This part is the third and last of the post series: Why Should Employee Measures Not Be Evaluated Equally. Please follow below links to read the first two parts:
Throughout this post, we are going to explain the different types of results, and how we can assign different weights to them, to help to generate the most accurate scores for our performance measures.
Results Types
As explained before, below are the categories under which your performance measures may fall.
Let us have a look at each type in a little more detail. (I am going to use our previous example of the Chef’s performance measures to assign within those categories).
1- Final Results
Those indicate the finish lines for each function’s job. For each function owner, those are the results that matter the most, and are, therefore, given a high weight. Failing to achieve those results makes every other accomplishment secondary, or even inconsequential.
Final Results fall into two categories:
Employee Goal
Represent Results specific to each employee individually. Each employee (function owner) is independently responsible for the achievement of his/her Employee Goal since the Result is influenced by self-actions. Results within this group get the highest weight among others (Weight of 10), and therefore, have the maximum impact on the employee’s score.
In our example: Bake the Pizza as needed.
This is the most crucial step of all. No matter how perfectly everything else goes, if the pizza is over- or under-baked, it won’t satisfy the customer. All other steps become unimportant.
Team Goal
Represent Results that are the outcomes of inter-dependent teams’ efforts. The achievement of those results is a consequence of the collaborative actions of individual team members, working towards a common goal. Findings within this group get a relatively high weight compared to other results because they are final ones. However, since more than one individual contributes to them, they get a lower weight than Employee Goals (Weight of 5). It is also important to reflect those goals on the measures of all individuals contributing to them.
In our example: Deliver the pizza to guests’ tables on time.
While the chef must make the pizza ready on time, the waiter should also deliver to the guest on time. If delivery is late, the pizza will lose some of its heat or freshness; not the intended result.
2- Transitional Results
Those results predict if the Final Result will be achieved. They constitute a set of intermediate Results completed during the journey towards the Final Results. They tell if the final results are likely to be made. In other words, they represent early indicators on the health, progress, and probability of achieving the Final Results.
Transitional Results fall into the following category:
Predictive Indicators (Health)
Health Results get a lower weight than the above categories (importance of 1 -3), yet, they should be scored and measured since they provide early indicators on the progress towards the Final Results. Measuring Health Results becomes especially critical at early stages when Final Results cannot be scored. In such cases, those Results establish the primary function’s score.
In our example, the below are predictive indicators:
Prepare the dough and let it rest.
Pre-heat the oven.
Spread the ingredients on the dough.
They lay out the steps of following the recipe to ensure delivering as per the standards.
3- Preferable Results
Those results are a particular type of transitional effects. They focus on employees’ competencies and skills, as well as their capabilities and readiness to perform their activities efficiently.
Preferable results help to monitor and improving success factors necessary to start the journey towards achieving the Final Results. They represent abilities that employees must obtain and excel in, to achieve optimum results. Those results get low weight as well (1 -3) since they are supportive elements to the achievement of the required Final Results.
Preferable results fall into the following category:
Capabilities and Readiness
Results that measure employees’ technical abilities, skills, and competencies and represent the availability of the required resources. They provide indicators for areas of technical or functional improvement as well as efficient resource allocation.
In our example, below are the Capabilities and Readiness measures:
Buy ingredients every day to guarantee maximum freshness.
Have all required tools maintained and ready to use (oven, pans, utensils, etc.)
Have a special recipe for a unique pizza.
As you see, they define the items that should be ready and prepared in advance to ensure the chef has everything required to do her job.
4- Additional Results
Those Results supplement and enhance the outcome of the Final Results. They are supplementary in the sense that if they are achieved, while other critical results (mentioned above) are not, they will be considered of no value.
However, no- or low achievement of Results under this category cuts-back the total function score, indicating non-compliance with the organization’s operational standards. Additional Results provide compliance measures, operational frameworks, and behavioral norms that employees must perform according to.
The Weight of Additional Results should be high (10 for example) and is considered a “Multiplier Factor,” i.e., the weighted score of Additional Results is multiplied by the Total Results Score.
Additional Results fall into the following categories:
Results that measure the quality level of provided services. Those results enforce high standards of performance through measuring beneficiaries’ satisfaction, feedback, services’ and relations’ health, challenges, etc. Critical incidents are recorded within the Quality of Service Results and profoundly affect the overall score.
Results under this group represent behavioral standards that employees must stick to while working towards achieving their results. They measure commitment to the core values of the organization.
In our example, Additional results could be:
Guests’ satisfaction rates.
Guests’ feedback on taste, ambiance, services, etc.
Compliance to the workplace values and behavioral standards.
To wrap up, creating an accurate performance score for every function in the organization is not a very simple task. You could make it simpler by following a step-by-step scientific approach which will lead to a fair and accurate evaluation.
Mainly, Below are the Main Steps:
List all the results that the employee will be evaluated on.
Make sure to separate results (goals) from efforts (activities).
Plot the results on the goal achievement path based on their type (transitional or final).
Assign weights to results based on their type.
Try generating the final score multiple times until the most accurate scoring is achieved.