What do managers think about their company's talent managementprocesses, tactics, and initiatives? “Needs improvement” is theverdict for many, according to a Josh Bersin/Betterworks survey of more than1,000 people managers.

It starts with a lack of a clearly communicated corporatepurpose, the respondents said. Just 41 percent reportedthat everyone at their company understands the company'smission and vision. Slightly fewer (40 percent) said that“corporate, departmental, and team goals are transparent and sharedopenly at all levels of the organization.” As for the managersthemselves, 62 percent do not “have a clear understanding of thetop company priorities” over the next 12 months.

“It is not enough to simply communicate the top company goals;employees need to see how their own work goals connect with themand how what they do interconnects with what others areworking on across the business,” the authors write. “In addition totransparent alignment, companies must also frequently and openlycommunicate the cross-functional progress towards these top companygoals. This transparency increases accountability and facilitatesnecessary collaboration.”

However, just 42 percent of respondents have a way to measuregoal alignment on an ongoing basis, and only 36 percent say thatpeople on cross-functional teams are held accountable for theirgoals.

The survey also found that managers think their company'sperformance management processes are lacking. A majority (59percent) say managers and employees do not “perceive theirperformance management process as valuable”; 63 percent fail tohave regular and discussions with employees “about their careergrowth and aspirations”; and only 43 percent are “held accountablefor developing their people.”

“Managers must think more like coaches and provide regularperformance-related feedback,” the authors write. “Theseconversations should be directly tied to the employee's specificgoals, while also exploring where the person can develop theirskills.”

Many managers in the study also said their own development pathcould be better. A third of respondents (33 percent) rated their“company's training and management development for leaders at alllevels” as average or below; 58 percent said their company stillprimarily rewards people “based on job level or tenure”; 41 percentsaid their company “regularly assesses overall business skills andcapabilities through our performance process”; and just 40 percentsaid employees are “highly regarded in my company, and managementvalues employee's opinions, needs, career and professionalgoals.”

“Managers need help from training and technology to become thetalent coaches their business requires,” the authors write. “Theperformance process needs to be flexible enough to deal with therise of cross-functional teams, while providing data that thebusiness can use to analyze the makeup of existing teams andunderstand where skill gaps need to be filled.”

There is good news from the survey results: Thirty-eight percentof managers said their company's performance management processincludes at least some “continuous” elements: goal setting,alignment, or continuous feedback and development.

“Given this percentage, it's clear that 'continuous performancemanagement' has crossed the chasm into early majority and is on itsway to becoming a standard business practice,” the authors write.“And for good reason…because it works, and it has a significantimpact on multiple key indicators of overall businesssuccess.”

From: BenefitsPro