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Workforce Management. Costa Mesa: Jun 25, 2007. Vol. 86, Iss. 12; pg. S5, 1 pgs » Jump to indexing (document details) Full Text (826 words) Copyright Crain Communications, Incorporated Jun 25, 2007 Today more than ever, organizations Tiust differentiate themselves hrough intangible assets: talent, eadership, culture, and especially corporate strategy. Each year, leadership teams spend weeks and even months fine-tuning their business strategies to secure competitive advantages. At the end of this process, executives understand where their organization is heading, what actions they must execute, and how they will measure success. However, there is often a disconnect between corporate leaders and employees when it comes time to implement the strategy. Employees frequently don t fully understand what role they play in supporting the strategy. And, since management will use employee performance metrics to define "success," it is vital they use the right metrics. The good news is: leaders can use the strategic planning process to ensure that organizational strategy and measurement are translated to frontline employees. For example, if we look at the call center of an organization that competes on service, management probably views the goal of each employee as "providing outstanding service," which clearly links back to the strategy. However, the company may use metrics like "attendance," or "availability to take calls," to evaluate performance. These metrics are valuable, but by themselves they don t link back to the organization's strategy. As a result, employee incentive programs reward the wrong behavior and organizations don't fully understand which employees are truly successful in helping implement the business strategy. DEVELOPING A PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT PLAN Recognizing high-performing employees requires more than simply looking at the numbers. You must identify metrics that match behavior with business strategy; interpret the meaning of widely different data points; continually reevaluate what success looks like; and communicate this information internally. 1. Identify the measurement criteria that are relevant to corporate strategyYou must ensure that the right performance metrics are used to evaluate business success and match those metrics to employee performance. By doing this, your organization can empower employees to excel in their own roles while positively affecting the organization's ability to execute its strategy. Often, because employees are close to the customer, they can give useful feedback about what customers really value, help you identify metrics that truly evaluate performance, and tell you where there is disconnect between strategy and everyday reality. By clearly matching business goals with employee behavior, you can clarify how each employee can be successful and then drive desired behavior with effective incentives. 2. Ensure that your measurement system accurately interprets employee performance-Start by finding correlations between performance metrics and the realities of your business. If you determine that customers of your call center prefer that their problems are resolved quickly, then short call time and accurate resolution might be the major criteria for success. You would want to identify metrics to evaluate employees against that criteria, and invest in resources that help employees resolve issues. Next, assess the "weight" of different measures to actual outcomes. This is a matter of converting "apples and oranges" to "apples to apples so you can compare widely different data points. To do this effectively, apply statistical techniques to performance measurement, much the way an actuary assesses risk. You may be able to tap in-house expertise such as an employee compensation group or retail marketing analysis team. 3. Continually reevaluate your performance criteria to meet changing business environments-As your organization's business evolves, your employees must change their understanding of success. For example, if your call center needs to transform into a sales organization, your employees will need the ability to ask for the order and close the business. To help them get there, you must embed their new objectives into your communications, training, and measurement programs, and ensure incentives are effectively motivating your employees to achieve these objectives. The goal is to make employees feel personally connected to the organization's strategy. An important additional benefit is that management will be able to quickly shift strategy based upon the market information they learn while measuring employee performance. 4. Communicate performance goals and key behaviors throughout the organization-Once the key metrics and incentives are defined, a clear internal communications plan is essential. This plan should be an element of your corporate culture, rather than something reserved for annual reviews. Bottom line: when employees know what is expected, and have the tools and incentives to accomplish their goals, it's a winning situation for the entire organization. SUCCESS OVER THE SHORT AND LONG TERM When you consider the impact of aligning employee performance to corporate goals, the benefits are considerable both in the short and long term. In the short term, management can better relay to employees how to succeed against specific business goals and employees will better understand how their roles impact the organization's success. In addition, bilateral communication allows for more relevant incentive and training programs and a clear definition of success for all. In the long run, you can bring tremendous value to your company and demonstrate the value of HR through successful employee performance measurement. [Author Affiliation] JIM MCCOY, SENIOR VP | CONSULTING SERVICES, VERITUDE Indexing (document details) Author(s):Jim McCoy Document types:General Information Section:Best Practices in Talent Management Publication title:Workforce Management. Costa Mesa: Jun 25, 2007. Vol. 86, Iss. 12; pg. S5, 1 pgs Source type:Periodical ISSN:15475565 ProQuest document ID:1299542471 Text Word Count826 Document URL:http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1299542471&sid=3&Fmt=3&clientId=3851&RQT=309&VName=PQD Print | Email | Copy link | Cite this | Mark Document Publisher Information ^ Back to Top« Back to Results < Previous Document 14 of 32 Next > Copyright © 2007 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions Text-only interface