HRMS Team Performance Management: Basics, Benefits & Complications

HRMS team leader, manager, head honcho, call it what you will…, if you are responsible for what the project team delivers then one of your fundamental roles is performance management. Put simply, is each team member meeting their objectives (do they even have objectives?!) and therefore making their necessary contribution to the project’s success?

Basic Ingredients

With the proliferation of systems, competence frameworks, 360-degree feedback and – who knows? – quite possibly a sophisticated add-on module that interfaces with the very HRMS you are in the process of implementing…, it’s easy to lose sight of the performance management wood from the trees. But you’re dealing with a temporary project team, members of which may well be splitting their time between HRMS and a ‘day job’ so while you of course must comply with your organization’s systems, there’s also a need to keep things simple.

At its core, performance management consists of a few basics: a clear statement of what is expected from the individual (probably a role description and objectives that contribute to the overall project goals); initial assessment of the individual’s ability to meet those expectations (shortfalls may result in additional training or development); some form of regular discussion of progress in meeting expectations (with reward/acknowledgment or further support as required).

Benefits

Hopefully, the benefits to the project of giving individual HRMS team members this level of attention is plain for all to see, but just to be clear: individual and team performance is maintained, team motivation levels remain high, team members have (or acquire) the skills they need to implement the HRMS, quality communication is established between you and the rest of the team, and finally, project goals are achieved.

Complications

The reality of HRMS project team membership may, however, mean that you have little formal organizational authority with team members. In other words, you may not be their line manager or supervisor even though – for the purposes of the project – you are required to take on that role. This is most often the case when someone continues in their usual role and spends a few hours or days at a time on the HRMS project. This balance can be tricky and will depend on clear communication and honest discussion between you, the individual and their regular manager. Whatever the outcome of that discussion, it must include the acknowledgement that the project places additional, measurable expectations on the individual team member’s performance and is not just an ‘optional extra’ to their job description. Anything less, risks being a clear signpost on the path to project failure.

Performance management is a basic, standard management skill but in the context of an HRMS team, as with any limited time project environment, the application must be condensed, precise, and focused. There is no time for trial and error or letting issues slide. As project team leader, you can’t be on people’s backs all the time but on the other hand, laissez faire just won´t cut it.