Recently my company worked with Jason Lauritsen, industry-renowned employee engagement thought leader, to explore ideas from his new book, Unlocking High Performance. One of the concepts that really stood out during our time together was that of “cultivating” employees to drive their growth.

According to Lauritsen, “There are powerful lessons we can learn from cultivation about how to unlock human potential and performance in the workplace. While humans are certainly more complex than plants, the mindset of cultivation is just as relevant. Humans, perhaps more than any other living thing, are genetically hardwired for growth and performance. It's natural to us. It's our default setting.”

As Lauritsen explains, the key to cultivating a healthy crop is to prepare the environment before anything is planted. That means tilling the soil, adding in compost and mixing it all together very well. If a farmer skips this step, it can be costly.

We must apply a similar approach if we're going to fix performance management in 2019. I've talked to many organizations where they have adopted more frequent performance reviews, even abandoned ratings and they are finding not everyone loves the changes. That's because the process is missing the vital step of setting the right conditions to cultivate performance. So how can HR pros effectively help employees bloom within their organizations?

Lay of the land

Simply put, traditional performance management processes are broken. Recent research from the Corporate Executive Board reveals that a whopping 95 percent of managers report feeling dissatisfied with the way their companies conduct performance reviews, and 90 percent of HR leaders say the process doesn't even yield accurate information. And only 14 percent of employees strongly agree that the performance reviews they receive inspire them to improve. That's hardly an environment that's growth oriented!

Sure, some progress has been made. SMART goals, KPIs, peer feedback and self-review functions and more frequent “check-in” conversations are all steps in the right direction to fostering growth, and yet something is still missing.

A work experience that motivates

Motivation is the heart of cultivating performance. Ideally, we want to our people to perform because they want to put in their best efforts and not because we tell them they have to! So what are some ways we can infuse motivation into an employee's work experience?

We need to create experiences and design opportunities into employees' daily work lives for them to get what they want out of their work relationships and set them up for success when it comes to their performance. These includes work that's individualized to their natural talents, performance needs and sense of purpose. They should also have opportunities to learn and grow, with career advancement as they develop. People also want clear expectations that connect their work to organizational priorities, provide focus and describe exactly what success looks like.

Collaborative goal setting

We often think of goals as the center of a solid performance management system because they clearly articulate employers' expectations. But go a step further: when we set goals collaboratively with employees, we also initiate opportunities to think about what motivates us as individuals, and structure those performance expectations in a way that taps into employees' personal motivators. A collaborative approach to goal setting gives managers greater insight into how to leverage an employee's strengths and motivators to help them reach their goals. And it ensures that employees have a voice in setting performance expectations that are fair, relevant and motivating.

Filling employees' “love buckets”

It's no secret that many people who quit their jobs do so as a result of lack of appreciation, whether real or perceived. Most managers, leaders and organizations really struggle to successfully provide a culture of appreciation and recognition. Many recognition programs overlook and ignore effort, focusing attention only on the highest and lowest performers. Since most employees are average, by definition, this leaves most feeling unseen in their role.

Cultivating performance takes shape when we provide experiences for all people to feel valued, accepted, fulfilled, connected and engaged at work. And appreciation and recognition for our contributions is key to this! Work begins to feel less like a contract and more like a healthy relationship, one in which:

Everyone's contributions and presence are valued
People's unique experience, perception and ideas are accepted
The team is all connected to the work they are doing and the people they do it with

Every seed is different

How we cultivate performance on an ongoing basis can really help drive these positive experiences that foster employee growth and help them “feel the love.” Feedback and recognition is most impactful when it is multi-sourced—meaning that praise comes from multiple sources as multiple times. And real-time feedback is the gold standard to ensure impact.

It's also important that rewards and feedback are individualized. Learn how people like to be recognized and how receptive they are to constructive feedback. What is right for one employee may turn another off entirely. For employees to feel appreciated and recognized does not necessarily mean huge bonuses, or being called out in front of the next organization town hall, but it might be a thank you in the hallway, between a manager and employee at their next 1:1 or between a members who delivered a successful service to a client.

Removing obstacles

Another element of cultivation is removing career obstacles to growth. Seeds by their very nature and DNA are hardwired to perform. And really, so are people. Our job as leaders is to provide the optimal performance “conditions” and sometimes this involves pulling the weeds and removing the obstacles that can get in the way of performance. Lack of tools, lack of resources, lack of time or support, interpersonal conflict… all of these can be barriers to employees achieving their best.

One of the most effective ways of addressing and removing obstacles is to identify their very existence in the first place. That's why 1:1 meetings and ongoing communications / check-ins are so important. And employee pulse surveys are another great way to get employee feedback on systemic obstacles in the workplace. But remember: it's important that when you identify an obstacle with an employee – you do something about it and follow up!

Cultivate performance and watch the growth happen

Helping employees uniquely grow within organizations might be one of the greatest missed opportunities for leaders and managers, but modern, ongoing performance management systems and processes can set the stage for employee cultivation. Shifting your organization to a cultivation mindset can completely transform employee experience and employee performance. Workplace goal-setting and recognition motivates, provides a sense of accomplishment and makes employees feel valued for their work. Enabling manager to support employee growth and performance with practice tools and resources can help cultivate high performance. And that simply helps everything grow.

Anita Bowness is principal product manager at Saba Software. She draws on over 20 years' experience in consulting and professional services to help HR leaders recruit, engage, develop and retain their talent. Anita loves helping organizations manage performance so people are more engaged, happier and productive.

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