How IT can support HR performance management processes using Microsoft

Whether you’re an HR champ or an IT whizz, both parties need to realise the huge role IT has in driving brilliant HR processes in the digital-first world we all work in today. Weekly10 Performance Management app for Microsoft Teams is the way forward.

Cross collaboration isn’t something that happens nearly enough. We tend to operate in our silos and seeing our work and projects as exactly that; ours. Yet if we listen to the innovators and leaders in the business world we know it needs to happen.

And IT needs to be the first port of call when HR is looking at new ways to better engage, manage and inspire employees. After all, your IT team are perfectly positioned to help you find, test and roll out the best tech solutions for the job.

Traditional performance management is broken

Whereas IT teams are often the first to test our innovative ideas and new ways of working, HR departments are often lagging behind the curve. Especially when it comes to rolling out new performance related software or apps that work in existing tech like Microsoft.

We live and work in a global, tech-led world. Where we were once tied to working where our tech was based, we now find the tech goes where we work. The past year has only highlighted further the possibility for us to work wherever and whenever we like thanks to the development of technology, embraced massively by our colleagues in IT.

However, when we look at our people processes, they really haven’t changed all that much for the vast majority. And that means they're ineffective.

One standout example here is the humble, much-maligned performance review, which hasn’t changed much at all since the 1980s. Yes, your reviews may well have been digitised some point over the past 30 years. You might even run your performance reviews over your Microsoft Teams app. But it's unlikely that the process itself has seen any meaningful iterations.

And that’s a problem. In fact 80% of employees who have an annual or bi-annual performance review say that they don’t get value from their existing performance management process.

At best, this means huge amounts of time and money are being wasted. At worst, your traditional approach to performance could be having a detrimental effect on employee output.

Employees see little benefits to traditional performance reviews

So why are employees finding such little benefit in traditional performance reviews? There are 3 key areas:

Performance reviews are untimely

Reviews are based on outdated goals or present employees with outdated or unexpected feedback. Recency bias impacts outcomes too. That's because managers often don't have recorded evidence of performance and have to rely on memory. It’s much easier to remember and reflect on recent events over those that happened eight or nine months back.

Performance reviews are based on a subjective mindset

Without a strong, robust evidence base and the ability to reflect over a long period of time effectively, managers typically rely more on impressions and subjectivity to help shape feedback. Using Weekly10 app for Microsoft teams helps to make feedback objective, having a lasting impact on performance.

Performance reviews are too process-focussed

The appraisal process often overshadows content. We're often focused on getting the job done, rather than making an impact. Related to this is also the fact that traditional reviews have a very high admin overhead, with efficiency usually being a primary KPI.

Weekly10 app for Microsoft is the future of performance management

The key to having an effective performance process is to move from a pattern of ‘few and far between’ to ‘continuous and super lightweight’ when it comes to performance conversations and management.

In more concrete terms, what we are really talking about here is moving away from annual/bi-annual performance reviews to something more continuous, focusing on tools such as frequent employee check-ins and regular performance conversations or 1:1s supported by quarterly (or monthly) lightweight reviews.

Three outcomes of Weekly10 continuous performance management app for Microsoft

Real-time performance management

Manage employee performance in near real-time. Track goals (or OKRs) as required. Feedback becomes more timely and useful. Recency bias is eradicated. And feedback cycles become a more collaborative, two-way process.

Objective performance management

Improving the frequency of performance processes means that each 1:1 meeting, check-in, and conversation is far more likely to be based on real events. As a result, we get a more accurate evidence base. Because of this, transparency between feedback received and actions is clear. And you can do all this using the Weekly10 performance management app for Microsoft Teams, Outlook and 365.

People-focussed performance management

A continuous approach to performance management becomes organically more people-focussed. That's because employees feel empowered to control their development and focus on frequently. It helps move us away from the norm of sending employees on training courses for development when most people naturally develop when given plenty of scope to reflect and amend their own behaviours.

The app to improve performance management in Microsoft

The secret to any process change is reducing as much friction to adoption as possible. And this is where IT’s unrivalled knowledge of technology rollouts is vital to success.

IT will already know that end-users are keen to avoid new software where possible. Most workplaces already have an overloaded tech stack. Adding new software, rather than an app, means more learning, more passwords, and more time taken away from doing.

On top of this there are security concerns, the cost of deployment, user setup, and a whole host of other factors to consider. The rise of Microsoft Teams gives IT teams a real opportunity to help HR innovate.

See how you can move to more continuous performance management processes with the Weekly10 app for Microsoft Teams 👇