Strategic HR Technology Investment: A Comprehensive Checklist for Global HR Teams
Whenever you take a look at companies that perform exceedingly well, time after time, year after year, you will find that there’s one factor behind it. And that is a performance-oriented culture.
A culture of high performance can be an incredibly motivating force and change the course of an organization. But how does focusing on performance orientation in an organization’s culture help? For one, a culture of high performance does not just spring out of the woodwork in the organization.
A company’s performance orientation is a key determinant of its success, as it drives innovation, efficiency, and productivity. By prioritizing high standards and investing in employee training, businesses can foster a culture of excellence and achieve their objectives efficiently.
So when you look at companies with lauded high-performance cultures, you should also know that a lot of work went into laying out a strategy for, executing that strategy and strengthening that strategy, tweaking it, and making necessary changes as the organization grew.
You don’t just stop after creating a culture of high performance. You need to nurture it too for its effects to be visible in your organization. The effects of creating a culture of high performance are long-term. It’s one of those things you need to view as a one-time investment which if done carefully will yield far-reaching results.
Much like how an excellent cooked dish is the end result of choice ingredients well blended together, in the same way, a performance oriented culture is the summation of a set of complementary habits.
There’s no success to be had if organizations lack the fundamental concepts of openness and trust. Colleagues need to trust one and other and leaders need, to be honest about what they require from themselves and from others. Conversely, employees also need to be open – be it about the work they do, how they feel about the work they do, their colleagues, the action of their leaders etc. A lot of organization implement policies of honesty but when somebody chooses, to be honest about something – they are pulled up for it. This sends out the wrong message and also, is quite detrimental to the overall health of an organization. Honesty and trust are critical perspectives which are not always palatable. However, they are immensely helpful. No organization ever wants to be at a place where nobody offers opinions or employees mistrust each other.
Honesty and trust are critical perspectives that are not always palatable. However, they are immensely helpful. No organization ever wants to be at a place where nobody offers opinions or employees mistrust each other.
How can Engagedly help? Engagedly has seamless communication features built into it, that should make communication among colleagues a breeze.
One of the hallmarks of an organization with a culture of high performance is that employees of the organization are very well aware of their responsibilities, the responsibilities of others and well as the responsibility the organization has towards its customers. Moreover, there is a strong sense of accountability. They hold themselves to high standards and will follow through on their word. The same goes for leaders of organizations with performance-oriented cultures. These two qualities are vital and are the backbone of any organization.
One of feedback’s many definitions is this – ‘information about reactions to a product, a person’s performance of a task, etc. which is used as a basis for improvement.’ The primary function of feedback is to help a person, product or thing improve. Without feedback, it is extremely hard to gauge – shall we say the quality of anything.
For example, Brian from the Sales team has typed up a report about the last meeting’s minutes. He’s self-checked it and corrected the mistakes that he’s spotted. He thinks it is fine. However, before he sends it off to the Manager of the Sales team, he ropes in Anne – also from the Sales team – to take a look at it. Anne go through the report and discovers one mistake. Brian has forgotten to enter the discussion the entire team had about one client in particular. Relieved that he asked Anne to go through the report before he dashed it off, Brian corrects his oversight. Anne goes through it once more and deems it ready to be sent. The next day, the manager comes to Brian and congratulates him on a job well done. He mentions that Brian should make note of the meeting’s minutes next time too – because his report was crisp and precise.
The example I have given you above is about feedback but on a very small and an internal scale. It is valid and helpful. By himself, Brian assumed his report was fine. Showing it to Anne alerted him to an error.This is before the completion of the task. On completion of the task, Brian’s manager offers him praise and by asking him to do it the next time around, Brian’s manager likes Brian’s work and appreciates the quality of it. Feedback is necessary. It’s a fundamental cog in the machine of high performance.
We at Engagedly understand feedback is vital. What is more, we wholly advocate it being a part of everyday organizational practices. Our feedback tool makes it really easy for employees to give and receive feedback. No more waiting for an annual feedback cycle.
There’s no place for long-drawn-out conflicts in an organization which has a performance-oriented culture. This is simply because, by not resolving conflicts, things begin to fester. Performance-oriented organizations have high-performing teams. These teams often work together in tandem, playing off each other’s strengths. Even when conflicts happen, they need to be resolved as quickly as possible. Conversely, an organization cannot exist without conflict. Conflict is natural. It is what happens when people have opinions and opinions differ. Rather than trying to prevent conflict from ever happening – which is a really terrible idea because all it does is lead to more conflict – what an organization can do instead is have a conflict resolution strategy in place. Some conflicts will work themselves out. Others might need mediators. But either way, they should be resolved, not swept under the rug.
The whole strategy behind performance orientation of your organizational culture needs to be simple and precise. Once you start piling on layers of complexity, the whole process becomes reminiscent of bureaucratic red-tape, where one has to jump through hoops just to get something done. Also, it would be prudent to keep in mind, that strategies should not be static. They need to be tweaked every now and then to reflect the path that the organization is taking. A strategy needs to accommodate the organization and make things easier, not the other way around.
One of the characteristics of high-performance teams is that they are consistently updating themselves, learning new things, updating skills and further refining the ones that they already possess. An organization which actively promotes learning and growth and encourages its employees to grow is not going to have a shortage of engaged employees. Furthermore, when employees consistently can learn and grow, they become assets to an organization and will always be willing to work hard in order to meet targets.
How can Engagedly help? Luckily, we think learning and growing are fundamental parts of employee engagement. The Learning module in Engagedly allows you to create courses, take them and assign them to others. How does a company grow? By learning together.
We’re now on the final leg of the article. This final point that I am going to elucidate on is a very important one but often ignored by many organizations. It would be stupid to assume that compensation does not motivate employees. It is not the only motivator, however. When your employees go above and beyond the call of duty to do their best for the organization, it is only right that in turn you treat them with fairness and compensate them handsomely. Good performance management is one more way of ensuring that your employees are motivated enough to give their best. Compensation need not always be in terms of money. It can be an unexpected bonus, small gifts, a paid vacation etc.
Engagedly has an entire section dedicated to rewards alone. Moreover, the Engagedly application as a whole is gamified. You get points for communicating, for participating, for learning and so much more.
Request a demo to see how the Engagedly application can improve engagement at your organization!
