Like many of you in the training world, I think the performance review is a load of rubbish and needs to be thrown in the trash can, and the sooner the better. What, if anything, do we replace it with?
I recommend that we train our managers and employees to move from a performance appraisal culture to a performance development culture. And there is a world of difference.
An approach I have developed is called the Five Conversations Framework. It works like this: A manager is expected to have a conversation with his or her charges once a month for five months straight on a theme. Each of these conversations is expected to last approximately 10 minutes each.
Here are the conversations in the framework:
- Climate review conversation
- Strengths and talents conversation
- Opportunities for growth conversation
- Learning and development conversation
- Innovation and continuous improvement conversation
Let’s focus here on the learning and development conversation.
The problem with most learning is that it is too focused on building technical skills and competencies. At the end of the day, there are three approaches to learning and development. They are:
- Technical-centered approach
- Person-centered approach
- Problem-centered approach
All three approaches are important and have their place in organizational learning.
Let us briefly define each of these dimensions.
Technical-Centered Approach
Technical training is concerned with acquiring skills and competencies that have a direct application to an employee’s current or future job. This is by far the most recognized form of learning. Organizations devote most of their budget and resources to enhancing technical skills and capabilities. Since there is a direct link between the learning and the job, technical-centered training is easier to measure in terms of its effectiveness. It typically is measured by observing someone on the job doing the technical task they have been trained to do. The success or otherwise of technical training can be implemented in most cases immediately, which is another attraction of this approach.
For instance, a project manager who learns project management skills can apply this learning to his or her day-to-day job straight away, assuming, of course, that the training is practical and his or her job entails project management. The manager can easily observe whether these skills and capabilities have been applied to improve the employee’s capacity to manage projects. This ability for managers to observe changes on the job and the direct application of the employee’s learning are the main reasons a technical-centered approach to learning is the most widely recognized and popular approach to learning.
But it only covers part of the picture.
Person-Centered Approach
Person-centered learning—more commonly referred to as personal development—is concerned with improving the person. This approach has an indirect impact on workplace performance. Gaining more prominence over that last quarter of a century, person-centered learning has been recognized as an effective dimension of learning and development. It is based on the belief that by improving the person, you improve his or her ability to perform the job. Its impact is more difficult to measure in terms of improvement in overall work performance. Learning such as organizational and time management, goal setting, and stress management is person-centered. Despite its less direct impact on work performance compared with the technical-centered approach and consequently the challenge in measuring its success, personal development can have a positive impact on an employee’s ability to do the job.
Problem-Centered Approach
Surprisingly, the third approach to learning and development often is neglected in performance conversations. It is referred to here as problem-centered or problem-based learning. Problem-based learning is about dealing with unexpected or unusual problems and dilemmas that face a person in his or her job. As the world of work and life in general become more and more complex, employees have to “think on their feet.” In complex situations, there is often no process or procedure to follow, and people have to work out what to do—and do it quickly.
Consider this example: A customer in a hotel just had a great meal in the restaurant. He approaches reception and asks one of the receptionists if he can have the recipe for the meal. What should the receptionist do? How does he or she resolve this issue? You can imagine the look of panic on the receptionist’s face. A process is unlikely to be written in the hotel procedural manual. Most employees have been trained to follow specific procedures and processes.
But as customers become more and more demanding and their requests more complex, employees often are put in difficult and unfamiliar situations such as this. As a consequence, learning to solve problems and dilemmas in the workplace is critical to success and, therefore, has a big impact on a person’s ability to do his or her job.
Multi-Dimensional Approach to Learning
I would recommend that managers adopt a multi-dimensional approach to learning and development. A multi-dimensional perspective means that learning and development experiences and activities ought to combine all three standard approaches: person-centered, technical-centered, and problem-centered.
In practical terms, a balanced approach means that approximately a third of the learning and development budget should be devoted to technical learning, a third to personal development, and a third to problem-based learning. A multi-dimensional approach will ensure that employees’ learning and development is well rounded and more effective in enhancing their skills, personal development, and capacity to resolve unusual problems they will continue to face in their jobs.
At the Coal Face …
Understanding the basis of each of the three approaches to learning and development can lead managers to be more informed about their choices in human resource development. For example, a team leader who is faced with the challenge of overturning lagging work performance in his or her team might deal with this issue in three different ways.
In terms of the person-centered approach, the issue could be tackled from a personal efficiency point of view; that is, the issue could be one of improving the way the team manages their workload and time. This may take the form of implementing a training program in time management. In doing so, the team leader is tackling the issue from a person-centered perspective.
Adopting the technical-centered approach, the manager may consider the issue from the point of view of low technical competence. For instance, employees then may undertake a competency-based training program, such as a course in administrative and clerical skill development.
Yet a third option open to the team leader is to take a problem-centered approach. Using this approach, the team leader may organize a workshop on the challenge of improving communication with other departments within the company. The workshop could take the form of facilitating a discussion on some of the key issues affecting the team’s performance and how to improve communication links with one or more functional areas.
Any of these approaches or a combination of them may assist in improving lagging performance.
Excerpt from “The End of the Performance Review: A New Approach to Appraising Employee Performance” by Dr. Tim Baker.
Dr. Tim Baker is an Australian-based international consultant and best-selling author. Dr. Baker has conducted more than 2,430 seminars, workshops, and keynote addresses to over 45,000 people in 11 countries across 21 industry groups. He can be contacted through http://www.winnersatwork.com.au.
