Empower Employees to Make Their Own Career Choices: Treat Them Like Adults

Take a Systematic Approach with a Simple Performance Management System

A performance management system like BLOOM aligns your business objectives with employee goals. It enables employees and managers to keep track of goals and performance, and it enables HR to identify top performers as well as employees who are at or below average.

The system is just part of the equation.

Obviously, you need a performance review process that addresses the right areas, which includes transparency and accountability. We've touched on transparency and accountability in several recent posts. These directly relate to treating employees as adults.

Transparency about the review process communicates a sense of trust. When you’re open about expectations, rewards, and consequences managers and employees start on the same page and are empowered to make them happen (or to take issues to HR if expectations aren’t being met).

Transparency about performance—letting an employee know their value to the organization—communicates a sense of commitment. If the employee is a top performer, let them know that they have potential and that the company will support their continued growth and will continue to have expectations. When employees know what’s expected and what rewards and opportunities do (or don’t) exist they’re empowered with knowledge to make choices about their career rather than left to guess what might be possible.

The bottom line is that achieving strategic alignment means everyone has to pull their own weight. That means employees must meet role requirements and development goals; managers must provide consistent, honest feedback; HR must support employees and managers through regular check-ins and training opportunities, and the organization must be prepared to reward top performers.

What have been effective methods for giving honest feedback that have worked for you?