Practical writing on how performance works.
Goals, feedback, reviews and one-on-ones — what we've learnt building performance processes with organisations that don't fit a template.
How do we get people back in the office?
As the world grapples with the question, 'How do we get people back in the office?', we get into the heart of this tension, discussing the often-unspoken conflict between the expectations of senior management and the desires of employees.
Revamping Feedback: Can AI Help Us Communicate Better?
Exploring a new take on employee feedback with a little help from AI
Performance management best practices - Nice in theory
We all love best practices; there's something safe about them, the decisions have been made, the data supports them, the research has been done, and the outcomes are known - who are we to argue with these proven, effective ways of working? You might be surprised.
Creating an employee experience with human-centred design.
Steering the HR Ship without an employee experience design degree: An insider's guide to building a remarkable employee onboarding experience
Employee Experiences, not Experience
Employee experience as a single idea is too abstract to act on. Breaking it into the specific experiences people actually have is what makes it something you can design.
The A-to-Z of onboarding new hires including (free) templates.
A practical onboarding process for new hires, from first day to fully productive, and what it takes to lift engagement and lower early turnover.
New Performance Templates Library
Browse through our selection of free performance templates from leading companies and customise a template for any performance management scenario.
How to turn your performance review process into a performance experience
How to turn a performance review process into an experience employees value: regular communication, clear direction, and a reason to stay.
The 101 Guide to Creating a Performance Management Policy in Minutes
Create clarity and engagement by communicating how performance management works in your organisation. Dive into our performance policy template to get started.
Hybrid work policy - have you got the balance right?
How to strike the balance in a hybrid work policy: where too tight fails employees, where too loose fails the team, and how HR can answer both.
Using the power of automation to improve the performance experience
Our CEO Mark explains how automation can add value by removing the administrative burden that busy employees don't have time for. He also shares the strategies our customers use to empower their people to go above and beyond the base expectations.
Natalie Nagele: A Focus on People-First HR Leadership
"Open floor plans will slowly die out. Whether it’s because remote becomes big(ger) or, more likely, leaders realize that their team needs to have quiet, focused space to work."
Skills - the New Currency of Work
The current labour shortage has once again made skills the "currency of work". Equipping your workforce with the skills they'll need in the future helps mitigate volatility, but most employers don't know what the skills makeup of their employees are, despite identifying skill development as a priority. Our Board Advisor, Breckon shares his views on the top skills you can nurture as a HR people leader that will continue to grow in relevance.
Can bad tech become a reason for employees to quit?
As flexible working models continue to explode and more interactions are based across digital tools, Breckon Jones explores the impacts of a bad tech experience on employee retention. A conversation particularly relevant to HR Tech that has traditionally relied on compliance as motivation for employees to engage with the tools. Perhaps this is no longer good enough?
Is empathy still a key leadership skill?
Breckon Jones, our Board Advisor and Head of Talent at Deloitte, shares his thoughts on the leadership skill of empathy as we head into 2022.
How can HR teams wow employees?
The next wave of talent is joining the workforce with a new level of expectation on how performance should be managed. Modern workers expect a continuous enablement of their performance, with a focus on growth, development and fulfilment. Our Board Advisor Breckon Jones shares his ideas for getting your organisation a tier above the rest when it comes to the modern performance experience.
How To Get The Most From The GROW Coaching Model
Adding an F to the GROW coaching model (or GROWF as we like to call it) is the secret sauce to highly effective coaching
10 Things to Consider When Designing A Hybrid Work Model
Balancing flexibility with wellbeing, productivity, and performance
What Employee Performance Goal Framework is Best?
What an employer should consider when adopting a performance goal framework
Empathy vs Results Based Leadership: Which is Best?
Find out if empathetic leaders really do get better results
Thanks to Covid the Manager Employee Relationship has Got Personal
3 COVID trends impacting the manager employee relationship
How to align remote teams with strategic goals
5 tips for setting strategic goals in uncertain times
How To Use Company Values To Increase Team Performance
The shift to people-centered leadership - A four step framework to align company values with purpose, performance and behaviours.
