By Barry Stern, Ph.D.
My personal psychological stimulus package arrived the other day. An email from a good friend and talented ex-colleague contained the phrase “missing our quarterly bonus discussions.” These sobering times had caused me to repress the lunacy of another era and at first I didn’t get it. To what bonus discussions was she referring?
Her subsequent phone call cleared it up. She remembered a time we were part of a company that had artfully created a performance management and bonus system utterly independent of our behavior. Furthermore, while the company stock plummeted, we received what seemed to us significant quarterly bonuses. We weren’t “gaming” the system; the system was “self-gaming”.
Contrary to what you might think, while we enjoyed the bonus and felt the dollars well deserved, having our behavior “de-linked” from our rewards felt absurdly hollow. Much nervous laughter accompanied each discussion as we tried to make sense of the circumstance. Furthermore, the little “development” my direct supervisor attempted to provide was merely extraneous noise. He didn’t get me, the situation, or the true development opportunities our dire company situation presented. And so, I and those closest to me, became rudderless, disengaged ships at sea. When the opportunity arose, many of us jumped ship. Some, with no apparent performance based rhyme or reason, were eventually asked to walk the plank.
Today’s performance management connectivity challenge is decidedly different. As companies enter Q4, hordes of talented folks are burdened with goals that through today’s lenses feel unachievable. Yet, these times call upon us to develop more mental and sometimes physical muscle – and fast. Performance management and bonus discussions conducted in this unique time will deeply color perceptions and longer-term allegiances. How will you leverage this unique opportunity?
Some critical questions to ponder:
- What are the unique business conditions your company has experienced and how will they impact performance management and bonus discussions?
- How confident are you that those discussions will reflect your company’s core values?
- What have you done differently this year to prepare your leaders for these discussions?
- What unique opportunities for development does this time represent?
In today’s roiling business waters, navigating the performance management course tests the skills of even our most adept leaders. While the waters are treacherous, the organizational and development payoffs are more than worth the voyage.
Barry Stern is vice president, Consulting Services and Delivery for Development Dimensions International (DDI).
Comments