Navigating through crises with evidence-based performance management practices

What is it about?

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy has shrunk remarkably and given rise to a host of financial difficulties in the recent past, resulting in talent management challenges including hiring and salary freezes, layoffs, canceled bonuses, pay reductions, an increased prevalence of teleworking, and higher rates of employee stress and burnout. While these challenges existed even before the COVID-19 crisis, the pandemic has no doubt played a key role in exacerbating these issues worldwide, calling to attention the glaring flaws in the current talent management practices we use. The authors of this paper give recommendations on how companies can address these challenges to adapt and improve performance management that will help organizations navigate crises like COVID-19.

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Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Under the difficult circumstances created by the pandemic, many organizations have opted to downgrade and even abandon performance evaluations and reviews. This sheds light on the fact that organizations follow performance appraisal systems that review and evaluate employees only annually, with little effort to provide continuous feedback and coaching. This provides little scope for alignment between employee performance and the organization’s strategic goals. In contrast, the authors argue that the performance management system may be better suited to address the talent management challenges created by the COVID-19 crisis. The authors propose five recommendations for organizations to improve performance management to help them navigate through crises like COVID-19: Measure results in along with behaviors as there is usually more than one right way to do the job. Measure adaptive performance, because the employees’ ability to learn quickly is critical. Conduct stay interviews to understand how to retain top performers. Implement multi-source performance management systems to facilitate communication and feedback. Collect and use performance promoter scores. KEY TAKEAWAY Implementing evidence-based performance management practices will not only help organizations address challenges during a crisis, but also help them to thrive after the crisis.