Talent development processes anchored on a clear, consistent performance management model help enhance the

experience for all.

by Laura Coons, June $12,2023$

Peter Druker$$s famous adage culture eats strategy for breakfast is often used in organizational conversations about building

the organizational value proposition that helps attract and retain top talent. In my experience, that expression can be

misapplied to suggest that the softer side of culture is the most important aspect of an organization$$s approach $$ the nontraditional engagement experiences aimed at making a workplace fun.

Don$$t get me wrong $$ I$$m a huge proponent of fun workplaces. But it often seems that performance is an overlooked or

underrepresented component of making a workplace engaging, exciting and the kind of place people want to be part of$.$

Performance$-$oriented cultures where goals are ambitious and teams work hard to achieve big things $$ can be some of the

most fun, most compelling places for top talent to join and stick around. Winning together bonds teams to each other and to

the company, particularly when those victories are founded on a performance culture.

Creating a culture of strong performance requires three components: clear goals regularly aligned within and across teams$$

simple but strong progress monitoring with consistent performance trend analysis and discussion$$ and straightforward,

sustainable tools aimed at building capability to accomplish goals. Talent development processes anchored on a clear,

consistent performance management model help enhance the experience for individuals and teams by tamping down noise

and making it easier to see through to the core objectives.

Accomplishing these three foundational elements of a performance culture takes time and practice $$ but in any

organization, the existing performance management model can be used as the starting point. Most organizations do some

form of goal setting and performance measurement.

The increasing popularity of models like objectives and key results $($OKRs$)$ through which more regular check ins and goal

realignment are pillars of the framework suggests there is appetite both for leaders and individuals to do more consistent,

recurring evaluation of performance. While many organizations use a goal setting and performance measurement practice,

a key differentiator is the regular, structured, enterprise$-$wide tracking of performance against objectives. With OKRs, a

quarterly cadence is most common. In some instances, monthly monitoring and rolling up of results is successful.

The benefits of such a system are multiple: leaders engage in more regular feedback practice, teams are more consistent

about updating goals to reflect accurately the agility they demonstrate in pivoting based on organizational needs, and crossfunctional alignment is more likely because of those team$-$level discussions. Most importantly, individuals in the

organization have both a crystal$-$clear picture of their goals and a regular review of their impact. As the practice is

strengthened, that understanding of impact is closely connected to awareness of performance trend. And the dreaded endof$-$year performance rating surprises can be avoided.

finally, data on turnover consistently suggests that when people leave organizations, career development is the primary

reason. The price tag for turnover exceeded $$700$ billion in $2021$ more than doubling since $2009.$ Many of the outcomes of

performance management drive career development: talent review, succession planning and career conversations or

development plans. When performance is not a central element of organizational practice, career development cannot be

either. Clear, aligned, regularly tracked performance measures can help organizations hang onto their valuable talent. And

knowing an organization is primed to focus on goal achievement and winning together can serve as a powerful attraction

tool for high potential indiviual.

Evaluate the different performance management approaches against the context of the article.