Customers » Case Studies » Simpl - getting it right second time
Case Study
Results:
On the benefits of automation
It’s easy getting a good view of the entire organisation without having to deal with all the paperwork. We can tie everything together, from recruitment to career management, without having to shuffle through piles of notes.
On better information for employees
Recently we were working with someone who wanted to move up from their current role. We were able to quickly access their information in Sonar6, work out how they were doing and if they were likely to get promoted, and to discuss with them what they needed to do to reach that goal. We could show them what they needed to work on based on hard data; we didn’t have to rely on gut feeling or instinct. So it was a much more productive process.
On strategic decision making
Our CEO uses Sonar6! We’re starting to use it across the board for informing HR strategy, and at an organisational level for succession and development planning. We can quickly get data on our lowest-scoring competencies so we can take action, and have plans to develop strategies for workforce development if we discover we have too many ‘contributors’ and not enough stars
On different strokes for different folks
We have had some of our technical guys struggle a little with the softer side of the reviews, so a little extra education was needed on that front!
On the all-important conversation
The major outcome for us was the increased quality of performance conversations – we can get so much more actionable detail into them now. The self-assessments in particular are extremely useful when it comes to discussing performance with employees – they really help put things in perspective.
Simpl - getting it right second time
Simpl is a small but successful IT services company, with a ‘work hard play hard’ philosophy and fewer than 100 full time and contract staff. While there has been someone in a recruiting role for much of the company’s history, until 2007 there was no formal HR department and no one dedicated to managing HR projects. The company also suffered from the usual curses in the IT industry: skill shortages and problems with retention. In short, Simpl’s management team really needed a way to make sure they found and kept the best people – but the review system in place really wasn’t helping.
Environmental Factors
Says HR Manager Janine Attwood of the original system, “It had been in place for years and was nightmarishly paper based. Looking through some of the old forms, I couldn’t believe what a laborious, complicated process it was. No wonder they looked for alternatives!”
In 2007 the decision was made to automate the process. At this stage there was a project champion, and Sonar6 was selected to fill Simpl’s requirements. It all seemed very straightforward.
However, the implementation didn’t go smoothly. A communication issue between Sonar6 and the Simpl network meant review data didn't reliably save, and gradually employees stopped trusting in (and using) the automated reviews. Compounding matters, the project champion left the company and performance reviews of any kind almost ceased altogether. Janine knew something had to be done quickly.
“When I started at Simpl, I saw not much had happened in the past few years. Even though the paper system was a hassle, the process was owned and reviews were carried out. This changed after Simpl moved to Sonar6 and people encountered difficulties using the system; its use was limited and reviews stopped happening. It was obvious we needed to get everything back on track.”
Requirements
Because Janine joined Simpl after the initial project had started and stalled, she approached the re-implementation of Sonar6 as an opportunity to get things right the second time. Reviewing the current system with Sonar6 Implementation Consultant Suzie Valentine, Janine came up with some process changes that would get around the company’s current issues.
So second time around, the system needed to:
- Capture competencies
- Be easy to access / use
- Track goals
- (Eventually) capture training requirements & achievements
- Provide succession planning and development planning capabilities
- Require a less manual process to capture / analyse data
- Reliably save review data
- Make life easier!
“We really needed something that would be easy to use, so we wouldn’t get resistance when it came time for people to do their reviews. We also needed to get the foundation of the system right before we tried to get fancy with it. We had to do some serious groundwork: refining the process, training users and working on restoring peoples’ faith in the system.”
So with a list of requirements and a wealth of previous experience to learn from, Simpl began work on the new implementation of Sonar6.
Sonar6 Solution
The key to success was going to be a combination of fixing the existing system’s data saving problems, educating staff on the effective use of Sonar6, and making sure quality reviews were actually taking place.
“There was a loss of confidence in the system, and because there was nobody driving the process, there was nobody to educate users or make sure the software was being used properly. Because it had been left for so long, we really had to start the project over to make sure we addressed all the problems and got it absolutely right.
“In a way it was a good thing. We could go back to basics and make the system do exactly what we wanted it to do; get the processes right. For instance we moved to a company-wide annual review date rather than reviewing people on their anniversary, and we had the chance to further tailor our rating scales to better suit the company.”
Janine found that re-education of users was a big (and necessary) undertaking, given the data-loss problems that arose during the first implementation. The new Sonar6 was initially trialled with a single team who found the process much improved and supportive of productive performance conversations. After that success, the system was rolled out to Simpl offices across New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
“We had to work hard to recover from that initial loss in confidence; people needed to understand what was required of them and what the final result would be, and had to trust that Sonar6 would deliver.
“It was a lot of work, and we kept Suzie busy! We got there in the end though: we now have a much better system in place and it’s working well throughout the company.”
Summary
In an ideal world, Simpl’s initial Sonar6 implementation would have been successful and Janine would have joined the company after everything had been scoped, set up, tested and proven. However, the initial failed project has been overcome by Simpl, which now has an implementation far better suited to the company’s needs. Not to mention a system that is starting to prove it’s worth in terms of providing useful information!
Janine isn’t done just yet though. She has big plans for the future of talent management at Simpl, and sees Sonar6 playing a major role in the coming years.
“We expect to get a lot more value out of Sonar6 as we put more data into it – we’re really looking forward to tracking peoples’ movements through the company and doing more detailed workforce analysis.
“Within the next couple of years, we want to be able to start building career paths within the company so we can say to people ‘this is where you can go with Simpl, and these are the tools to get you there.’ We’re also putting more effort into our Learning & Development programs and we’re concentrating on developing our succession planning and recruitment capability.
“Sonar6 will inform all of those projects – it’ll be where we for our information.”