3-way Performance Management Discussions

First published on LinkedIn April 14, 2015

I recently ran a development workshop on Extra-Dependent Teams with an NHS Trust.  A deputy HR director was taking part and was fascinated by my approach to performance management conversations with Extra-Dependent Teams.  To quote him, he said,

"That's a totally obvious thing to do. Yet I've never thought of doing it before!"

That's what I love about Extra-Dependent Teams: they provide easy answers to complex organisational issues.

So what is the “obvious thing to do”?  Well, before I share the answer, let’s understand how most performance conversations happen (and this isn’t limited to the NHS by any means) by way of an example of an HR Business Partner; but it could equally be a doctor, an engineer, a sales rep, etc.

An HR Business Partner is managed by an HR Director.  The Director is responsible for assessing the HRBP’s performance and does so through regular 2-way conversations with the HRBP.  However, because the HRBP partners for a senior manager running another business elsewhere in the organisation the Director rarely witnesses the work, results or behaviour of the HRBP.  With this vacuum of knowledge, the Director prepares for the conversations by seeking feedback from the senior manager about the HRBP, how well they work and what they think.  Armed with this information they then discuss performance with the HRBP. 

Now, if everything is going swimmingly well the discussion is simple.  Perhaps there’s some coaching going on, some constructive reflection and challenging objective setting.  When it comes to giving performance feedback – an important value adding element of a performance conversation – the Director relies on 3rd party commentary (with examples if the feedback is rich or just opinion if feedback is poor).  If this feedback is important to either the Director or the HRBP, the fact that it comes from a 3rd party significantly erodes its impact and therefore its ability to influence performance.  As a result performance conversations often don’t tackle the issues that need to be tackled.

So what to do instead?  Rather than 1 conversation about 1 person’s performance, it requires 3 conversations involving 3 people to address performance at individual, team and organisational levels. The 3 conversations are:

1. The senior manager that the HRBP works with day-to-day needs to be providing feedback directly to the HRBP on their part in achieving the common goal. This is the Inter-Dependent Team at work and needs to be just that – interdependent.
2. The 2nd conversation involves the Director and HRBP discussing the HR capability that the HRBP is bringing to that senior team. What HR skills, processes, equipment and systems are being used by the HRBP to provide the senior team with an HR capability? How does that compare with other HRBPs? How consistent is it across the wider organisation? What local flexibility is required? What area does the HRBP struggle to come up to standard on Best Practice as an HRBP? All this is about the capability and learning of the HRBP to perform within their role.
3. The 3rd conversation involves the Director speaking with the senior manager with whom the HRBP works. This discussion is around how that senior manager is using the HR capabilities within the team. Is the senior manager and their team utilising the HR capability? Is the HR capability what the senior manager needs? What additional capability do they want? Is one HRBP enough/too much? Is the HRBP being used in the right way? If the HR capability is not being used as the Director intends the reputation of that HR capability may be compromised. This would therefore require the Director to take action directly with the senior manager.

With traditional 2-way performance conversations, this 3rd conversation only tends to happen as a feedback collection process with the HRBP in mind.  With the 3-way performance conversations of Extra-Dependent Teams, it is a legitimate conversation between the Director and the senior manager about performance that both are responsible for. 

It was this 3rd conversation that the deputy Director of HR declared as, “a totally obvious thing to do”.  But also recognised how uniquely different it was as a way of managing performance within complex matrix organisations and so was humble enough to say, “Yet I’ve never thought of doing it before!”

Extra-Dependent Teams provide many simple answers to recurring organisational problems.

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