What are the benefits of agile performance management that businesses need to know?

Since the days of infancy for the business industry, performance management has always made an appearance. Introduced as a proper management system back in the 1950s, it has progressed a lot, to keep up with the tides of time and the ever-changing organizational culture.

But during this time of technological boom, where the flow of information has been faster than ever, the traditional performance management system has sort of fallen off. Hence, organizations have started moving towards a newer system, a better system that utilizes all the technological assets available to them and helps them further increase the efficiency of performance management.

What is Agile Performance Management?

Agile performance management or APM refers to a new collaborative and instant feedback-based performance management system, which believes that the managers and the employee in an organization are equals and should work together towards the goals of the organization rather than consenting to the traditional hierarchical systems.

Faced with these social and fast-paced organizational cultures that the world has been adopting, Agile performance management incorporates the technological advances that allow instant communication between peers and between the multiple levels of the organizational hierarchy bridging the gap between the upper echelon management and the common employee. This results in quick and efficient feedback and keeps performance management in check.

Why is Agile Performance Management Better?

Some of the benefits of Agile Performance Management that makes it better than your traditional performance management system are:

Clear and Concise SMART Goals

Before we get into this, let us first look at what a smart goal actually is. In an organizational structure, SMART is actually abbreviatedas Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Setting up a SMART goal is one of the key elements that make up Agile Performance. This helps the organization identify what their priorities should be and what could be allowed a little breathing room. Being able to identify your priorities is a huge step towards a successful business year.

Instant And Direct Feedback

Everyone likes to know if they did a good job or not. This keeps them focused and motivated and helps them minimize problems and mistakes. Not knowing what were the fruits that your work has reaped can be a little frustrating and demoralizing to employees, as they cannot get any sense of accomplishment.

But with Agile Performance, you can provide the employees with instant positive and constructive feedback. Positive feedback ignites a sense of accomplishment and recognition in the employee and also provides them with a sense of purpose and self-worth. With APM positive feedback can be provided instantly and publicly which helps the employees build up a sense of positive competition amongst themselves and a drive to work harder to gain recognition.

Although constructive feedback can be a little on the harsher side sometimes, it is just as important for the growth of the employee as positive feedback. While positive feedback recognizes the work done by the employee constructive feedback helps them understand what’s expected of them and how they can do their job in a more effective way.

Standing out

With instant feedback and recognition, an employee can stand out amongst their peers and enjoy a certain social standing. Being able to be recognized between a versatile group of individuals who all boost certain skills and technical knowledge provides the employee with a sense of self-worth and motivates them to do an even better job to stay in the spotlight and be a superstar.

Shared Learning amongst Employees And Managers

As Agile performance management is based on a collaborative style of doing things rather than a hierarchical system. The managers are seen as thinking in the best interest of the employees and help them directly by imparting knowledge regarding how to do their duties and undertake responsibilities. This helps employees grow as individuals and provides them with more opportunities to progress in the organization as well.

Keeping track of the goals and regular appraisals

Now the one thing that makes Agile Performance stand out the most against its ancient counterpart is that APM focuses on regular appraisals of employee performance throughout the year. Most companies that employ the old system performs annual or semi-annual appraisals.

If you look at the statistics, research has proven that companies who perform appraisals more frequently are likely to generate 30percent more revenue than your traditional organizations with their annual appraisals.

Regular appraisals not only help in keeping the employee motivated and focused but also helps the organization to keep track of their goals and modify them for the long run if the need arises. This helps the organization keep its goals relevant to the higher purpose that the organization plans on performing.

Peer to peer feedback

Sometimes the structure of the organization is so decentralized that the higher management cannot directly come in contact with the employees. With APM you can perform surveys amongst a representative group of employees to find out more about the problems and issues that should be addressed. This helps greatly in forming conformity and unity amongst the employee and the management. And allows the employee to understand that their opinions and thoughts matter just as much as that of a manager’s. This helps in keeping the employee motivated and give them a sense of responsibility and a sense of meaning to their works.

Conclusion

After reviewing the benefits of Agile performance management it is safe to assume that APM has completely revolutionized the working of an organization. To keep up with the currents of time any organization would need to get rid of some of their old habits and culture and adapt to newer traditions. Only by keeping up with the ever-changing culture and organizational structure consider to be a standard, can an organization keep itself intact in this whirlpool of the financial boom.