Progressive Performance Management and Culture Change

In late November, ChapmanCG and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) co-hosted 20 Singapore-based Regional HR Heads at the GECAS offices to discuss progressive performance management. Representatives from a diverse range of companies attended including Barry Callebaut, Cargill, DHL, Hyflux, Intercontinental Hotels Group, JDA Software, Johnson & Johnson, Liberty Insurance, Mizuho Bank, Monsanto, NTT Com Security, SAP and Zoetis. What follows is an overview of the key points discussed during this afternoon session on how performance management is evolving to meet the needs of today.

Growth Mind-set Conversations

Mayank Bhatnagar, VP and Head of HR for GECAS, and our co-host for the session, described the evolution of performance management at his company in recent times. The group listened as Mayank shared some of the challenges of an old system that centred around rigorous annualised ratings and restrictive conversations related to an employee’s contribution, and the transition to a new system that removes the need to rate and encourages broader conversations around an employee’s future performance development throughout the year. There were insightful reflections on the process GECAS continues to go through in order to achieve the culture shift that is needed to launch and integrate a new performance management system - one that is aligned to a key GECAS belief: to “deliver value in an uncertain world”.

Questions were raised around the practical day-to-day steps GECAS has taken to bring about the culture change needed to reshape leadership behaviour within the new system. There has been a significant shift, which means that leaders are now focused on growth mind-set conversations that emphasise the employees’ progression in the company. The group agreed on the importance of the frequency and quality of conversations between employees and managers throughout the year, in order to avoid performance related surprises.

Piloting ‘No Ratings’

Alicia Neo, BU HR Leader at Cargill, presented for the second half of the session on the global corporation’s four year pilot programme transitioning to a no-rating performance management system. Some of the key changes implemented during the pilot included:

Cargill found that more than 90% of pilot participants reported, year after year, that their overall experience with a no-ratings system was positive. What was critical to having a positive experience with no ratings was the quality of the manager’s comments and/or the performance discussion between the manager and the employee. Interestingly, the 10% of employees who had a negative experience with the no-ratings system attributed it to poor goal setting, confusing performance reviews, and lack of clarity about how they were doing on the job.