Psychological approach in performance management:

Plans and professional excellence

Dr. K. Kuhathasan CEO: Cenlead

People want to make a difference. The organization desperately needs them. Yet, frustration results because employees, managers and organizations don't know how to take advantage of the human creativity and initiative.

The traditional organization needed only the bodies of employees doing their clearly defined jobs.

Today's workplace needs employees who can make decisions, who can invent solutions to problems, who can take the initiative and who are accountable for results.

What is empowerment?

Empowerment is a fundamentally different way of working together.

* People feel responsible not just for doing a job, but also for making the whole organization work better. The new employee is an active problem solver who helps plan how to get things done and then does them.

* Teams work together to improve their performance continually, achieving higher levels of productivity.

* Organizations are structured in such a way that people feel that they achieve the results they want, that they can do what needs to be done, not just what is required of them and be rewarded for doing so.

The empowered workplace is characterized by:

* Enhancing the content of the work

* Expanding the skills and tasks that make up a job

* Liberating creativity and innovation

* Greater control over decisions about work

* Completing a whole task rather than just portions of it

* Customer satisfaction

* Market place orientation

The empowered workplace stems from a new relationship between employees and a new relationship between people and the organization.

Everyone not only feels responsible for his job, but also feels some sense of ownership of the whole. The work team is not just a reactor to demands, it is also an initiator of action. The employee is a decision maker, not a follower. Everyone feels that he or she is continually learning and developing new skills to meet new demands.

Empowered employees have the following feelings:

* They feel they can make a difference.

* They are responsible for their results.

* They are part of the team.

* They can use their full talents and abilities.

* They have control over how they do their jobs.

* They take initiative.

Self-empowerment and self-developed performance plans

Today, the empowerment process is widely used to develop self-developed performance plans.

Basic steps

Here are the basic steps when constructing a self-motivated, self-developed performance plan.

* Engage in a careful job analysis to identify the most important needs to be satisfied.

* Worked together to prepare goals for the highest - priority needs identified in the job analysis. Achievement of these goals should be considered vital to success in that job.

* Develop an action plan about your own contribution towards developing your branch division.

* Your talents for the current year.

* Your personal and professional vision, mission, goals and objectives.

* Your personal and professional values.

The benefits of the self-developed performance plan

Preparing and implementing an effective self-development plan should never be a routine chore. It demands commitment and offers these significant benefits.

* A unique opportunity to view the job from two important viewpoints, yours and the employees

* A method continued concentration on objectives.

* A chance for the employee to see the "big picture," and better understand any changes that occur.

* A clearer focus on the problems and/or obstacles that require a solution

* A means to pinpoint accountability for actions (who will do what and by when?)

Bottom-up goal setting

There are two general approaches to determine who is involved and how the goal setting process is conducted.

Bottom-up goal setting: Individuals at all levels commit to what they can do to achieve the goal.

Top-down goal setting: Management sets the goals for the people to achieve.

Self-empowered, self developed performance plans follow the bottom-up goal setting strategy.

Although it is frequently more time-consuming and difficult to do, bottom-up goal setting is the preferable method because it put the goal-setting responsibility on the people.

Organizations that involve all levels of employees in the creation of goals usually achieve more and better results because of individual commitment to successes.

Developing your productivity portfolio and demonstrate your strengths

Developing your productivity portfolio is an important component in self development performance plans.

Advantages of personal productivity portfolio

* Your personal productivity portfolio is your "Self-development plan"

* Analyze what you have to offer your organization.

* Develop strategies to present your skills in a unique format.

* Define your expertise and what makes you unique.

* Use a step-by-step process to assess your experience and building an image.

* What are the new skills you need to acquire.

* How would you build your morale and self-image.

Any career move upwards is a marketing project, and the product is you. A portfolio can make you more visible when you market yourself to your company.

Importance of personal mission statements in your plan

A personal mission statement articulates your unique direction. A personal mission articulates what you do, it answers the question, "What is it I'm here to do?"

Defining your personal mission acts as an emotional touchstone that unleashes powerful feelings. A mission is not a narrow goal, but an overall guiding direction. A personal mission is not a restraint but fuel, propelling you towards your vision.

The following questions are helpful in guiding you to develop a personal mission. It is best to have a few uninterrupted hours to work through the personal mission section.

Develop your own personal mission

* What is my basic purpose in the work that I do?

* What is my basic purpose in my professional life?

* What are the unique aspects that I bring to work?

* What values are most important to me?

Personal and professional vision statement

It is also necessary to develop a personal and professional vision statement in your career development contract.

A powerful personal and professional vision statement may be constructed with the following information.

* Where you want to go? What do you want to achieve in about four to five years?

* How do you want to move up in your organization?

Your personal and professional vision statement must.

* Be easy to read and understand

* Captures the desired spirit of the organization

* Compact - can be used to guide decision making

* Gets people's attention

* Describes a preferred and meaningful future state

* Gives people a better understanding of how their individual purpose could be realized in the group or company.

* Provides a motivating force, even in hard times

* Is perceived as achievable

* Is challenging and compelling, stretching beyond what is comfortable.

Advantager of "self-development plans" as performance management tools

When self-empowered performance improvement plans are developed and implemented in an organization the following advantages and benefits can be achieved:

Organization

* Helps employees in self-planning and self-motivation.

* Initiates inquiry about common ways of thinking.

* Challenges assumptions

* Accepts authority and responsibility.

* Inspires a shared vision by enlisting values, hopes and dreams.

* Fosters a learning environment

* Promotes shared information and collaborative problem solving

* Models behaviour - "walks the talk"

* Appreciated diversity of style and behaviour

* Focuses on developing people

* Gives a feedback and helps people learn and grow

Employee

* Takes responsibility for actions

* Speaks out about problems and ways to work better

* Seeks to solve problems, not to place blame

* Sees network of "customer" relationships, internal and external

* Is willing to engage in inquiry about assumptions

Relationships

* Commitment to collaboration

* Mutual trust and respect

* Shared accountability

* Helping each other

* Communication of all relevant information

* Cross-departmental learning

* Focus on process and learning

Organizational Structure

* Shared values - Commonly accepted values are well articulated and widely understood.

* Human-capital focus - Individual high performance (physical, emotional, and spiritual) is developed and maintained.

* Work autonomy and job flexibility - The organization is responsive to individual life-cycle demands, provides lateral and vertical expansion of skills and contributions and is committed to mastery of multiple skills.

* Commitment to high quality and customer service - The organization pays attention to the marketplace, is flexible in its response, and keeps up a dialogue about needs.

* Commitment to communication - Information about vision, strategy and direction is shared within the organization and employee input is elicited and responded to.

* Effective stress management and career development - People are allowed to practise self-care to avoid burnout and are supported to find resources to grow at work.

Final outcome

* What is the outcome of self-developed self-empowered performance plans? One immediate benefit will be a commitment from the people to improve productivity.

* Some experts believe a major reason for the decline in the strength of the traditional "work ethic" is that many people consider their jobs boring or even dehumanizing. Others take less pride in what they do because they find their work un-fulfilling.

* The self-motivated - self developed - self committed Performance Agreement can be a major step in overcoming these obstacles. A self committed Performance Agreement should get people involved and help them see that they are making an important contribution. Becoming a part of the action and not feeling like a piece of machinery means people have more of a sense of personal satisfaction.

* A well constructed self committed Performance Agreement will give people the chance to accomplish more and do it better. By involving people and working with them, you take advantage of the pride most employees want to have in what they are accomplishing.

A good self developed people Performance Agreement can truly be the key to job satisfaction and success.