Our approach to performance management…

When we’re talking about performance management and feedback conversations, our 30 years of experience has shown us that effective strategies, detailed policy documents, and organisational principles – whilst useful – are themselves not enough to instil and embed effective performance and feedback conversations within organisations. We know that most organisations have a list of values and behaviours – but these alone don’t set the tone for how interactions happen in practice, and unless people have the skills, knowledge and confidence to apply those values in their day-to-day situations – they will remain values to which you aspire, rather than those that can be achieved.

We talk about ‘Seeing It’ being the first part of the Steps to Change journey, and when we’re talking about performance, it’s no different. Strategy, policy, values and principles have to be brought “off the page” if colleagues are to understand how they should work in practical terms. And crucially, learners have to see the behaviours and reactions that play out – for better or worse – so that they can understand their own (and others) behaviours, how they manifest, and how they impact others.

So, what is it about our approach that lends itself so well to learning and development programmes that address performance management?  Well, here’s what I think…

It’s inherently about connection.
Our programmes build a community within a cohort, helping create a shared space where people connect, communicate and share their own lived experience.  Well facilitated, these connections foster an understanding that individuals are willing to receive, as well as give, feedback and build a shared vision where honest conversations are welcomed and encouraged.

It’s human.
We are humans.  Our brains are hard-wired to respond to our surroundings and our lived experience.  For the most part, it’s unlikely that any individual goes into work to deliberately provoke or confront others with their behaviour or to upset or challenge anyone with the way they respond to feedback.  Our human response is governed by so many factors – emotional, psychological, physical.  Our programmes focus on the human element of performance and feedback conversations – because we believe that that is where you need to start for change to happen and for it to sustain.

It’s practical.
By participating in one of our skills practice programmes, colleagues will already be experiencing and practising for themselves the very behaviours and skills that we are trying to encourage. Active listening, considered and non-judgemental responses (rather than reactions), constructive and compassionate feedback, and understanding/developing ways to communicate effectively with their peers are qualities a performance management programme relies on.

Subtly practising these skills and qualities is an indirect, but very intentional, benefit of our approach and provides a far more nuanced and ‘organic’ way of embedding skills and confidence in having feedback conversations in the ’real world’.

Creating a safe space to ‘go wrong’.
Our skilled and experienced facilitators create a psychologically safe space where colleagues can practice difficult conversations, give and receive feedback with peers and, through self-reflection and group discussions, have an open and honest dialogue about how they feel about performance and feedback conversations.  A key part of learning on any topic is to be able to make honest mistakes, learn from those and adapt our behaviour and ways of thinking. So it’s crucial that we make space for individuals to be vulnerable, to admit they may not know the right approach and to speak up when they find something challenging or difficult to manage.

Without that non-judgemental space to go wrong, learning can’t happen and it can’t sustain.  And when we create that space amongst a cohort – it’s ‘felt’ and it starts to build a community of learners who are happier to share and more willing to learn from each other.

Reflective of reality.
The skills and experience of our diverse team of associates means that we can credibly reflect organisational reality and the challenge of specific performance issues, whatever the challenge.  Our associates are adept at varying the level of challenge to suit the individual and we can use bespoke role-play to identify and play out specific behaviours or performance challenges that colleagues might be facing. In this way, individuals are able to practice their skills in as-real situations which equip them far better for the conversation when it happens in reality.

It can be fun!
When we talk about performance and feedback conversations, we would probably not use the word fun to describe them! Usually feedback conversations are things that individuals dread, avoid or put off all together. We use humour in our programmes deliberately to challenge those notions, and to make sure that people feel comfortable and empowered as they learn. It also breaks the ice between individuals and builds the foundation for honest conversations, sharing of lived experience, and working towards a collective understanding of the benefit of honest conversations.

And it can be scalable.
There are huge benefits to being in a physical or digital ‘space’ together to be able to practice conversations, but we know that for some organisations and some individual roles within organisations – being geographically dispersed, working flexibly or across time zones or being based on site with less access to ‘in room’ facilities can be challenging.  We’ve created engaging and immersive digital content using rapid e-learning and/or video content, to be able to scale our approach.  Technology can be an enabler, and we have an in-house digital team that specialises in developing content that can exist on learning platforms and be accessed via a range of devices.

If you would like to know more about Steps, our work in performance management – or if there is a particular challenge you are looking to address within your organisation – please contact us for an exploratory chat.