It’s time for our Adult Report Cards

It’s happening! It’s time. Whether you're the one responsible for giving or receiving a performance review, they have the potential to make call in sick.

Are you also asking Chat GPT to write your self-review or are you asking it to help you define a performance review strategy?

In Today’s edition, We'll talk about :

• Prepping for Performance Reviews

• Skill Gaps and Training

• Hyper - personalization of Training

• Tweet we're pondering upon

Prepping for Performance Reviews

Good Performance reviews are the best way to empower and motivate employees. The criteria by which managers assess employee performance must first be made explicit, including any ethical criteria: what's essential and what level of performance is expected. The next step is aligning that with business goals.

Shikhar says - The biggest problem is that we provide HR solutions to HR problems. We don't provide HR solutions to business problems. That's the biggest reason why business never listens to HR. Keeping employee morale as the undertone and speaking of how that will help their business and how the productivity will go up, numbers and revenue will affect will help us create an accurate plan. So the moment you put it that way - as a measurable thing - it leaves no room for confusion. They don't have the option to say no to your policies and plans.

How to prepare better?

1. Have managers review the job descriptions and performance expectations: Before conducting performance reviews, managers should review job descriptions and performance expectations with their employees. This will ensure that both parties are on the same page and understand what is expected of the employee.

2. Set goals and objectives: Managers should set goals and objectives for the upcoming review period. This will give employees an idea of what they need to accomplish in order to receive a positive review.

3. Provide feedback: Regular feedback is necessary throughout the review period. This will help employees stay on track and ensure that they are meeting expectations.

4. Guide employees to document everything: Ask employees to document everything before a performance review. Encourage them to be thorough and detail-oriented, mention and provide guidance to ensure all important information is captured.

Shikhar further mentions that the moment you stop documenting, you're just giving that scope of subjectivity and that scope of people coming up with their own biases, own opinions and no facts.

5. Encourage open dialogue: Managers should encourage open dialogue with their employees during the review period. This will help ensure that employees feel comfortable expressing their ideas and concerns.

6. Prepare for the review: Managers should prepare for the review by gathering all relevant documentation and information. This will help ensure that the review is conducted in an organized and efficient manner.

Prepare a set of questions for employees to elaborate and evaluate on-

1. What do you think were your biggest successes this year?

2. What areas do you think you need to improve on?

3. What challenges have you faced this year and how did you overcome them?

4. What do you think you could have done differently to achieve better results?

5. How do you think you have contributed to the team’s success?

Peer Review Questions:

1. In what ways has XYZ contributed to the team’s success?

2. What areas do you think XYZ could improve on?

3. What do you think are XYZ’s strengths?

4. How do you think XYZ could have done better?

5. What challenges has XYZ faced this year and how did they handle them?

7. Schedule the review: Managers should schedule the review at a time that is convenient for both parties, ensuring the employee has access to any relevant documents or materials they may need for the review. This will make sure that the review is conducted in a relaxed and comfortable environment.

In the upcoming issues, we will be talking about performance management tools, how to do it remotely, tackle biases, 360-degree feedback, whether should pay be based on performance reviews, OKRs, how to prepare for a bad performance review and PIP, and much more.

Tweet we're pondering upon-

Skill Gaps and Training

Skill Gap is often stated as a lie, but with the rise in unemployment and employers looking for candidates with more skills, education, and experience but unable to find them, there is social proof that it is real.

It is obvious that there is a mismatch between the skill level of employees needed to meet the needs of the current labour market. Skill Gaps can be challenging for both organizations and people.

How to close skill gaps?

Identification of gaps

“Traditionally, you would be able to identify skill gaps only during annual performance reviews, but today the scenario is so dynamic that we are able to identify it almost immediately. There is constant communication and feedback. HR plays a very important role. You can identify which areas need improvement and work on it.” says Jahangir Shaikh, Associate Director - Human Resources, CMS Info Systems

Hiring

Jahangir further mentions that we need to be able to identify the skill sets that are in demand and the ones that will be in demand in the next 6 months or 2 years. We need to do our homework: understand the market trends, competitors, and our own business, and then plan to hire around it.

Learning and development

Nilesh Godle, AVP HR @ Thence Mentions - “We have a repository of skill sets required for each level, and how the company is going to help them achieve it.

So when I have to define a certain l&d program for my employees, I look at two things: one is to address what is needed in the current job and the second is to enable them to learn things which are required for the next job. Otherwise, how will they get a promotion or achieve growth? So clear demarcation of the skill set at different levels across the departments is extremely important. It's a gruelling process that HR alone cannot do it. The business partners, the head of the departments, the guides in each of the departments have to get involved.”

We need hyper-personalisation of Training

Hyper-personalisation of training is the way to provide learners with the most relevant content tailored to their needs and interests. It allows for more efficient use of resources, reducing time to complete training, while still providing comprehensive learning. It unlocks the potential of the modern learner, creating a learning experience tailored to the individual and giving them the best chance of success.

Bensely Zachariah, Global Head of Human Resources at Fulcrum Digital Inc, says - “We need group syndrome, the hyper-personalization in training. And this is primarily training and not talking more into l&d as a whole. We now work on technology and tools. Gone are those days when somebody needs to sit the whole day for training. We come up with bite-sized training nuggets because that's how employees operate. Now again, do I give you the same thing that I give the next person? There’s a possibility that you are much more advanced and you don't really like it. And today's generation possibly feels it's sort of insulting to their intelligence if you make them go through the training around the basics. So hyper-personalization of training using AI technologies is one of the things required.

Hyper-personalization is happening in the retail industry for sure. I saw a pair of shoes and I saw ads for them for a couple of months. But that's exactly where I talk about people not understanding the need of marrying technology with the business need. Use it to train and understand your employees”

In conclusion, hyper-personalisation of training is essential for modern organizations to provide effective learning that is tailored to the individual. It allows for more efficient use of resources and unlocks the potential of the modern learner. AI technologies are key to achieving this, allowing organizations to provide customized learning experiences tailored to the individual. With the right implementation, hyper-personalisation of training can help organizations to unlock the potential of their employees and ensure they are equipped with the skills and knowledge to succeed.

If you have any feedback or a topic you’d like us to cover, hit reply to this email or text Janhavi on Twitter.

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