Employee Performance Review: A New Strategy for Performance Evaluation and eLearning

The employee performance review is critical to team and organizational success. Ideally, it gives both the reviewer and the team member an opportunity to candidly discuss expectations, accomplishments, and opportunities for learning and improvement. These discussions are also critical to retention and promotion.

Traditionally, reviews are performed on a quarterly or annual basis.  For managers, they’re a source of constant stress, as they work to aggregate feedback and formulate recommendations.  Employees are similarly tasked, dreading the next discussion and hoping for the best. It’s one corporate institution that’s ready to be reshaped.

The rise of new technology tools and new ideas on how best to measure engagement and accomplishment are slowly changing the performance review paradigm.  Depending on the role, employees might be generating real-time feedback information and metrics that can be easily captured inside a management dashboard, giving the organization an instant performance snapshot.

But this is only one half of the review process.  Once performance is measured, remediation plans must be developed.  This ensures low-performing employees are given a chance to address gaps, and high-performance employees can be exposed to new opportunities. Either way, employees can be evaluated on their engagement. These are the questions you should ask:

  • Are they satisfied with their role?
  • Are they engaged in the culture?
  • Do they see a future for themselves inside the organization?
  • Do they envision a path from where they are to where they want to go?

By moving from a schedule of periodic reviews to continuous measurement and learning, both managers and their teams can commit to build a culture of nonstop improvement.Technology is critical to this transformation.  It not only enables deeper and more dynamic performance metrics, it also directly connects performance review outcomes to learning events that help the students perform their job better or embrace new opportunities.

Learning Management System and eLearning

The critical link between performance analysis and a talent development plan should be a flexible, full-featured eLearning system.  This platform, known as a learning management system (LMS), can be directly tied to performance review outcomes.  And, as an organization moves from calendar-driven metrics to continuous measurement, the LMS also helps replace traditional training events with self-paced, self-driven learning opportunities.

This means less time and money lost to scheduling and delivering workforce training. Technology steps in and does the following:

  • Facilitates scheduling thanks to 24/7 availability to wide range of devices
  • Simplifies the creation of dynamic, media-rich content
  • Supports multiple learning modalities for stronger retention and results
  • Integrates directly with enterprise performance management tools
  • Enables fast, simple reporting and analytics
  • Scales without the need for additional IT staff or infrastructure

Performance Management and eLearning

With modern performance management and eLearning tools in place, creating a culture of continuous measurement and improvement becomes not a challenge of technology, but instead a commitment to change.

The flexibility of modern eLearning systems enables an organization to quickly update coursework as required.  This is especially useful when scaling coursework across an organization with different roles.  Core corporate training can remain foundational, with additional layers added on top of it based on roles and responsibilities. Examples include:

Customer service and support workers 

  • Content can focus on etiquette, service expectations, and new product training.

Product and technical teams

  • Content can focus on collaboration and communication, as well as new tools and technologies training.

Managers

  • Content can focus on emerging leadership paradigms, better ways of communicating, and compliance.

Educated employees are your best asset

Beyond performance reviews and remediation, employee education has several tremendous potential benefits for your organization. Engaged, educated staff work with greater efficiency, produce better results, and lower risk.  This means both a smarter workforce and a stronger bottom line, and eLearning is a better fit than traditional training. Here’s why:

  • Students can consume in different modalities that match their specific learning styles
  • Concepts are explained patiently and with plain language
  • Engagement is elevated through interactive assessments and simulations
  • Feedback is direct and continuous, helping encourage the student towards achievement

Put eLearning to Work

Nonstop improvement is only possible through continuous education, and this makes eLearning absolutely essential.  A Litmos LMS can give your organization the full-featured flexibility you need to redefine performance management review and the impact it has on managers and teams.  Sign up for a free 14-day trial of Litmos to get started.