Counter Worker Mistrust With Responsive Project Climate

 

This video summarizes a World of Work survey related to a hot topic here in the Eye.

While human resource professionals responded that 91% have a formal performance management process (a.k.a. periodic performance reviews), most gave their program a C or worse. The basic reason why has been discussed recently here in the Eye, so we are not surprised to see that there is a sense of mistrust in the ranks of the HR professionals:  Only 30% say they trust the performance management system. (Probably because they are also victims of the process.)

When asked for details, HR specialists responded that the top concern is that performance management discussions are still poorly executed by the manager. It appears that, even after all these years, these conversations are still not going well. Imagine!

One speaker in the video says there must be discipline in measurements before the program can be successful. That will only go so far, because the real problem is that the whole process is weighted against the worker.

Rather than continuing to complain about this situation (which does not appear to be ending anytime soon) it behooves us to identify ways to counteract problems resulting from periodic performance reviews, to find something that you specifically can do in your project. You need reasonable interventions that allow workers to receive effective feedback, maintain professional growth, and  feel a sense of trust in the project environment. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Use meetings as a forum to provide detailed positive and constructive feedback between participants to fill in the gap left by managers/supervisors.
• Promote your issues list to be a safe place for all issues (and make sure it is so). This will ensure that workers feel that obstacles to excellent performance are being recorded, much better than waiting a year to be surprised that they are being blamed for 12 months of poor performance.
• Make a special effort to use your influence to resolve worker-identified issues that seem to be from functional areas, but do affect the success of your project. Let workers know you are doing so. You don't have to be successful to build trust.
• Find out what support (training, expert guidance, etc) workers need and do what you can to provide support that in your project.

You don't always have to be at the mercy of other managers' failings or the inadequacy of the periodic performence review process. You can take steps to create a project climate that builds trust - and performance.