Deborah Aturu is a writer based in Lagos. She's interested in all things Project Management, technology, and photography related, and sleeps as much as she reads.


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Deborah Aturu

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Emmanuel Daniji

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Innocent Amadi


## High-Performance Tools

The process of setting up an environment of motivation in an organization, where employees and managers should keep on reviewing themselves regularly, and all of them work towards the common goals of the organization, is known as performance management.

It is well known that an organization needs to follow performance management because it helps the organization produce a workforce that is skilled and efficient.

If an organization does not follow the performance management system, it fails in the process of employee motivation as its employees become directionless and disengaged from work.

Performance management acts as a vital process for modern organizations. It helps organizations become successful and stay ahead of the competition. Performance management involves measuring, reporting, and managing the progress of the organization to improve the performance of the organization both at an individual and corporate level.

## Types of Performance Management Tools and Techniques

Every organization, whether commercial or non-commercial, prefers to monitor its overall progress yearly, monthly, or weekly. It depends on the amount of work and the type of organization.

To help organizations keep an eye on their progress, performance management software and tools are available. These tools simplify the work of the organization and provide benefits to the employees. These performance management tools are:

1. Performance Appraisals
2. 360-degree Feedback
3. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
4. Personal Development Plans (PDP)
5. Reward and Recognition Programmes

These are the top 5 performance management tools used by most organizations. Each of these tools has benefits, features, specifications, and flaws. It is upon the organization to decide which tools are suitable according to their needs and scope of growth.

## 1. Performance Appraisals

Performance appraisals are one of the top 5 performance management tools. The tool is known to be potent for combining the goals of the individual with the common goals of the organization, but when used correctly.

To get the right amount of output from this tool, employees must ensure that the appraisal process is honest and fair and that constructive two-way communication takes place. If these points are not kept in mind, appraisals can work as demotivation for the organization and will lead to a decline in performance.

Appraisals also help identify people who are not performing up to the mark and those who have landed the wrong job.

## 2. 360-Degree Feedback

360-degree feedback usually deals with the evaluation and assessment of employees, whether internal or external. The main question that this tool has to answer is, “How well are their employees performing?”. It provides each and every individual of the organization with a detailed assessment of their performance based on the views of the people with whom they work.

These people include their supervisors, managers, colleagues, customers, clients, and so on. The reports or the results are always confidential and therefore presented to the employees, usually by their managers. A 360-degree feedback tool is, therefore, typically used in employee training and development. When this tool is used effectively and efficiently, it helps simplify the review process as it considers the opinions of many people instead of reviews of just the employee manager.

## 3. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

KPI is a perfect performance management tool that provides different ways to measure how well the organization, its units, projects, or the individual employees are performing to fulfill the organizational goals and objectives. It is a form of HR software. KPI is also used in enabling performance conversations, which are rich and data-driven. They also help in making better decisions for the organization.

Well-designed KPIs act as an essential navigational instrument. They give a clear picture of the current levels of the organization’s performance and find out whether the business has achieved its goals and objectives.

## 4. Personal Development Plans (PDP)

A personal development plan is an expertly and efficiently designed action plan which is based on the needs, wants, and awareness of the actions that are going to support personal and organizational development. PDPs are most often used to identify various types of training and development needs. A PDP creates an action plan for fulfilling these needs. It helps individuals set out the way they want to grow and find out how they can achieve their goals.

This builds more interest in the company and helps individuals improve their performance. To ensure the high performance of the organization, different tools like a PDP act as an essential part of the organization.

## 5. Reward and Recognition Programs

Excellent performance should always be praised and rewarded. When employees feel that their hard work and performance go unrecognized and unrewarded, they become demotivated, which makes them deviate from the organization’s overall objectives.

Every organization should have rewards and recognition programs, which are an essential part of the whole performance management system of the organization.

Many big organizations think of reward and recognition programs as a source of distributing financial rewards and incentives like bonuses and increments. But sometimes, simple recognition of hard-working employees is an essential aspect of maintaining morale.

In addition to monetary rewards, sometimes you can also reward and motivate your hard-working employees through some items that represent honor. Giving these gifts can make your employees feel recognized and respected.

