... line managers are simply human, too
It is easy to say that the annual performance review was never meant to be the only meeting between an employee and their line manager throughout the year. It was always meant to be complemented by regular check points.
I know that.
But he or she may cast the first stone, who never brushed over one of those check points during busy periods with a nod towards their team member when leaving a larger meeting together saying "You are fine? Everything on track?", and mentally ticking off another month of performance monitoring when getting back a passing "Sure", not hearing the irony. Conscience nagging, you throw in a "How are the kids?" and when your team member's face lights up briefly with a "Oh, they are great. Thanks!" you can focus your mind on the next task ahead: writing that report for the CFO.
Or you actually do sit down together, but realise there is so much to do that you avoid the unpleasant topic of that delayed project, or to check on their progress in a learning task you suspect they are behind on. Bring it up next time if it isn't solved by then... And 10 minutes after you've parted you remember that one idea you did want to discuss, but forgot about.
Or you agree on some meaningful action points in a very effective 10 min meeting in the airport lounge, but after a cancelled flight, a rail strike and a hectic project go live with the customer's project manager off sick, you can't find your hand written notes any more - nor can you remember all the outcomes.
All three have happened to me during my career, so please don't tell me I'm the single most dreadful line manager on the planet :cry:
If I'm not alone, then the world needs a tool that supports these regular check points by
- reminding you
- making sure you have all the relevant information at your fingertips
- making it easy to link activities to goals and monitor progress
- encouraging you to record tasks, agreements and other bite sized pieces of information that you consider relevant as you go along
- allowing you to do all this on a mobile device
- bringing all this back when needed to make your next "big" annual review meeting much more meaningful, as you both can refer to and learn from the information gathered throughout the year.
To support this process, implementing SuccessFactors continuous performance management is a no-brainer, because of this and other reasons (to be continued)
