Performance Enablement

This book is about the process we all love to hate: performance management. However, you won't hear the authors arguing that you need to change your rating scale, update your form, or simply train your managers or have more feedback conversations. Research has shown that these tactics have done little to improve the process.

Performance Enablement argues that we need a new paradigm. Traditional performance management was born in a different era, based on a great deal of research that has been debunked over the years. The authors offer a new philosophy about how to drive individual and organizational performance that is grounded in how modern organizations operate, and based on research from economics, management, and psychology that points to a new, more effective way to motivate, engage, and develop your talent to drive real business outcomes.

The book begins with an important question: What is the purpose of performance management? For most organizations, the central purpose is not to drive individual and organizational performance but rather to pay for performance. Compensation has taken over as the primary purpose, and that is where HR went wrong. Goldberg and Colquitt dive into the business case for change and then share a new paradigm and the principles and practices that support this new approach. They provide a glimpse into how technology is transforming how we measure and evaluate performance, and conclude with information on how to assess where your organization is on the continuum from performance management to PE, and how to make progress on moving toward performance enablement.