Who Benefits From Performance Management Software?

If you are in HR, your budget is probably pretty restrictive. You may have a difficult time convincing decision-makers in your company that performance management software is a worthwhile investment. After all, your organization has survived this long with its existing procedures and forms. Why not simply continue with business as usual? The fact is that business as usual isn’t good enough in today’s marketplace. Your organization needs to make its business exceptional.

Can Software Really Make a Difference?

Implementing new technology isn’t just about making administrative tasks easier for HR (although it certainly does that). Performance management software by organizations like TalentQuest actually makes business success easier for your whole company. Here’s a quick look at how each stakeholder group can benefit from an upgrade:

Business Leaders and C-suite Executives – Performance goals can finally be aligned with business goals. Advanced reporting functionality provides a “big picture” view of improvements that are tied to profit outcomes.

Managers and Supervisors – Software tools guide the performance management process, giving it structure and making easier to engage with workers in a consistent way. This boosts motivation and engagement. High performers are rewarded while low performers can be effectively course-corrected.

Employees – Workers have less confusion about expectations and see a clear path to achieving their career objectives. Individualized development plans make employees feel that their contributions and value are recognized.

One additional group that can benefit from the right performance management software choice is IT. An SaaS solution with cloud-based deployment ensures maximum application availability while relieving internal tech teams of the responsibility for administering and maintaining complex HR software.

Talent Management Meets Compensation Management

One of the most important questions on the mind of employees as they go through a much anticipated review process is, “How does this affect my compensation?” That’s a question that many managers struggle to answer if they don’t have the tools that encourage fair and consistent decision-making. Do you increase pay across the board to offset inflation? Do you boost salaries based on tenure? How about performance? Which aspects of performance are weighed in this decision? Do you have a limited budget for compensation that you need to apportion among multiple employees?

The TalentQuest compensation management and talent management software products are designed to work seamlessly together to improve decision-making. Employers can track and measure total compensation increases for each department. Managers can drill down to view compensation information for direct reports at a granular level. Plus, the reporting and analysis functions make it easier to spot discrepancies in pay including:

• Pay raises that don’t track with agreed metrics for salary increases
• Employees who have been passed over for an increase in error
• Trends that indicate an imbalance in compensation practices (e.g. based on gender)

Since this is the aspect of talent management that often comes under the most scrutiny from above and below, it pays to get it right.

Who Should Be in the Loop for Succession Planning?

Succession planning is one of the trickier aspects of management in a large organization. The amount of backstabbing that sometimes goes on when a promotion is on the line can be pretty horrifying. There’s always going to be speculation over who deserves what at work. Even more pernicious is the gossip about who did what to whom to get where they are today. Many a hardworking (but not outstanding) employee has gone from being satisfied with their job to being totally disengaged when they are passed over for advancement. Many a rising star has fallen short when promoted beyond their current level of competence due to an unexpected opening higher up the ladder.

With all this in mind, it can pay to play it fairly close to the vest when it comes to revealing the details of your succession planning strategy to employees. You don’t want to feed into speculation or have an employee think there is an implied contract regarding their career path within your organization. There’s usually no upside to pitting one employee against another if you want to bring out the best rather than the worst in your workforce.

On the other hand, it’s smart to be open about the general competencies and character traits that you are looking for in promotable employees. Confusion and disappointment abound among the rank and file when the determining factors behind succession decisions are too opaque. Some employees take it as a given that they will be taking their boss’s place one day based on any variety of factors from length of tenure to personal friendship. Making it clear that favoritism plays no role in your promotion planning process is critical for minimizing hurt feelings and bitterness.

Using Talent Management Software Effectively Part 1

Talent management software is a hugely beneficial tool for gathering and presenting information that helps inform hiring and promotion decisions. However, it’s important to understand the purpose and appropriate use of this type of program so it is used as a tool rather than a crutch. This is particularly relevant when you are developing a profile of an employee. This initial assessment of personality traits and abilities may follow them through the rest of their professional career (at least within your company). That’s a sobering thought and one reason to make sure you fully understand how to interpret the data in front of you.

A Poor Understanding of Statistics Is a Common Pitfall

Mark Twain is famous for saying, “There are 3 kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics!” Too often, statistics can confuse more than they clarify. While it’s easy to understand visually what percentile a job candidate or employee falls into on a graph, it takes wisdom gained through experience to assess the underlying relevance of each score.

For example, it’s best to avoid being obsessively concerned about one “key trait” or a close to “perfect score” when evaluating an employee for advancement in alignment with your succession planning goals. It’s more appropriate to evaluate several related traits that build a more accurate overall picture of a candidate. Ideally, your talent management software will help you do this more easily rather than doing it for you.

If the score on one trait or competency seems higher or lower than it should, you need to look beyond the computer screen. Follow up with in-person interviews, behavioral observation and other good old-fashioned investigative techniques to get a feel for what’s really going on. After all, you want an employee who works well in real life – not just one who looks good on paper!