Schools’ number one assets are their staffs. Any organisation’s success depends on its ability “to understand the performance of its members and use it objectively to optimize them as a vital resource ,”1 (Toppo and Prusty 2012)
There is therefore a clear need for schools to identify, retain and develop high quality staff at all levels. LKMco’s forthcoming thinkpiece for Oceanova has suggested that performance management could play a far bigger role in developing and making the most of staff’s talents.
Dame Sue John, Executive Director of Challenge Partners and former Headteacher was blunt in her evaluation, “Performance management is very perfunctory in lots of situations. It doesn’t focus on the individual or their career or their aspirations of what makes them tick or what motivates them. It’s more about the organisation and the institution.”
Our research for Oceanova was based on a review of the literature relating to principles of talent management and interviews with key experts in the field. The aim has been to identify lessons from other sectors that can be applied to education. Our forthcoming report will present our findings and make recommendations that we believe should now be tested and explored in schools. This article presents a digested summary of our findings, specifically in relation to performance management.
Effective use of performance management
Performance management has two primary purposes, firstly to evaluate how employees are doing against organisational targets and, secondly, to secure continuous improvement at an organisational and individual level. In school settings Walker et al (2011) found teachers agreed that “When undertaken in a systematic way across the school workforce, staff development underpinned by performance management can lead to improved outcomes for pupils and staff.”2
Concerns around performance management
A 2010 study by Sibson Consulting and World at Work3 highlighted some important concerns with much of the prevailing practice in performance management. The study surveyed 750 senior HR professionals and found that over half of them had major worries about their performance management system’s effectiveness. Fewer than half believed the system helped their organisation achieve its objectives and an overwhelming majority had concerns related to staff trust. In fact, seven out of ten senior HR professionals felt their employees did not trust their performance management system. These concerns are well captured in remarks by Lazlo Bock, former Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google, who argued that:
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