Rating Scales For Performance Reviews
Examples of different performance rating scales and how to use them
8 People Management Skills for Modern Leaders
Right now is the perfect opportunity to reinvent your people management skills as we deal with the post-pandemic environment.
Zoom fatigue and what to do about it
We’re hearing that working from home can be more exhausting than a normal day in the office - here’s 3 tips to avoid Zoom fatigue
3 Routines For The Remote Worker (2.5 min vid)
Shifting to a remote working environment
4 Remote Working Tips to Stay Connected, Informed and Focused
Helping managers lead their remotely working teams
A Performance Review Process for the Company That's Never Had One
If you’re in a growing business with 30 to 250 employees and someone’s suggested you introduce a performance review process? This article’s for you.
How to Manage Up Without Falling Over
Managing up is about taking on responsibility and investing in an important relationship which will ultimately make your job easier
Working With Quarterly Goals. How to Get Started, Common Mistakes and Best Practices for Setting OKR's.
The ultimate guide to implementing agile goals.
Modern One-on-One Meetings: Common Mistakes & Best Practices
1-on-1 meetings are an essential part of leadership. A regular, informal but structured conversation that builds a trusted employee-manager relationship.
How to Make Feedback Your Secret Leadership Weapon in 3 Simple Steps
Employees need to feel connected to their team and understand how they’re going in real-time. They expect helpful feedback in-the-moment and not saved up for months at a time. Giving feedback is not always comfortable, so what’s the easiest way to do it?
15 Reasons Your Performance Management Data is Flawed. And What To Do About It
Fifteen biases that distort performance management data, from the idiosyncratic rater effect to halo and leniency, and how to design them out.
Continuous Performance Management Strategy - Examples & Best Practices
What continuous performance management is, the four steps that make it work, and how to make the switch from annual reviews.
Running a business on trust — what I learnt
Teams with relationships based on trust absolutely rock! I know because I’ve had the privilege of working with a team like this. We out-performed all our competition, we punched well above our weight and we featured in Deloitte’s Top 50 fastest growing companies for 5 straight years.
Here's the 7 Deadly Sins of Performance Management
The seven habits that quietly undermine performance management, why each one persists, and what to do instead to bring out the best in your people.
How I make inexperienced and unconfident decisions
What hiring for a business-critical role taught us about making decisions without enough experience or confidence, and why that is the normal condition.
Goals. Why don’t I like them?
Goals are worse than New Year’s Resolutions. When we make them they sound great, we’re all motivated and think we’ve got this… YEAH!! But, it’s easy to underestimate the time involved and it’s even easier to procrastinate a year away or get distracted by more ‘urgent’ activities.
3 Employee Experience Tips To Supercharge Your Team
As a manager, having a cohesive team is real pleasure. I’ve worked with self-motivated people that seem to leap at every challenge and it made me proud to be part of a such a group. How energizing is it when you have a big workload, you’re kinda scared of what's ahead, and your team are like... Yeah! Let's get this done!
When you delegate - let them drive
Share the importance of delegation and empowerment with your managers through this simple analogy.
The Value of Micro-Feedback
What micro-feedback is, how it differs from a pat on the back, and how small, specific, in-the-moment input makes you a more effective leader.
Personal worries can impact performance
We don’t become emotionally indestructible robots the moment that we walk into the office every morning. We all “bring our problems to work” one way or another. The question is whether we’re able to discuss them with our colleagues and leaders.In any workplace, there should be a focus on building an engaged and high-performing team of individuals who understand each other and support each other. When two people solve a problem together, their bond becomes stronger. In my view, this problem doesn’t necessarily need to be work related either, I see taking an interest in each other on a personal level as only having a positive impact.
Corporate culture could learn a lot from space exploration
Can you imagine if Mission Control didn’t listen to problems being articulated by the Astronauts? Understanding the impact of not listening to your team.
Finding Your Mojo
When a team is working in unison towards a common goal, the collective is stronger than the sum of its parts. It is a state of excellence when everyone feels that they simply belong. It can be seen in groups of friends, it can be seen in families, and it can sometimes be seen in the office. If you are lucky, it can be seen in the office every day.