Culture and performance

It’s about evolving your organization’s way of working and helping employees reach their potential.

If you think that sounds difficult, you’re correct. Research shows most change initiatives fail, making effective culture and performance management even more valuable.

“Your performance depends on your people. Select the best, train them and back them.” — Donald Rumsfeld, former US Secretary of Defence.

It’s also vital to the long-term health of your business. Organizations exist in a state of flux, operating in a constantly changing world. So even if you’re on top today, you’ll need to manage culture and performance well to ensure your performance is sustainable.

Performance management

Performance management is a holistic process that brings together people management, learning and development, performance measurement and organizational development. That can make it difficult to pin down, but CIPD academics define it as:

“A process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organizational performance.” — Armstrong and Baron, CIPD 2004

More tangible are the tools of performance management, which can be used to improve visible short-term metrics.

Our HR software allows you to make insights in your employees’ performance.

Tools of performance management

• Performance appraisal — The most visible method of managing performance and appraisals usually relies on employee-line manager meetings to define and review objectives and progress. Many organizations conduct performance appraisals annually.
• 360-degree feedback — An appraisal method that utilizes a wide range of performance data sources, including the employee’s colleagues, customers and line manager.
• Pay — Benefits of this common approach are that it incentivizes good performance, and links the organization’s wage bill to revenue. Possible negative effects include increased focus on short-term results, which can undermine the organization’s wider aims.
• Training — Learning and development has a big role to play in performance improvement. Use of personal development plans (PDPs) enable managers to set targets that meet organizational needs.
• Objectives and standards — Performance objectives and standards can give employees visible targets to aim for and a clearer understanding of what’s expected from them.

Changing organizational culture

Guiding your organization’s long-term success requires a different approach: managing culture, or organizational development.

“[Culture is] a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned...that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way.” — Edgar Schein, MIT management professor.

Culture develops naturally and affects every aspect of how your organization operates. But its direction can also be influenced. Ensuring your culture fits your future needs is vital to sustaining success.

Effective change management

Changing culture is also a major undertaking. The following is just a brief glimpse of the practices that can make change management effective.

• A well-designed transformation — Successful transformations align their culture-change goals with business strategy. They’re presented in a context that employees can get on board with, thereby removing the obstacle of resistance to change.
• Building understanding — When employees understand how change will happen and the positives it will bring, the abstract idea of ‘culture’ becomes more meaningful. Use of stories, conversations, pictures and symbols can help to engage individuals.
• Managing the transformation — Culture is rarely changed through force of authority.

Through negotiation and engagement with employees, you can build trust and understanding that overcomes resistance to change.

More about culture and performance management

For detailed answers to your culture and performance management issues, use our resources below. BrightBase brings you up-to-date compliance guides, opinions from leading HR professionals and lots more essential reading.

Frequently Asked Questions about Culture & Performance

Our clients ask loads of questions about culture and performance, so we’ve answered some of the most common ones below.

Not found an answer to your question? BrightHR Lightning gives you the answer to thousands of employment questions in seconds.

Why is Performance Management Important?

Performance management helps employees and employers to track their progress; and assist with the completion of work.

It’s important for engaging employees with their work. Helping them to see the bigger picture; and see the impact of what they do. This helps to boost happiness and staff retention.

What are Human Resource Management Practices?

Human resource management practices are policies that HR teams must complete. These practices can include staffing, development, people management, and payroll.

What are the three stages of workforce planning?

The three main stages of workforce planning are pre-hiring, training, and post-hiring. Pre-hiring is when you recruit for a role, including deciding on what you need from the role.

The training phrase is onboarding the new hires. And getting them acquainted with the work and team members.

Post-hiring refers to when the initial introduction has been completed, and the employee is fully integrated with their role.