Performance Management

How managers can conduct Performance Reviews that actually result in increased performance

Based on our experience across many sectors, it has become apparent that performance management and performance reviews in particular are hard to undertake. Executives are not committed to it and employees would not care less. The question therefore is: Do they really work? The good news is that performance management and performance reviews work if management takes time to put the right systems in place.

The first step in any good performance management system is to get the commitment of the Board and senior executives. The CEO needs to drive this process. If this important part of the business is relegated to human resources, chances are it will fail. This process must never be viewed as a human resources department issue. The process produces very good results if every manager views this as a tool to get the best out of their people.

The company board must take a keen interest in measuring the performance of the CEO. If the Board is not measuring the performance of the CEO the system will not work. The Board must continuously appraise the CEO against clear targets. Once that is done the CEO is likely to cascade the system to all his/her direct reports who in turn will cascade the system to their subordinates. My advice is if you find your Board and CEO not interested in being measured and being held accountable through an objective performance management system do not waste your time and resources putting a system in place because it will not work.

Once you get the commitment of the Board and CEO you can now start to put the other building blocks in place. A word of caution, Board and CEO commitment means they must all walk the talk.  What worries me when I look at most organisations is that if managers and subordinates are not talking about performance what are they talking about. Organisations are set up so that they can perform for the benefit of the stakeholders.

If your organisation goes beyond the month of April without agreeing on the targets for the year you must know that you are working for an organisation that does not care about performance. How do you get to 4 months into the year without agreeing on the target for the year? There are many cases where managers start running around talking about targets for this year in October and November. This shows lack of seriousness on the part of the CEO and the Board. The time to agree and sign performance contracts is in the first quarter of the year. It is even better to have agreed your targets for the year by end of January of each year.

For you to be able to agree on targets for the year, you need to agree on a way of setting goals and targets. The challenge is in most cases managers want to use sophisticated systems to set goals and targets. Whatever system you decide to use, the goals and targets must be clear. In too many cases managers want to come up with complicated systems and things not measurable in order to fix their employees. When a simple system is used, measurable goals and targets based on outputs for each job can be agreed. I hear a lot of people saying my job is not measurable. That is not true and it just shows that the person concerned does not understand their role. For each job non-controversial goals and targets based on output can be agreed. To be able to come up with the goals and targets, managers and employees need to work together.

In situations where the system is not based on objective performance criteria, you find that accusations and counter accusations are flying around. Personality’s issues come into play and employees generally resent the system. In companies where there is no objective performance measurement system, people are not paid based on their performance. Instead people are paid based on what we call “corridor mileage.” In such a situation those who move around offices talking to people and building relationships (corridor mileage) are rewarded. Again those who talk a lot and are always visible are recognised at expense of those who add value to the organisation. Non- performers normally know how to position themselves politically within the organisational hierarchy to mask their non- performance.

If you want your performance management system to work, stop measuring behaviour and focus on results. If you are still measuring punctuality, decision, teamwork etc. and such other behavioural aspects of performance you are a century behind modern trends and what works in practice. We are not saying you must ignore behaviour, NO. We are saying agree on the objective outputs first and agree on targets. If the person is not delivering on the targets agreed you can then look at the cause of the non- performances as part of your coaching as a manager. This is normally where behavioural issues come in. Maybe the person is not performing because they do not cooperate with others (teamwork). Work on the behavioural aspects and see if performance improves and if not there could be other causes such lack of skill, motivation etc.

With an objective performance management system, managers are able to build trust which is critical for any performance appraisal process. Without trust appraisals are a painful process. You can build trust in the system by building mechanisms that allow managers to give their subordinates feedback more frequently. If managers are allowed to wait until the day of the appraisal, your system will not work. Managers must also take note that appraisals are not a history lesson on what went wrong. Appraisals are futuristic in situations where managers continuously give feedback to their subordinates. Subordinates look forward to the appraisal process in such a situation. Managers must learn to focus on appraising agreed targets and nothing else. If they have other issues with the employee they must be dealt with in another forum. Unfortunately managers love to feel important and show their power so they dig out things that happened five years back. If you do this you kill the whole process. We have also found in practice that managers are terribly short of performance coaching skills. Instead of investing resources in things that do not add value to the organisation, companies can invest in training their managers on performance coaching, the returns are massive.

