Performance and Psychology

What is performance exactly? When you think of performance does the traditional performance appraisal meeting come to mind? For many the word performance represents these kinds of evaluative meetings, whether formal or informal, where a measurement takes place. However, performance is consistent, cumulative behavior over time. If one is on time to work (virtual or onsite) for designated workdays over one year, then one has shown consistently that they performed, “behaved”, superbly in the area of workplace attendance.

What we focus on affects what we behave and how often we behave it. In other words, focus is what we consistently think on. Behavior is a product of thinking. Consistent behavior over time is performance. Performance results in noticeable, measurable outcomes. With this in focus, what is a Performance Management System and why should my organization use one?

Performance Management Systems

Why should my organization use a Performance Management System? Unless you have a human resources background you may not be familiar with Performance Management Systems. If yours is a business background you might be familiar with the term MBO (Management by Objectives), meaning managing toward specific business goals. A Performance Management System is more than MBO. It is a system designed to increase performance. Performance is consistent behavior over time! A Performance Management System, is a defined and deliberate infrastructure that keeps leadership and team members focused on daily disciplines and objectives. It creates a highway for focused behavior, where teams can collaboratively execute in the same direction. Organizations should use a Performance Management System because the benefits abound, such as increased motivation, clarity, stability and … performance!

Do Performance Management Systems really work? Perhaps you have been in systems where officially an organization touts the company mandate to adhere to the performance management system but, organization members view the system as an irrelevant hassle to job roles and the purpose of the organization. This is an indication of a poorly designed and poorly introduced system, or an organically evolved way of motivating teams. These represent situations where organization culture and social norms are misaligned. The architecture of a system based on psychological principles must possess certain empirically vetted (evidence-based) characteristics to be relevant, sustainable, and contributive. Although, aspects of these characteristics may seem counterintuitive, properly designed and implemented, outcomes are beneficial!

Professional Coaching

Professional coaching is the act of interacting for a defined and desired change of thinking and behavior. Often, we need help in one specific area. Teams and ultimately organizations are comprised of individuals. No two individuals are the same and therefore each person has unique challenges and needs in order to reach an envisioned outcome. Patterns of thinking and its corresponding behavior can be difficult to alter. This is because the brain is a creature of habit, the ways in which we have thought and behaved in the past correspond with strong neural pathways inside the brain. To change these pathways takes time, deliberation, and effort. Many people attend what could be effective seminars but never find themselves able to operationalize (make measurable and real) the information they garnered for lasting change. An I/O Practitioner can help.

Using a Science Practitioner as a coach is highly effective. Science Practitioners contribute a strong and broad foundation in psychological science. We are not clinicians (counseling should not be confused with coaching), but we understand the science behind social identity, self-concepts, social exchange, and motivation as they pertain to the workplace. Utilizing an external Science Practitioner makes sense in several aspects. By leveraging an external coach, the organization member is freed from internal politics which can be an influence with an inside team member. The Practitioner is solely invested in results for the coached. Simply, both coach and coached do not need to feel that their status in the group will be benefited or threatened by the coaching process. Any psychological growth requires self-disclosure (vulnerability), it entails concepts of identity, if not, then we are not playing in our job roles with affective commitment (with heart). The IOP (Industrial Organizational Psychology) background ensures that coaching is practical and rooted in evidence-based information. An ideal coaching outcome is a cooperative work that produces a measurable contrast between the state of performance before and after coaching. The first step in ioPSYte^® coaching is to define the need, or perceived and desired change, and then create a specific and measurable plan to affect that change!

Talent Acquisition

Talent acquisition should be a methodical process. Have you ever heard those responsible to hire express that they cannot seem to find “good people”? Whether aware, most organizations are following some type of process in filtering what they consider to be the best candidates for needed job fulfillment. The perceived inability to find “good people” is the unawareness that the talent acquisition process, the onboarding and socialization processes (there is a difference), and organization culture are simultaneously producing consistent results. Talent acquisition has two components: acquiring persons suited to the job and organization and retaining them (member retention).

Talent acquisition processes often resemble simple in-person interviews and the way one “feels” about the person. Of course, there are environmental clues that give valuable data regarding a person’s knowledge, skills, and abilities (SKAs). However, any talent acquisition method that relies solely on one assessment tool, one factor, or any narrowly focused dimension radically decreases probability that the hire represents a solid person-job and person-organization fit. In statistical terms, the larger the data sample the greater the likelihood of success.

A framework that assesses both task-based and contextual (interpersonal) performance geared to the specifics of the organization and job role will increase retention. When hiring, impact to the existing team and the investment required for new team members should be a paramount consideration. As part of that framework there will be commonalities that all organizations seek and there are specifics that must be tailored to each organization. ioPSYte^® design will blend a mix that meets the needs of the organization and makes the talent acquisition process scientific (measurable and repeatable) by gathering, analyzing, and structuring data collection in ways that are relevant to the organization.