Performance Management Reboot: Ditch a Broken System & Power Up Your People

Performance management,” as we know it, emerged in the 1950s as bureaucracies sought to drive behavioral standards across their organizations. Today, people are most familiar with old-school performance management in the form of the standard annual performance review, which most organizations use to make compensation and promotion decisions. This annual ritual is almost universally dreaded, however, by employees and HR professionals alike making it abundantly clear that the traditional approach is neither increasing organizational performance nor motivating individual development. In fact, research increasingly shows that traditional performance management has the opposite effect by demoralizing and disengaging employees. It’s a broken system, and it’s time to ditch it.

The Performance Management Reboot is designed to offer organizations a choice other than sticking with a bad system. It will serve as a guide for what to do instead, based on practice: practice carved out of author Tamra Chandler’s real-world experience in leading global organizations and advising clients on building high-performing organizations. It will show readers how to craft a thoroughly modern performance management program, one optimized for today’s increasingly connected, customizable, and multi-generational business world.

Chandler addresses the 8 Fatal Flaws” of traditional performance management equipping readers to more fully understand and communicate why performance management is failing. A key section includes fundamental shifts”major changes in approach and thinkingthat must be embraced in order to move to more relevant and effective performance management approaches. The book is set apart in that it delves into the solution development of a new approach. It identifies three universal objectives and explains why each organization should have its own custom performance triangle.” Lastly, it provides robust information on managing this type of significant change including practical steps to: align the organization, engage leaders, connect people, prepare stakeholders, measure value, and integrate project management.

A full performance management reboot is long overdue; it’s time to power up your people.

Tamra Chandler is the founding partner and CEO of PeopleFirm, a consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations achieve a competitive advantage through their people. She has more than 25 years of experience as an advisor to Fortune 500 companies on building cutting-edge human resource practices and strategy. Prior to founding PeopleFirm, Tamra worked for Arthur Andersen Consulting as the Managing Partner for the Pacific Northwest, and at Hitachi Consulting as the executive in charge of People and Solutions.

In recent years, Tamra has increasingly focused on transforming performance management, in response to heightened client demand and her passion for improving organizational performance. She has authored articles and white papers on the subject and has spoken frequently at industry events. Because of her work, she was named one of Consulting Magazine’s Top 25 Consultants” in 2007 and again in 2014.

Tamra holds a B.S in Electrical Engineering from Montana State University and an MBA from the University of Washington. She resides in Seattle with her husband and two children where she serves as the current President-elect of the Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Board of Trustees, and supports a variety of organizations benefiting animal welfare, the arts, and the environment.