Custom metal pins are a good choice. You can add your company’s logo or employees’ names to the pins. Exquisite custom pins are not only decorative but also very practical. The pin can be worn on clothes, bags, or hats. This reward represents recognition of his efforts and can also increase the cohesion of the team.


It is well known that an organization needs to follow performance management because it helps the organization produce a workforce that is skilled and efficient. This article explores the neccessary process of achieving high performance management within an organisation.

5 Performance Management Tools for Organization Growth



No matter the size of your team, achieving success depends on everyone working together towards the same goals. Let's dive into what team alignment means, why it's important, especially when working remotely and explore some practical ways to make it happen. 

### Understanding Team Alignment
Team alignment is when everyone in a team understands and agrees on the goals of the organization and works together to achieve them. It's like rowing a boat in the same direction – everyone needs to be on board and paddling together. But it's not just about knowing the goals; it's also about sharing the same values and understanding how each person's work contributes to the big picture.

### Key Strategies for Building Team Alignment
1. **Foster Open Communication:**
Good communication is crucial for keeping everyone on the same page. Share important updates regularly and encourage everyone to ask questions and share their thoughts.

2. **Set Clear Goals:**
Having clear goals helps everyone know what they're working towards. Use simple methods like setting objectives and key results (OKRs) to make goals easy to understand.

3. **Talk Often:**
Regular meetings help reinforce alignment. Use these meetings to discuss goals and how everyone's work fits into them. Encourage feedback and make sure everyone feels heard.

4. **Use Helpful Tools:**
There are many tools available to help teams work better together. Find ones that work for your team, like DrogoAI, which can help with setting goals, having meetings, and getting feedback.

5. **Celebrate Success:**
When someone does a good job or when the team achieves something, make sure to celebrate it. This helps everyone feel appreciated and motivated to keep working towards their goals.

### The Importance of Team Alignment
Teams that are aligned are more productive and efficient. They work well together and can overcome challenges more easily. On the other hand, teams that aren't aligned can struggle to meet deadlines and may feel disconnected from each other.

### Signs of Aligned and Misaligned Teams
Aligned teams have clear goals, communicate well, and work together effectively. Misaligned teams may have confusion, missed deadlines, and disagreements.

### Dealing with Challenges in Remote Work
Remote work can make it harder for teams to stay aligned. Make sure to communicate regularly and use tools to help everyone stay connected. Schedule virtual meetings and team-building activities to keep everyone engaged.

> ### Using DrogoAI to Improve Alignment
DrogoAI offers tools to help teams work better together. From setting goals to giving feedback, these tools can help keep everyone focused and aligned towards common objectives. By using DrogoAI, teams can work more efficiently and achieve greater success.



 matter the size of your team, achieving success depends on everyone working together towards the same goals. This article explores what team alignment means, why it's important – especially when working remotely – and explore some practical ways to make it happen.

Forging Stronger Bonds within Your Team for Better Performance

 

**Key Takeaway:** It is not advisable to mix Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) with traditional performance management practices directly. However, aligning them strategically can enhance organizational success. By comprehending the distinctions between OKRs and performance management and integrating OKRs into various stages of the performance management cycle, companies can harness OKRs to foster innovation and collaborative goal attainment, while still evaluating and rewarding performance management goals independently.

While objectives and key results (OKRs) can improve accountability and visibility, enmeshing OKRs and performance management can deter progress and encourage wrong behaviors. 
However, this doesn't mean you should entirely forgo using OKRs and performance management. Instead, learn to align OKRs and performance management goals to ensure they serve organizational needs. 

To help you achieve this, this article will cover everything you need to know about making OKRs and performance management work for your business. It'll do so by covering the following:

* The difference between OKRs and performance management
* Why you shouldn't mix OKRs and performance management
* How to align OKRs and performance management cycles

## What is the difference between OKRs and performance management?
OKRs are a goal management framework designed for and by teams. On the other hand, performance management is an assessment process designed for individuals and overseen by Human Resources or another hierarchical entity. Let’s look at OKRs and performance management separately for a better understanding of their components. 

