Attracting and retaining talent is a challenge for most companies. Sean McLoughney outlines how regular performance management conversations can help engage and motivate high performers
When someone leaves a company, there are greater costs than lost revenue and business opportunities. It costs time to recruit, interview and onboard someone. It can cost team morale, too, when a highly valued team member leaves.
So, it is no surprise that managers are looking at ways to improve their staff retention strategy. However, one option that is often overlooked is performance management—in particular, the performance conversation.
Below are three ways that performance conversations can be used as part of your strategy for engaging high performers.
1. Regular conversation
The traditional annual reviews will soon be obsolete as they have little or no impact on people’s performance levels. Sitting down at the end of the year to discuss someone’s performance is a complete waste of time, because often it is too late to influence results. The only topic that people want to talk about at these annual meetings is their pay rise and bonus.
Regular performance conversations throughout the year can, however, provide a great platform to communicate expectation levels and clarify business priorities. They can also help to foster the right environment for success, because talented people need to know that their input has meaning and makes a difference. Link their successes to key business and team outcomes and comment on their individual contributions.
Another key component of these regular conversations is discussion about the areas each team member will focus on in the period ahead. Keeping the conversation future-focused will help you to understand what they intend to do and how they will optimise their time and resources.
Remember, while you can’t change past results, you can influence future performances. Build regular performance conversations into your ways of working.
2. Align individual goals with business outcomes
High performers want to ensure that their efforts add value and have an impact on the overall business results. The role of a performance-focused manager is to translate the business strategy at its highest level into what it means for each person. Discussing the business plan with your team will bring context to their work.
It allows them to establish their own key goals, aligned effectively with wider business objectives. Being involved in defining their own goals increases personal accountability by fostering a sense of ownership, which will also increase engagement.
Set up a team meeting to discuss the business plan prior to your next performance conversation. Start by outlining the plan at its highest level and the subsequent key priorities for your team. This will give everyone a better understanding of the significance of their work, as well as a sense of purpose.
Next, ask the team what they believe needs to happen to achieve these expected outcomes. Gather all their ideas and connect them to the business goals. Then prioritise this list so that everyone’s focus and time is spent on tasks that generate a maximum return on their efforts.
Finally, turn these ideas into achievable goals that bring clarity and engagement. You can discuss these goals with each person during their performance review meetings and update them, when necessary, throughout the year. This will ensure everyone is always working on the most important tasks.
3. Skills mastery and career progression
The third way performance reviews can be used to improve staff retention is to have discussions about their skills mastery and career progression plans. Talented people are more likely to stay with your organisation if they genuinely believe that they are being continually developed and have access to opportunities to progress their careers.
As part of your talent support role, you should ensure that everyone on your team has a skills mastery plan. A skills mastery plan provides people with a framework to enhance their skills, knowledge, and expertise. This helps them build a knowledge of skills for their current role requirements, while also preparing them for future promotional opportunities.
The skills knowledge plan is not a static document. It must be reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis. During performance conversations, outline how your team members’ skills knowledge plans are aligned with the agreed business goals, and how they are likely to impact their career paths.
Make sure to affirm how their learning can support them in achieving their goals and career aspirations. This is a great opportunity to embed a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
Performance conversations, when used correctly and regularly, ensure that your company has the best possible chance of delivering a sustainable level of high performance now and in the future. It is an important component in attracting and retaining talented people.
Crucially, all these steps are about much more than just discussing goals. They create opportunities for talented people to understand why they are important, how their efforts impact business plans, and how you plan to support their personal development and career progression.
Seán McLoughney is the founder of LearningCurve and author of Time Management, Meaningful Performance Reviews and Slave to a Job, Master of your Career, all published by Chartered Accountants Ireland
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