People Time: Perspectives on People Performance Management

By Kory Schramm, ITA Group

Every business is the same. Regardless of economic conditions, industry, products or processes, we all have the same starting point when it comes to one metric - time. Whether our workplaces are large or small, twenty-four hours in a day is all we get.

So, if every company is at the mercy of Father Time, how does one use time as an advantage and separate from the competition? The answer is both simple and complex. Businesses must positively influence time through a common performance driver – people.

The working association between people and time is what elevates companies to greatness. People are the nucleus of today’s business model. Whether referencing employees, channel partners or customers, people are the assets in our ever-changing, service-oriented world. And how a company engages its people to make the most of those precious 86,400 seconds in a day is what ultimately spurs operational and financial success.

The association of time and people can be seen in a variety of common measurements deemed critical for a business:
• Employee productivity
• Sales channel/distribution efficiency
• Management effectiveness
• Customer loyalty

In fact, most leaders in business today understand, at least subconsciously, that the alignment of people’s potential and the power of a brand is the recipe for success. Unfortunately, too many companies haven’t taken full advantage of the real value their own people can bring. Often we get so focused on the corporate performance indicators, we lose track of our people performance metrics.

The reality is our products, services, brands or ideas are only as strong as the people behind them. In fact, people issues account for the majority of challenges companies face when trying to achieve their desired objectives. Yet research indicates only a fraction, generally below 30 percent, of corporate employees are actively engaged. This lapse in employee engagement, in turn, is directly impacting your customer touch points, your productivity ratios, and the valuable component of time.

Similar to the way we can’t alter time, our businesses can no longer hang our hats of success on just product differentiation. What ultimately is separating our companies from the competition is how well our people are delivering our brand promise. Performance also depends on the impact our efforts have on service, satisfaction and time investment through the eyes of our customers.

Organizations that invest, beyond compensation and benefits, in their employees and partners consistently outperform those that may not. They view people not as an expense, but an investment – the force behind change, achievement and success. And driving performance among that human engine requires more than a plaque and the occasional pat on the back. Harnessing performance improvement demands a cultural commitment. It requires an environment that encourages, inspires, recognizes and rewards.

Where does one start? The path to new levels of corporate achievement begins by understanding the correlation between current and future performance indicators. The time/performance difference, or gap, becomes your opportunity for improvement. You may be at $150 million in sales and you want to reach $200 million. You may be at 90 percent satisfaction, and you want to achieve 95 percent. Or in today’s economy, you may want to just maintain market share levels.

Every company has a variety of performance gaps because every company has a variety of objectives they are trying to achieve. Validating objectives (ensuring they are realistic and manageable) and then prioritizing them helps steer a company’s investment in time and people toward those initiatives with the most promising returns.

Simply said, the people/time correlation is at the center of every corporate performance gap and, thus, every performance improvement initiative. For example, if your company’s most important performance gap was sales, an effective assessment process would help identify the people that could have the biggest impact on improving sales. And the audiences and desired actions may not always be the most obvious. In this case, it might not be your sales force. It could be referrals through your employees. It could be best practices within your distribution channel. It could be product education among your customers.

Identifying not only the right performance improvement area, but the right audience and the right timeframe to enable positive change to take place, is the key to unlocking long-term success. Through a partnership with a proponent of people performance management, your company can see new levels of “people power” and will begin to master the true value of time.

In addition to measuring success, ITAGroup, on its corporate Web site (www.itagroup.com), lists the following employee engagement best practices to consider:

• Establish consistent, attainable and measurable engagement objectives
• Communicate personal expectations and progress
• Provide award choice to engage and influence
• Reinforce the value of the customer experience, not just your product or service
• Utilize perceived hurdles, such as mergers/acquisitions, to leverage new components and strengthen your program
• Complement performance strategies with special corporate events
• Identify new opportunities for management ambassadorship

The items listed above will serve as the building blocks of your business. They will enable your corporate story to be told and, more importantly, implemented consistently and effectively.

Countless scientists and philosophers have proven time and people are complex. Yet solutions to manage and leverage time and people do not have to be. Simple ideas can be transformed into desirable actions that take your company from ordinary to extraordinary. You have the answer, your people. Now you just need to invest in their time. After all, time is money. 

Kory Schramm is Resource Manager, Corporate Marketing, at ITAGroup, a leading full-service performance improvement company. Visit www.itagroup.com or e-mail ideastoaction@itagroup.com