Trends have changed. Instead of the managers gathering data to support their assessment of the subordinate, it’s now the employee who must keep records related to agreed targets. When the subordinate goes for an appraisal they must carry a file with all their evidence to support their performance. Managers and subordinates must realise that only hard evidence must be used in performance assessments. Also, do not do your appraisals in a hurry. Give subordinates 2 weeks to prepare for appraisals. Do the appraisal in an appropriate place or office and also at the appropriate time. If managers and subordinates dialogue during the course of the time under review surprises will not happen.

My last word of advice to all companies is that even if your system is not the best that you would want the first and more important step is to appraise people quarterly and this must be done religiously. All records of appraisals must be kept in employee files. This is the only way to build a high performance culture.

Memory Nguwi is the Managing Consultant of Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd a management and human resources consulting firm. Phone 481946-48/481950/2900276/2900966 or cell number 077 2356 361 or email: mnguwi@ipcconsultants.com or visit our website at www.ipcconsultants.com or visit our blog www.ipconsultants.blogspot.com

Preparing A Winning CV

Preparing a Winning CV

A CV plays a critical role in your search for career opportunities. A well prepared CV can get you an opportunity to attend an interview. Prospective job seekers need to note that a good CV alone is not enough to get you a job. You will need to perform well in other stages of the selection process especially in the interview and in some cases psychometric assessments.

Your CV gives a prospective employer the first opportunity to look at your profile. It summarizes of your profile (personal details, education and experience).  The first thing you need to decide on is the length of your CV. Prospective job applicants have the mistaken belief that a very long CV is what employers are looking for. The whole purpose of your CV is to get you an interview. The rest you can explain in the interview. We recommend a CV of not more than there pages for very senior people. For less experienced individual a one page CV will even do.

The first thing to put on your CV is your personal details. While employers are not supposed to decide suitability of a candidate on the strength of personal details such as age, gender etc. It’s never the less important to have this information. A CV missing this kind of information is as bad a CV that does not show the name of the candidate. Employers normally will treat an omission of this critical personal information as lack of attention to detail. I normally get questions related to whether the CV must have a cover page or not. The issue of a cover page is an issue of personal preference. However if you decide to have a cover page do not over decorate the cover page. CVs with cover pages over decorated put off prospective employers. A CV decorated like a birthday party or kitchen party invitation cards can be viewed a lack of seriousness on the part of the applicant.

When putting educational qualifications always start with the highest qualification you hold. Recent graduates it’s important to indicate grades of each subject taken under each program you studied. At entry level employers tend to use qualifications a lot when selecting candidates. Employers prefer candidates with good grades that is why it is important to indicate this on your CV. Don’t forget to put the overall degree or Diploma class. Sometimes we get people submitting CVs that do not show the institution that awarded them their qualifications. It’s critical to have this information on your CV. Also indicate the period the qualification was attained. All this information helps employers decide on whether to call you for an interview or not. More experienced candidates need only to indicate their qualifications, degree class, awarding institution, and the period the qualification was attained. For more experienced people it’s not important to start listing the subjects undertaken under each degree or diploma program.

When putting your experience start with your most recent or your current employment.  Prospective employers would like to know what you have covered or accomplished with each of the employers in summary. Please do not copy what is written on job descriptions as it is too generic. You must show things that you have done under each job you have occupied. It’s important to highlight major achievements under each of the jobs you occupied in your career.

How do you deal with gaps when you where not formally employed? The honest truth is that there is a general negative perception especially of people who left formal employment who now want to get back into formal employment. That perception will take a lot time to go away. Employers are worried genuinely so by what these candidates where doing their long period of “self imposed layoff”. We are all aware of how difficult it was in the past 6 years to be in formal employment and be able to survive without doing something of your won in addition to formal employment.  My advice to those prospective candidates who find themselves in this situation is to tell the truth. Indicate the period you were self employed and briefly explain what type of business you were into. The longer the time you were out of formal employment the longer it will take for employers to start accepting you. The bottom line with regards to experience is that you should not leave unexplained gaps in your experience record. 

