Persuading staff to “pull in the same direction” can deliver hard business benefits, writes Shirley Barnes, Client Relationship Director, Dinamiks Limited
Today’s often tough economic environment makes it imperative that all aspects of business performance be studied to see if they offer prospects for optimisation.
Staff behaviour and attitudes are one area where the complexity of the subject might make change look daunting. Individual behaviour, attitude and motivation, team working and alignment to objectives and values - and compliance - may all need to be addressed.
However, new, online approaches to measuring and managing performance, as well as attitudes and behaviour, have brought costs down and improved ease of use very considerably.
Where reducing costs and improving productivity of employees are top of the agenda, the effort can be particularly rewarding and the means to get there relatively pain-free.
Traditional route
In large organisations, the traditional route to change has been to use external specialists and an array of tools and techniques to map what is going on in the company, and then roll out a programme of change. It often involved using modern variants of time and motion studies to highlight where individual improvement was required. Workshops and training were employed to make the changes required.
Smaller businesses relied on the MD or FD changing the company culture through group or face to face meetings, perhaps following informal or formal performance appraisals.
With the switch to web enabling applications, the traditional ways are being replaced by a simpler and more automated approach.
This analysis piece looks at how Medex Research, an SME, made the changes that have resulted in a more cohesive workforce; where staff now pull more strongly in the same direction. The lessons learned at Medex Research can be scaled up or down.
The company is a full service global market research agency, operating in the medical devices and diagnostics market, which outsources research to companies like Medex.
Traditionally, Medex used paper-based appraisals to track staff performance to
ensure its people were permanently focused on the essential business objectives and values. MD Sarina Masson recognised the drawbacks of that approach and decided to switch to a new generation of employee performance management.
Complete picture
The new generation is automated and web-based and gives management a complete picture, from the employee performance and behaviour perspective, of what is going on in an organisation
“Many people,” she says, “are now more familiar with web-based applications than paper ones, which makes the switch to web-based appraisals an increasingly painless one. There is the added advantage that they can be rolled out very easily at any time locally or globally. All that is needed is web access and computers.”
The appraisals at Medex Research are carried out with two objectives in mind – (i) staff development, including meeting training needs and how best to improve performance, if it needs improving. “The system will tell us if it does,” says Masson (ii) using the system to build and maintain quality across the business.
These objectives complement the business goal of always producing the highest quality research, in order to secure solid long-term client relationships.
Staff development and re-direction
“We’re different to a lot of other companies, but similar to market research companies, in that sales output can’t be objectively measured,” Masson cautions. “So, we focus on staff development in areas like analysis and report writing – generally, how to perfect the different stages of market research.
“Now in its third year here, the system is key to optimising our employees’ market research skills, as well as their knowledge of the medical industry, through highlighting any gaps in it, which we then address.”
Masson says the system “has helped us formalise and systemise employee appraisal and career progression. Paper-based systems can be run very informally and will take more time. A computerised, web-based system enforces good discipline by the managing director, or the head of HR or whoever manages its use.”
The introduction of a new approach to performance management “also gives the opportunity for staff ‘re-direction’ in their personal development. It’s not just useful for showing where training is required; it can pinpoint where change is required in attitudes, attention to detail and overall quality of work, in line with company goals.
“And it helps with fostering a better ‘connection’ with the company, in terms of individuals helping other staff; for example in generating more sales, being pleasant to work with, having ideas for the business and the workplace, being proactive in company support – including the way clients are serviced – and working better as a team.
“Where a company’s positioning is ‘quality’, the system supports the drive for excellence in every area that contributes to it,” she says.
Medex’s experience of the online approach is a good pointer for other SMEs and departments or divisions of large operations. It shows there is a new way for change and it’s one that challenges fear, cost of change and the assumption that managing employee performance is a complex and time consuming process. It’s not.