#### What are OKRs? 
Unlike performance management, OKRs focus on setting ambitious stretch goals for teams and the broader organization. This goal-setting methodology consists of objectives (i.e., qualitative descriptions of what you want to achieve) and key results (i.e., metrics that gauge progress toward objectives). These can be altered as your company’s environment changes. For the best results, structure your OKRs using the following formula: 

#### What is performance management? 
Performance management aligns employees and managers to ensure that employees’ actions serve organizational goals. The performance management cycle involves four steps: planning, monitoring, reviewing, and rewarding performance. 

During the **planning stage**, managers work with employees to establish individual goals aligned with overall business objectives. These goals are personalized to suit each employee’s skillsets and competencies.  

Next, the **monitoring stage** involves tracking employees’ goal progress through weekly 1-on-1s or monthly/quarterly progress updates. This allows managers to check in on employees’ performance and help them overcome issues, enabling them to advance toward their goals.  

Thirdly, the **reviewing stage** is essentially a retrospective meeting where managers look back at employees’ performance at the end of the quarter or year. During this meeting, managers assess whether employees achieved their goals, how they went about them, and if they received enough support from the organization.  

Lastly, the **rewarding stage** involves compensating employees based on how well they’ve achieved their goals. This is one of the most important stages of performance management as it keeps employees motivated and productive while they work to achieve their goals. 

## Why you shouldn’t mix OKRs and performance management
As we’ve discussed, OKRs and performance management are different in nature which means your OKRs shouldn’t completely dictate your performance management (and vice versa). Here are several reasons why: 

#### OKRs and performance management have different scopes  
Employee goals have always been vital to performance management because they:  

* Ensure evaluations are fair by removing personal opinions, subjectivity, and biases 
* Provide accountability by defining the actions required to achieve these goals 
* Set expectations by clearly outlining the primary purpose and means of measurement  
* Enhance professional and personal development  

On the other hand, OKRs focus on impact as opposed to individual tasks, emphasizing outcomes instead of outputs. As most real outcomes (e.g., revenue, and new customers) require joint efforts, it’s hard to conduct an OKR performance review based on individual performance. With this in mind, large organizations function best when they set OKRs for teams rather than individuals. However, smaller teams and one-person departments may benefit from individual OKRs. Most commonly though, some separation between OKRs and individual performance management goals is necessary. 

>“OKRs are not synonymous with employee evaluations. OKRs are about the company’s goals and how each employee contributes to those goals. Performance evaluations – which are entirely about evaluating how an employee performed in a given period – should be independent of their OKRs.” 
>> -- Rick Klau, Google 

#### OKRs are transparent while performance management isn't
OKRs promote alignment, transparency, and collaboration with wider organizational goals. They encourage everyone to openly share their OKRs and the progress they're making towards them. This openness not only fosters ownership and accountability among employees but also provides visibility into how each person's goals contribute to the overall success of the organization.

On the other hand, performance management tends to focus more on evaluating and measuring individual employee performance. Since this process usually takes a top-down approach, it's not as transparent as OKRs.

#### OKRs inspire innovation, while performance management prioritizes attainment 
OKRs are designed to be ambitious and encourage teams to set bold outcomes. Conversely, performance management goals are more conservative and promote tactical performance.   

If you want employees to come up with cutting-edge ideas, set OKRs. These inspire teams to try innovative things and walk in uncharted waters. However, when working towards OKRs, it’s important to remind employees that failure is an accepted part of the process.  

With performance management, however, employees’ goal achievement can be directly tied to their paycheck or promotion. This can cause some employees to set safer goals that they know they can meet or exceed instead of stretch goals that can have a bigger impact on the company. To avoid this, use OKRs and performance management for their intended uses rather than entangling them, which can impact employee and company performance.  

#### OKRs have shorter cycles, while performance management follows longer ones
OKRs thrive on shorter, more frequent cycles that typically last a quarter. These encourage adaptability, agility, and timely course correction. 
In contrast, performance management operates on longer, more structured cycles that extend over a year or even multiple years. These cycles are defined by predetermined goals and metrics that remain fixed throughout the performance management process.

#### OKRs require collaboration, while performance management doesn’t
When looking at goal achievement, OKRs, and performance management work in opposing ways. When establishing direction, OKRs largely focus on collective goals (except in small companies or one-person departments). 

