organization’s workforce is the core to optimizing productivity and, ultimately, organizational success.

There are numerous strategies to help organizations improve performance and implement an effective performance management system. This whitepaper reviews the current state of performance management in organizations and reveals real and actionable strategies on how organizations can move to an effective performance management system. It covers:

The key strategies to optimizing organizational performance;

• Why traditional performance management processes are failing to meet the needs of organizations today;
• How continuous, ongoing performance discussions, goal-setting and feedback help employees to meet and exceed expectations; and
• How technology can help organizations not only meet their performance management objectives but also their company goals & objectives.

DOWNLOAD IT HERE or view it on SlideShare (below). 

Goals & Performance Whitepaper from Nakisa Inc.

Does your employee rock or not? Why annual performance review just don’t work.

It’s that time of the year again: Annual performance evaluations. You’ve got a team of 10 employees you need to evaluate. So, you start thinking back… Bob has been lagging this winter but he did close that huge account last summer… Barbara is a star at the moment but didn’t accomplish much in the first half of the year… Jill has been sick a lot lately…

How can any manager possibly remember all these details? Can a manager really effectively and objectively evaluate an employee once a year?

What if the employee is a typically star player but made a big mistake right before evaluations? What if a low performer closes one good deal right before the evaluation? How can a manager comfortably address that employee’s poor performance the rest of the year without seeming unappreciative of the great deal?

Organizations need to shift performance evaluations from a once-a-year review to one that encourages ongoing communications and feedback. The frequency in which organizations address employee performance has undoubtedly a profound impact on an organization’s efficacy. Ensuring that all employees understand what's expected of them and how their goals align with their organization’s strategic goals is equally important. If performance management relies too much on infrequent goal-setting and inconsistent feedback, it does not drive better performance.

Traditional performance appraisals are one of the most frequently criticized talent management practices. And with good reason. Criticism ranges from the workforces’ perception of it being “a complete waste of time” and having a destructive effect that leaves employees disengaged and demotivated. People only become engaged when they are growing and learning when they believe that their own goals are attainable and when they see how their goals impact their organization.

In order to develop top talent and be successful, organizations need to give managers the tools and systems they need to efficiently evaluate and support their teams. Technology plays an important role in performance management. Effective performance management systems have enabled organizations to shift from paper-based evaluation systems to electronic formats that simplify the tracking and exchange of information. A good performance management solution demonstrates how employees are currently performing and identifies which ones contribute the most, or the least. It provides employees with transparency into their personal performance in the workplace and insight into their future career development.

Learn more about effective performance management and the solutions available to help you achieve it by downloading our whitepaper: “The future of effective performance management: Maximize potential, exceed goals, get results.”