Need Better Performance? To Do More With Less?

The old saying says that "what gets measured, gets managed". What we know, though, is that this is not necessarily true. It really depends on that how effectively the performance information is used.

Dick Grote, one of the acknowledged experts in the field of employee performance management, said in The Performance Appraisal Question and Answer Book (emphasis added):

“Goal setting directly increases productivity. Research on goal-setting programs has found that companies that introduced systematic goal-setting programs enjoyed an average 39 percent increase in productivity. Interestingly, the size of the benefit varied dramatically among the employees, with the key differentiating factor being the amount of management support. In those companies where top management lent strong support to the goal-setting initiative, there was an average 57 percent increase in productivity; but in those companies where there was little top management support, the increase was a paltry 6 percent.”

It’s not enough to just measure performance. You’ve got to use performance information. You’ve got to show your team members that it matters.