Performance management in tough times
November 14th, 2008It seems everyone is talking about the down economy and its impact on HR lately, but who has the time to read it all? We’ve polled major industry analysts and clients, and boiled their wisdom down to three must-read pieces of advice for managing performance in tough times.
When tough times bite the question is always: Who do I keep, who do I manage out?
Be ready to answer that question now. Get all of your people on a grid of performance versus potential.
In a downturn the natural flow of senior people retiring out of the workforce gets disrupted as house prices fall and investment portfolios weaken; unemployment goes up and people mobility goes down. It seems like your retention problems go away…
…but what actually happens is that poor performers dig their heels in and stay put, while stars continue to move freely between companies. Yet the silver bullet for coming out of the downturn looking good is definitely in the top right of your grid.
You’ve got less money, so hold onto stars by building each one of them a great development plan and telling them every day how important they are.
When I was a kid it took my brother and I 40 minutes to ride our bikes to school. If there was a strong headwind we just had to leave ten minutes earlier. In a downturn we all have to work harder. Make sure that everyone has goals set that realize the short term objectives of the business. If you need to conserve cash, goal people on cash conservation.
It’s that simple.
