Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR March 23, 2015 6 News Start by learning the key components with Basic Workplace Investigation Techniques & Report Writing Workshop or enhance your skills with one of our Advanced training sessions. • Investigating Complex Cases • Interviewing and Dealing with Difficult Witnesses • Assessing Credibility • Conducting Workplace Assessments • The Essential Human Rights Primer for Workplace Investigators • Understanding and Addressing Bias Basic and Advanced Workplace Investigation Training for HR Professionals from Canada's Leading Workplace Investigation Experts. For more information and for workshop dates call or visit: (416) 847-1814 | RubinThomlinson.com Learn to address inappropriate workplace behaviour before it becomes a legal issue. Fixing the broken performance review By todd HUMBeR PERFORmAnCE REVIEW — it's the longest four-letter word in the organizational handbook. Employees hate them, managers loathe them and HR keeps sing- ing their praises. "It turns people off when not done thoughtfully. Managers hate it. We haven't cracked the code on this one," said Ian Hendry, presi- dent of the Strategic Capability Network and vice-president of HR for Interac. So, how it can be fi xed? Mark Edgar, senior vice-pres- ident of HR at RSA Canada in Toronto, wondered if organiza- tions succumb to the pressure to have some type of process in place without being "brave enough" to use a more authentic method. "It should be around leaders having good conversations every day," he said. "We're not willing to take that leap and accept that accountability. I'm not sure what the barrier is for that — we push a process through that makes us feel we've ticked the box. It could be a lot better." Performance management in its base form is "simply a vehicle to make sure there is at least one good conversation a year, which is sort of a sad situation," said Heath- er Briant, senior-vice president of people at Cineplex Entertainment. "And while data analytics has be- come a key business driver, rating people is still an imperfect art." One shift that could help is in- viting the employee to own much more of the conversation, said Helen Giffen, a Toronto-based human resources executive. "Equipping employees with the tools to have good feedback con- versations, seek information and get clarity around goals signals to them that they're in charge of their own success," she said. "Making sure they understand the broader needs of the organiza- tion and have done some legwork around translating that into objec- tives for the following year, helps managers engage employees in the company's future. It's really kind of turning it upside down." But managers simply have too much on their plates, said Giff en, and many don't take good notes through the year about what workers accomplished. Many organizations also lack eff ective feedback collection systems. "If we can put it in the hands of the people who benefi t most and who have the highest vested inter- est to have quality conversations and support them doing well... we can make a diff erence," she said. Cadillac Fairview has made performance management more than an annual conversation, said Norm Sabapathy, executive vice-president of people, with an enterprise performance coach- ing system that requires quarterly coaching meetings between man- agers and employees. "It's grounded in determining behaviours that will drive the re- sults — and one or two behav- iours, very focused — and that drives that conversation every quarter," said Sabapathy. HR is then focused on holding the organization accountable to ensure conversations happened, then measuring and helping boost their quality. e conversations are rated on a fi ve-point scale — and it's not managers evaluating how they did, it's employees. " ey think about their perfor- mance, how much traction they're getting and the quality of the coaching conversation they had," he said. "It's made a big diff erence." Managers overburdened Hendry wondered if managers are being asked to do too much administrative work, to the point where they simply can't conduct an eff ective performance review. "I wonder if there is a legitimate complaint that can be had of HR that we haven't stepped up to say that we're never going to get this if we load them up the way we do." HR hasn't invested enough time in quantifying how important a manager's role is in the perfor- mance review process, said Edgar. "I don't think we've been clear that you get value from a leader being a leader, and that that in- volves being a talent builder, being a coach and being a performance manager," he said. " eir roles be- come too much focused on being an individual contributor as well. You have to be realistic about what you give people to do." Managers don't have time for the people management side, said Laura Dunne, senior vice- president of human resources at Indigo Books & Music in Toronto. "And it's the really good lead- ers that carve it out because they know that, ultimately, it creates capacity for them, drives engage- ment and builds the future capa- bility of the organization." Many fi rms have invested in technology to make performance reviews as quick and easy as pos- sible — which should mean less time on the actual task and more time spent on the conversation and coaching, said Giff en. But you never hear managers complain about the amount of time it takes to create a budget or do fi nancial forecasts, she said. "To them, that is part of their job, even though it may not be part of the core function," said Giff en. "So people management is really the same. e trick is helping peo- ple to understand the payback and make it an integrated part of their job, rather than thinking of it as an extra activity they have to do." Self-assessments As for employee self-assessments, Hendry believes they can be nega- tive for everyone involved when done poorly and people tend to overvalue themselves. at puts managers on the defensive and they have to talk the employee down on performance. "It's not a conversation you want to have," he said. It also takes the onus off the manager to know what's going on — she can simply wait for the self- review to roll in. At Cadillac Fairview, Sabapathy favours self-assessment and he's seen employees both over and underrate their performance. "I always like to start with the self-evaluation. And I've actually learned things I wouldn't have learned if I had just given them my point of view and then had the dis- cussion, because I would probably have truncated a thought they re- ally wanted to get out." On the practical front, employ- ees only have to do one, so they're going to put more thought and ef- fort into it versus a manager who is doing 10, said Dunne. "It's hard for managers to do them well. But, if you're doing your own, you're going to put more into it. e amount of time you put into it refl ects how impor- tant it is to you." Dunne tends to see more em- ployees underscoring their own performance, but said HR needs to equip managers to have con- versations for both overrated and underrated self-reviews. Sabapathy said he's trying to eliminate the amount of time managers spend worrying about rating people "satisfactory" and putting comments. "I've not seen that add value to a person or to a manager," he said. "Figure out the two or three things they did that were amazing and the two areas where they need to improve. at's where I think we should focus." March 23, 2015 Ian Hendry Norm Sabapathy Heather Briant Laura Dunne Helen Giffen Gathering a group of very senior Hr leaders into a room is always an interesting exercise. late last year, ian Hendry, president of the Strategic Capability network and vice- president of Hr at interac, moderated a discussion in downtown Toronto. it has become an annual exercise for Canadian HR Reporter, and an opportunity to tap into the minds of Hr leaders on what's coming down the pipeline for the coming year. in this, the second part of a three-part series, panellists look at the much-maligned performance review and how it could be more effective in driving performance. PANELLISTS: • ian Hendry, president of the Strategic Capability network and vice-president Hr, interac • norm Sabapathy, executive vice-president of people, Cadillac Fairview • Heather Briant, senior vice-president of people, Cineplex entertainment • Helen giffen, Toronto-based human resources executive • mark edgar, senior vice-president, human resources, rSa Canada • laura Dunne, senior vice-president of human resources, indigo Books & music Mark Edgar

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