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Performance Appraisals Drive Mediocrity

30 July, 2018 by James Lawther 9 Comments

Play to your strengths

It is mid-year If you work in the corporate world that means you have been busy writing appraisals.  If you have never seen one, the standard corporate appraisal form has about 5 sections: Progress Against Objectives — what you did Fit with Competency Framework — how you did it Core Strengths — things you did […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: average, best practice, collaboration, employee performance measures, performance management, sacred cows, wasted intellect

The Proxy for Performance

6 April, 2018 by James Lawther 3 Comments

Proxy

Did you hit your numbers? It is a common challenge. You must make your numbers. You must smash your sales target You must slash your budget You must decimate your waiting times If you’ve hit your numbers then you’ve met your performance goals. Numbers and performance are synonymous. But the numbers are only a proxy […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: cheating, Goodhart's law, key performance indicators, measurement, objective setting, performance management, systems thinking

Do You Need Good Managers?

29 March, 2018 by James Lawther 1 Comment

Good Boss

A nice assertion “Teams who rate their manager highly do better”. I don’t have any data that proves it, but it sounds like common sense. I am, however, always a little wary of common sense, so lets refine that assertion and go with something more concrete. A grounded assertion “People leave bad managers”. According to […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: management style, performance management

The H.R. Hammer

13 February, 2018 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Performance Management

My brother is nothing like me Before I start this post I should point out that my brother and I live in very different worlds: He works for a F.T.S.E. 100 bank (not an insurer) He works in Canary Wharf (not the City) He works in I.T. (not operations) He is going bald (see picture […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: blame, collaboration, performance management

Corporate Infighting

12 December, 2017 by James Lawther 4 Comments

Corporate Conflict

The battle On any day in any corporation, you will see barbed e-mails, poisonous meetings, water fountain backstabbings and all-out turf wars. This is common or garden corporate infighting and nothing to write home about, though it may cause some gossip in the pub. Organisations are chock-full of infighting: Usually, the conflict simmers below the […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: performance management, purpose, reinforcing behaviour, targets, teamwork

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