Our Tandem CEO: Re-humanizing performance management to maximize growth and development

The world of work has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Yet when it comes to performance management we are still holding on to concepts that were built in the 1980s. Our Tandem is on a mission to re-humanize performance management to give employees more of a chance to own their performance and maximize their growth.

Performance management may have become a little more development focused but its core premise remains the same: the manager is the powerhouse and has the authority to judge whether an employee has done well, or not.

This strategy fails to take into account the desires and requirements of today’s workforce: autonomy, agility, and the ability to make their own decisions.

In this interview, Our Tandem’s CEO Aisling Teillard sat down with UNLEASH to discuss how organizations can turn performance management upside down, by offering better feedback, greater empowerment, and a better employee experience.

Below are some of the themes that were addressed:

You can’t flip organizational culture overnight

In large multinationals, many employees might be 10 levels below the top, making it impossible for the organization to get an empowered, progressive culture overnight.

Sadly, there is no ‘culture switch’ and instead transformation is a journey, which organizations must be prepared for.

“They have to go on that journey so they see that old world performance management doesn’t fit into the new way of working. Then they will realize that they have to rethink everything from how they distribute goals through to how to manage your people on mass,” Teillard tells UNLEASH.

The ripple effect of a strong feedback culture is invaluable

Strong feedback cultures have a tendency to trickle into the wider organizational culture.

Feedback moves beyond individual teams and across collaborative teams. Higher levels of organizational collaboration mean higher levels of innovation and, in turn, higher levels of business success.

“If we’re connecting with each other in a more meaningful way, we’re deepening our trust and we’re deepening our relationships. We feel safer so we’re more prone to taking risks together and bringing ideas to the table. So it’s the ripple effect.” says Teillard.

Promoting a culture of constructive feedback and honesty

All too often management shies away from honesty, afraid of what might be discovered in the dark corners of their business.

However, instead of fearing it, honesty should be embraced in organizations by creating and promoting cultures of constructive feedback and authenticity. This will enable both employees and managers to thrive and, in turn, drive wider business success.

How you manage people is the true employee experience

It is time we appeal to what employee experience actually is and boil it down to the more fundamental human needs such as growth and development.

“We have an innate need to better ourselves — that’s why we do New Year’s resolutions every year” Teillard explains. We must recognize that management is the very essence of who businesses are and the experience employees will have working for them.

Data is HR’s armoury in the boardroom

Gone are the days when the CHRO is intimidated by the CMO’s endless quantities of insightful data.

By using tools like Our Tandem, HR can have that too. “I want to be able to give HR reports that can sit at the board level and arm them with the information to say, ‘engagement matters, these are our hotspots — we need the budget to do this,” Teillard adds.