Lift your expectations to attract top performers

One of the upsides of the recession in 2009 was the way it focused the minds of many organisations on performance.

While sloppy work practices and mediocre service delivery might have been tolerated in boom times, not so when the competition for a more demanding and diminishing pool of customers became the norm.

And analysis carried out by workplace survey and analysis specialists JRA on its 'Best Workplace Survey' data over the period 2008/2009 has confirmed that most organisations responded to this challenge, with the most marked improvements areas being around performance and feedback strategies.

And while 'tolerance of poor performance' has been a perennial low-scoring area for most organisations, even this showed an improvement from a low of 45 per cent in 2008 to a better, but still poor 48 per cent in 2009.

"Perhaps the message here is that during a recession, when organisations are looking to maximise every performance gain, there is obviously a heightened need to address performance management issues - to better clarify expectations, to provide regular feedback and coaching, and to provide the appropriate resources and support. There is a heightened awareness of poor performance too, especially as our research has found the disengaged, poorer-performance group was more likely to stay in 2009" says JRA research director, Dr Neal Knight-Turvey.

And 'getting tough' on performance doesn't imply a negative for staff.

Indeed, the top 25 per cent of organisations in the 2009 JRA Best Workplaces Survey were the ones who were most active in this area, and it was their staff who responded most positively as a result.

By contrast, those organisations in the bottom 25 per cent did the least, and by contrast their results fell during this period.

2009JRA Best Workplaces Survey finalist Hyundai Motors NZ is one organisation that has worked hard to develop a strong performance culture, something that has involved setting targets that 'are beyond stretch', and creating a corporate culture that simply won't accept 'second best'.

As chief operating officer, Tom Ruddenklau puts it: "We are up-front about our performance expectations. We only hire the best and we set very challenging goals. It's our people themselves who drive our success, something that is reinforced by a 'tribal' culture that is very intolerant of poor performance."

* JRA will be running the 2010 JRA Best Workplaces Survey in association with The New Zealand Herald from June 1 to August 31. Registrations are now being taken.