The time is right for IT Performance Management (series)

by

Anyone who has worked with me knows that I am a big believer in using performance management to communicate and integrate strategy. Organizations that can translate their strategy into the key measures that define its sucess have greater understanding and buy in from their employees and stakeholders and are more likely to achieve their objectives through this focus. Performance management became a hot topic in many enterprises in the 90s, when Kaplan and Norton rolled out articles, books and training on their Balanced Scorecard framework and approach. IT organizations jumped on the bandwagon a few years later with their own scorecards and performance management systems. Since then, I have advised many IT organizations on how to develop and implement scorecards and performance management.

In the last year, though, fewer IT organizations are talking about developing or refining their performance management systems. Some that have scorecards in place are continuing to gather the data, but are not using them strategically. I get the sense that leadership considers performance management an extravagance these days, something that must be put aside for another time when we are not consumed with layoffs, budget cuts, project cancellations and spending freezes. Now is not the time to be strategic, now is the time to buckle down, operate as lean as possible and just keep the lights on, right?

Wrong. The timing could not be better. Now is the time to be more strategic than ever; strategic meaning focused, clear, aligned around a common purpose. And there’s no better way to get alignment within an IT organization and with internal customers than through good performance management. Some organizations have performance management systems or IT scorecards in place. A few are actually even using them for decision making and communication. It is time to create them, resurrect them or refocus them, towards the objectives required to weather this storm and land on solid ground.

I have a lot of opinions on this topic and could probably write a long article or short book, but for now, I am going to publish a series of blogs addressing how organizations should be thinking about performance management today. Stay tuned.

READ MORE

The Magic of Mortals

The Magic of Mortals

Daily we wake up to new developments in automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML). Across sectors and industries, automated solutions prove highly successful in surpassing the capacity of the human brain for certain tasks, improving...

read more
Leveling Up: How to Hone Your Skills at Home

Leveling Up: How to Hone Your Skills at Home

Leaders have been trying to crack the code on talent development for years. Recent studies have shown, however, that strength-focused leadership [read: intentionally elevating the qualities that already come naturally to us] is the clear winner for developing talent...

read more
Fake Case Study: Jack of all trades vs. Master of One

Fake Case Study: Jack of all trades vs. Master of One

  Listen to any earnings call or executive presentation and you will likely hear the terms “top line” and “bottom line.” These are words used to describe a business’s performance. According to Investopedia, the words are defined as follows: Top line refers to the...

read more
Your Personality Is Showing

Your Personality Is Showing

There I was, minding my own business one evening, digging into my organization's SEO performance (as one does), when I came across something interesting. Search terms related to "MBTI" — or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, developed by Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel...

read more
Lessons From a Change Manager Who Hates Change

Lessons From a Change Manager Who Hates Change

Hello. My name is Monique, and I’m a change manager who hates change.   After years of receiving “consulting therapy” from various mentors, I am now able to say these words out loud and proudly. But for a long time, it felt more like an admission of guilt. I mean, who...

read more
Creativity as a Cure

Creativity as a Cure

The topic of creative solutioning has been front and center these days as we talk more and more about organizational adaptability in the face of dynamic and uncertain times. For example, I recently read about a project that got me thinking about specific priorities...

read more
Thought Ensemble, a Pariveda Company — Why Now?

Thought Ensemble, a Pariveda Company — Why Now?

Big news over here as we close out the year - we have been acquired by Pariveda, a 750-person consulting firm in 12 markets across North America! We are now “Thought Ensemble, a Pariveda Company” and I’ll be serving as the Managing Vice President continuing to lead...

read more
Thought Ensemble Joins Pariveda Solutions!

Thought Ensemble Joins Pariveda Solutions!

Dallas, December 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pariveda, a leader specializing in solving complex technology and business problems, announces the acquisition of Thought Ensemble. With the addition of Thought Ensemble, Pariveda now provides holistic business strategy,...

read more
Thoughts on Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act

Thoughts on Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act

It was about a year ago that we first started hearing about Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (SB19-085) and I knew it was going to be national news. We’d just gotten past the “Rocky Mountain High” jokes, and our lovely state was trying to break new ground...

read more