leadership assessment for performance management

'When you aim for perfection, you discover it’s a moving target.'—Geoffrey Fisher

Mettle works with organisations by leveraging the existing performance management and development planning system, reviewing it to ensure that it is promoting the desired culture and behaviours needed to deliver the strategy, and working with the client to adapt the system where required.

Mettle works with organisations to correct many of the typical faults we find with the performance management system and process:

• An unwieldy system that is user-unfriendly through technology, language or length
• The inclusion of inappropriate behaviours and the omission of appropriate behaviours that support the desired culture and, therefore, strategy
• The lack of appropriate measurement that is SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) for these appropriate behaviours
• The lack of differentiation of leadership behaviours at the various levels: Managing Others, Managing Managers, Functional Managers, Division Managers, Group Managers, Enterprise Managers
• The lack of an appropriate development of a scorecard that is easy to understand and is always visible
• The lack of training for people managers on how to use the system and how to have constructive dialogue with their people in delivering the results

As an example, Mettle often develops short modules of training for our clients with the following learning objectives for leaders:

• Coach direct reports on the notion of 'accountability' in the context of their particular team
• Know how to define accountability clearly for direct reports, setting expectations that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound
• Understand the basic philosophy of coaching as opposed to management, counselling, teaching
• Understand how to leverage the development planning system for each of their people
• Learn how to coach using the GROW model in order to help their people to maintain their accountability to the 'promise' they have made to the client organisation
• Map out how they see each of their direct report’s development focus needs in the following areas of leadership: technical, customer-centric, achievement, innovative, one team, people-first and core
• Determine what each of their direct reports needs to achieve in each area over the next year in the manager’s mind
• Understand how to coach their people to set their own goals in each area
• Analyse their own coaching techniques, having regard to open questioning, appropriate body language, eye contact, voice, and the development of rapport