Some candidates prefer to explain why they had to leave their employment to join a new employer.  It is better to omit the explanations in your CV and leave this to the time when you are called for an interview. Those doing interviews normally will ask you to explain why you left employment.

When preparing your CV it’s important to check the font you are using to prepare your CV. The CV must be readable.  Your CV headline must be in upper case and the rest of the headings must be in title case. Never write the whole CV in upper case. A number of people struggle to read long documents written in upper case. If the employer is serious they will not call you for an interview if your whole CV is written in upper case.

Is it important to put your picture on your CV? I see a lot of people putting their passport size photos on their CVs. While how you look is not a factor in selecting people for jobs an unattractive photo can put off the person looking at your CV. I would advise you to leave the photo out for that particular reason. Some of the photos we see are like those photos you find on the police wanted list.

Are the companies you have worked for critical in a search for employment?. This is one factor that prospective candidates take for granted. You must choose whom you work for carefully. There some employer brands bad brands in the market to such an extent that some employers will through your CV in the bin.  Employers brands publicly know for corruption and bad publicity are not good for your CV.  You must aim to have on your CV some of the top brands. Being a top employer brand is not an issue of the size of the organisation but an issue of reputation especially on how employees are treated. Organisations that struggle to pay staff and are often in the press for the wrong reasons are dangerous brands to put on your CV.

What about issues of salaries when you are called for an interview? Some people are so desperate for a job that they would take anything. Whatever you ask as salary must be in line with what you are capable of contributing. No serious employer will pay you a market related salary when you have not yet contributed a single cent.  Go into an organisation with the aim to create value for the employer so that you can be recognized.  Some of the salaries  prospective candidates ask for are not found in this market and even in the region.

One sure way of not getting a job is the lack of computer skills. If you are unemployed or you are employed and you do not know how to use a computer and the most commons computer packages go to school right away. You will not get a job without those skills unless you are looking for manual work somewhere on the road construction projects. If you want to be in an office you must know how to use the internet, email, PowerPoint, excel and word. If you have these skills you also broaden your job search methods as most the employment agencies now have online job databases where you would need to register.

If you want to learn more about how to prepare a winning CV please go to our facebook page by searching for “Industrial Psychology Consultants” and become a fan of the page. We have a video on how to prepare a winning CV. Our next video  will be on how to pass an interview. If you are not on facebook you can upload your CV on our website: www.ipcconsultants.com . If you would like to receive daily job updates on email send me an email on mnguwi@ipcconsultants.com with the caption “subscribe to job alerts”.

Memory Nguwi is the Managing Consultant of Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd a management and human resources consulting firm. Phone 481946-48/481950/2900276/2900966 or cell number 0772 356 361 or email: mnguwi@ipcconsultants.com or visit our website at www.ipcconsultants.com

Productivity Linked Wage/Remuneration Model for Zimbabwe

Productivity Linked Wage/Remuneration Model for Zimbabwe

The topic of productivity measurement in Zimbabwe has been under discussion for as long as 25 years now. Government, Employers’ associations and Labour unions at some stage discussed this very important topic. However up to now no concrete framework is in place to implement this model which I think is the best for an economy such as ours. The lack of progress is partly due to the lack of coordination by the social partners and lack of know-how on the practical implementation of such a model.

During the period of hyperinflation Human Resources Practitioners were very innovative when it came to remuneration. At the time when the country was going through an unprecedented economic decline characterized by hyper-inflation, many new and innovative ways of rewarding employees were found that helped companies survive. These included paying people using fuel coupons and groceries. After the introduction of the multicurrency system some leading companies moved quickly to adopt the Total Cost to Company Model. The more cautious and less responsive remained on the old system which they are struggling to maintain now. It will be even more costly to near impossible to implement the total costs to company model 2 years from now because employees will be so much used to the old model to the extent that they will not want to change. Management of most organisations on the old system are also not willing to move to the new more sustainable model simply because they are afraid of affecting their own personal interests as they are currently benefiting from this old system.

Given the fact that most organisations are struggling to pay decent salaries it is imperative that social partners; government, labour and employers work together and come up with a national sustainable remuneration model. Ultimately if this is not done now a number of organisations will close shop due to unsustainable salaries and wages. Should this be allowed to continue, a lot of people will lose jobs and this scenario is not ideal.

