HBR's 10 Must Reads on Performance Management

As you no doubt know already, Harvard Business Review Press publishes several series of anthologies of articles previously published in HBR. This book is one of the most recent volumes in a series that anthologizes what the editors of the Harvard Business Review consider to be “must reads” in a given business subject area. In this instance, performance management. Each of the selections is eminently deserving of inclusion.If all of the HBR articles were purchased separately as reprints, the total cost would be about $100 and the practical value of any one of them far exceeds that. Given the fact that Amazon US now sells a paperbound edition of HBR's 10 Must Reads on Performance Management for only $6.38, that’s not a bargain. It's a steal.The same is true of volumes in other series such as HBR Guide to…, Harvard Business Review on…, and Harvard Business Essentials. I also think there is great benefit derived from the convenience of having a variety of perspectives and insights readily available in a single volume, one that is potable.* * *Those who read HBR's 10 Must Reads on Performance Management can develop the cutting-edge thinking needed to achieve a decisive competitive advantage. More specifically, they will learn the dos and don’ts with regard to HOW TO identify where current performance management processes are falling short, overcome organizational bias to evaluate performance fairly, sculpt employees' jobs to meet their skill sets and interests, boost collaboration by aligning goals across functions, use people analytics ethically and transparently, and help people identify and leverage their strengths.These are among the dozens of passages that caught my eye:o "Three Business Reasons to Drop Appraisals," Peter Cappelli and Anna Travis (Pages 8-11)o "How Deloitte Built a Radically Simple Performance Measure," Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall (32-33)o "The set-up-to-fail syndrome," Jean-Francois Manzoni and Jean-Louis Barsoux (52)o "Common Mistakes That Undermine Collaboration," Heidi Gardner and Ivan Matviak (92-97)o "Guarding Against Surrogation," Michael Harris and Bill Tayler (122-125)o "Four Defining Business Movements,"Maxine Williams (140-141)o "Individual Strategies for Thriving," Gretchen Spreitzer and Christine Porath (162-163)Here are three key points keep in mind. First, beware of “Whack-a-Mole” management. Be pro-proactive when establishing priorities. Focus on what is most important. Anticipate and prepare rather than react. In Art of War, Sun Tzu asserts that "every battle is won or lost before it is fought."Also, where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are important decisions that must be made with great care. However, ultimately, there are no personnel issues or customer issues; there are only business issues. The initiatives to improve performance management should be guided and informed by design principles (i.e. thinking innovatively about innovation). Only then will business issues be fully addressed.Finally, whatever their size and nature may be, all organizations need high-impact performance management at ALL levels and in ALL areas of the given enterprise. That is, people who are solution-driven when focusing on a problem’s root causes rather than its symptoms. Peter Drucker nailed it: “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.”