In contrast, performance management evaluates individual goals. As they’re set up differently, it’s essential to run OKR and performance management campaigns separately but on parallel tracks. In other words, coordinate OKRs and performance management in your organization while acknowledging their contrasting takes on collaboration.  

#### How to align OKRs and performance management cycles
As OKRs and performance management have different takes on measuring performance, you must distinguish them to accurately depict what’s happening inside your business. Let’s look at ways to successfully integrate OKRs at every stage of your performance management cycle — without actually creating OKR performance reviews. 

#### OKRs and the planning stage 
When looking to combine OKRs and performance management, avoid setting individual OKRs if you have bigger teams or a larger organization. There are several reasons for this: 

* Individual OKRs can slow down your organization, adding time-consuming admin work, check-ins, and meetings that deter teams away from organizational goals 
* Not everyone can contribute to growth or innovation on their own 
* The more OKRs you have, the harder it becomes to understand what’s prioritized 
* With individual OKRs, employees will prioritize their own goals over the company’s, resulting in a shift from group thinking to individual thinking 

#### OKRs and the monitoring stage 
OKRs are meant to be flexible, where you adapt objectives or key results to fit your organization’s environment. As such, combining OKRs and performance management requires you to embrace adaptive performance management.  

With adaptive performance management, you alter individual goals, objectives, and behaviors to the changing work environment. These changes can be brought on by external (e.g., technological, political, international, sociocultural, economic) or internal factors (e.g., interpersonal relationships, technical resources, infrastructure, operational capabilities). As such, adaptive performance ensures you’re able to deal with strategy failure and incorporate feedback, leading to improved creativity, resilience, and problem-solving skills.  

You should also keep an eye on your organization’s OKR progress during the monitoring stage to ensure employee performance contributes to OKRs. But keep in mind that OKR progress depends not only on individuals, but also on team sizes, employees’ preferences, and the frequency of check-ins. 

#### OKRs and performance reviews 
Individual feedback is essential for employees' success — but make sure this feedback is also related to organizational OKRs. This helps you consistently recalibrate employees’ efforts towards wider company OKRs. For example, you can say things like:  

* "Thank you for referring to our OKRs when prioritizing your tasks." 
* "When deciding what to work on next, you could pay more attention to the team OKRs currently at risk." 

While you shouldn’t tie OKRs and performance reviews together, you can use OKRs to see how employees spearhead goal-related outcomes and outputs. This can help you assess how employees contribute to the activities that impact your organization’s OKRs. As such, you can combine OKRs and performance reviews during quarterly retrospectives, where you review employees’ performance and use your company’s OKRs as a guiding light. 

#### OKRs and the rewarding stage 
When you combine OKRs and rewards — where employees are judged based on how much progress (in %) has been made towards their team goals — employees are less likely to help their team members and more likely to focus on their performance. This forgoes a fundamental aspect of OKRs: their cooperative nature.  

Additionally, as only 60-80% of key results are meant to be accomplished, mixing OKRs with compensation makes employees prioritize rewards over creating ambitious goals. This results in lazy OKRs and a lack of innovation. 

As performance management is risk-averse and often tied to compensation — while OKRs are aspirational and collaborative — OKRs are never supposed to be linked with rewards.  

>“OKR is a management tool, not an employee evaluation tool. As such, a building block of the OKR framework is to separate OKRs from compensation and promotions.” 
>> -- Felipe Castro

 
#### Final thoughts on OKR and performance management integration
OKRs can guide teams and organizations towards aspirational goals, while performance management assesses individuals’ abilities to perform tasks and generate desired outputs. While acknowledging the differences between the two frameworks is essential, aligning OKRs and performance management can streamline organizational success. Using the best practices highlighted in this article, you can coordinate OKRs and performance management to facilitate organizational success and ongoing growth.


—-------------------------

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While objectives and key results (OKRs) can improve accountability and visibility, enmeshing OKRs and performance management can deter progress and encourage wrong behaviors. To help you achieve this, this article will cover everything you need to know about making OKRs and performance management work for your business.

Performance management

5 Performance Management Tools for Organization Growth

Forging Stronger Bonds within Your Team for Better Performance

Essential Guide to OKRs and Performance Management