The first step in developing such a system is to come up with the right legislative framework. With the current system at NEC, it is almost impossible to set salaries using productivity figures. The NEC is a grouping of competitors and there is no way they are going to share strategic information at that level in order to set salaries. As a result the NEC’s are “talk-shops” when it comes to real wage issues linked to productivity. This is the same reason why these groupings are obsessed with “Poverty Datum Line” or PDL linked wages which have never been implemented anywhere in the developing world. They have also tried to link wages to inflation; this is understandable but it is not the whole picture.

Companies need to link wages to productivity. One way of ensuring that companies in the same industry share information of strategic nature such as the data required in productivity measurement calculations is to set up an independent statutory body at industry level or national level to collect such information without disclosing the identities of participants. Currently the way NEC’s are operating is like a father who buys the same size of shoes for his sons or daughters regardless of their actual size. There is so much variability in company productivity that it is impractical to give uniform salaries increases to the whole industry.  The current NEC setup also punishes those companies already paying above NEC recommended minimums especially when they recommend salary adjustments on actuals instead of minimums. A number of companies have now simply stopped internal Works Council driven salary negotiations because they are afraid of being chocked by the mandatory NEC adjustment. Our situation demands that salary negotiations be done at company level through the Works Council. This approach takes into consideration individual company circumstances instead of the NEC system which looks at nothing else except inflation and the PDL. Inflation and the PDL do not show company or national economy growth/performance. The current NEC system therefor only looks at the cost side to the employee.

Once the above huddles have been resolved there is need for immense education at all levels on the pillars and importance of productivity measurement. One common and misleading notion currently pervading the Zimbabwe economy is that production equals productivity. This is not correct. You can produce as many units or tons of your products and still remain unproductive. The simple definition of productivity is output divided by inputs. Production which is just the output excluding growth in inputs is therefore misleading when used as an indicator of the company’s performance. Employees normally want to be rewarded on the basis of units produced and most senior managers know that this is not sustainable.

The other misconception on company of performance is that profitability equals productivity. There are so many companies that are very profitable but not productive. It is important to note that profitability equals to productivity plus price recovery. My estimates are that profitability in 80% of Zimbabwean companies is driven by price recovery instead of productivity. Depending on price recovery for profitability is not a sustainable strategy. Price recovery can lead to products you are producing becoming uncompetitive or your customers seeking for substitutes thereby opening the door for new competition. Monopolies tend to thrive on price recovery in many instances because they know there are barriers to entry in their industry. When competition comes for such organisations it normally hits them hard to the extent that they may not recover in the long run. There are too many examples of such cases in Zimbabwe. Most of the companies relying on price recovery for profits have enriched themselves at the expense of their customers.

A more suitable business model is the one where profitability is driven by productivity and employees must be rewarded accordingly in such cases. Therefore when adjusting salaries it is important to look at both profitability and productivity. A model matrix for determining increases based on this model is shown below.

Productivity & Profit Linked Salary Increases Matrix

Profit Growth	Percentage Salary/Wage Increase
30% and above	8	10	12	14	16	18
26% to 30%	6	8	10	12	14	16
21% to 25%	4	6	8	10	12	14
16% to 20%	2	4	6	8	10	12
11% to 15%	0	2	4	6	8	10
0.5% to 10%	0	0	2	4	6	8
Productivity  Growth	<10%	11% to 15%	16% to 20%	21% to 25%	26% to 30%	30% and above

The model above ensures that wage increases are commensurate with increases in productivity so that the competitiveness of the economy is further enhanced. Another positive factor in using the above model is that wage increases, which reflect productivity gains, will ensure that there is no undue pressure on prices and erosion of real incomes. Our situation is currently the opposite of what the above model is trying to achieve. Labour wants salary increases linked to the PDL without considering productivity. The good thing about this model is that if management measures productivity they can use this model as a benchmark for all salary increases.  The same model can be linked to sustainable incentive schemes.

Memory Nguwi is the Managing Consultant of Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd a management and human resources consulting firm. Phone 481946-48/481950/2900276/2900966 or cell number 0772 356 361 or email: mnguwi@ipcconsultants.com or visit our website at www.ipcconsultants.com