HBR Guide to Performance Management
HBR Editors
Harvard Business Review Press (July 2017)

Here is a brilliant introduction to the essential elements of performance management

As you probably know already, most of the volumes in the “HBR Guide to” series are anthologies of articles previously published in Harvard Business Review in which various contributors share their insights concerning a major business subject such as better business writing, getting the right work done, and emotional intelligence. In this instance, the focus is on performance management.

In this volume, we have is what I consider to be “the best of the best” cutting-edge insights from dozens of primary sources that have been selected and organized by HBR Editors. If the 18 chapters were viewed as separate articles, purchasing reprints of them would cost about $160. Amazon now sells a paperbound edition of all this material for only $14.19. That’s not a bargain; that’s a steal.

The editors also provide an especially informative Introduction to the material, one in which they suggest that “as formal approaches to performance management evolve, managers must understand which elements of traditional best practices they should keep in place and which are fraught, which components of new processes are working, and which should be avoided…Many organizations now recognize that they need performance management processes that are better suited for people and their needs.”

A workplace culture can — and should — accelerate personal growth and professional development but many do not. In 1924, William L. McKnight (then chairman and CEO of 3M) observed, “If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need.” I agree but, like a symphony orchestra, a workforce may have different instruments but all of them should be be playing the same music. Performances must be properly managed so that differences are accommodated without losing any quality of collective sound. In one of his letters to Corinthians, Saint Paul described this as “many parts, one body.”

The individual chapters in each of five sections address specific issues related to a general objective. For example, in the Sections One and Two, readers learn HOW to

o Make goals clear and specific, achievable but challenging
o Get the needs of the individual and of the organization in proper alignment
o Formulate steps to accomplish objectives while adjusting as-necessary
o Recognize acceptable and unacceptable performance, and identify root causes rather than symptoms
o Share observations with their people, discuss issues as collaborators
o Ask questions to help their people solve problems and master new skills
o Recognize excellent work, and encourage individual progress that contributes to group progress

I presume to add that most communications between and among members of a workforce should use first-person PLURAL pronouns.

This book offers an abundance of information, insights, and counsel that can be of incalculable value to managers who absorb and digest the material thoughtfully, then apply whatever is most relevant to their organization’s needs, interests, resources, values, and strategic objectives. One final point: There are no management performance issues, only [begin italics] business [end italics] issues. Proceed accordingly.