The case for focusing on performance over results

Relying on results can become an obstacle to performance improvement. Instead, a shift from quantitative to qualitative goals — where the behavior of employees is in sharper focus — can create a motivated and energized workforce, according to Bård Kuvaas, professor of organizational psychology at BI Norwegian School of Management. It’s time to stop getting lost in numbers and focus on employees, Kuvaas told attendees of the Career Development Roundtable in Oslo, Norway, last week. In fact, this shift can reduce costs and increase profits. “If I run 100 meters in 9.95 [seconds], would you say that’s good or bad performance?” Kuvaas asked. He answered his own question: “The time is not a performance, it’s just a result.” There are two main purposes for focusing on performance rather than results: a developmental purpose and an administrative purpose. The practice allows for developing knowledge and skills, but also for collecting information for decisions such as pay raises, recognition of individual performance and layoffs. By enhancing performance, organizations will spur intelligent thinking and gain better use of the talents, knowledge and experiences available to them, Kuvaas said. Letting go of the numbers The traditional way of measuring performance means looking at specific and measurable results. This creates an “illusion of control,” Kuvaas said, but it can ultimately lead an organization or company away from its strategic goal, he elaborated. Instead, goals should be guided by the values and strategies of the organization. But managers must also know their employees. A person who values power, for example, might behave differently than a colleague with strong altruistic values when put in the same situation, according to Roy Childs, a business psychologist and managing director of Team Focus who also presented at the event in Oslo. Or, two employees might behave alike, but the performance doesn’t correspond with both people’s values. The best performance, according to Childs — who has helped the United Nations Refugee Agency enhance its work by measuring staff’s values, resilience and personality — comes from people whose “doing” corresponds with their values. Kuvaas pointed to the example of a health care provider focusing on the number of minutes of care spent on each patient, such as a nurse who is not supposed to spend more than 10 minutes with a patient. “How do you think she feels if someone asks for five more minutes?” he asked. “People stop sharing knowledge when they are running to meet performance criteria based on a time schedule.” Instead of measuring minutes, let employees write down each week how they have shared knowledge with each other, he suggested. How to change employees’ behavior Some companies have successfully turned their focus to job behavior and increased their profit. Swedish bank Handelsbanken, for example, follows a policy of not taking on more clients than can be served individually. It also makes the biggest profit among the Nordic banks, Kuvaas noted. And there are many more examples of the success that follows putting responsibility in the hands of employees. Swiss Air used to have eight pages of travel policy to manage the cost of employee travel. After a year of editing it down to one sentence — which simply stated that employees shouldn’t use more money than needed for their travel — the airline had decreased their total travel expense by 40 percent, Kuvaas said. The key is that people want to perform well at work and will use their responsibility to do so. When instructed to follow an extensive policy document, Swiss Air had unnecessarily replaced sincere responsibility and intelligent thinking. The same thought process extends to grading or ranking employees, Kuvaas said, which are used for sorting people, not for development or motivation purposes and can actually work to demotivate when one person’s value depends on a comparison with another’s. Microsoft, for example, dropped their ranking systems last year because its leaders realized that they had made it easier to be a lazy top performer, Kuvaas said, and many companies are now taking similar steps. Focusing on behavior means managers have to interact with their employees and give frequent feedback, according to Childs. And employees need to know why they are performing a task. Childs suggested practicing self-awareness with employees to make sure what they are doing at work corresponds with their values. He helps people find their “why’s” and match work functions with the goals of the employee. “Identity is a core component of motivation,” Childs said. “If an individual knows why he or she doing what they are doing, you manage to light their flame and they’ll have more energy for talent management.” What’s the best way to motivate a colleague to improve their performance? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below. Check out more career advice stories online, and subscribe to Doing Good to receive top international development career and recruitment news.