William is the President of RecruitingDaily. At the intersection of HR and technology, he’s a Writer, Speaker, Advisor, Consultant, Investor, Storyteller & Teacher. He’s been writing about HR related issues for over a decade. William serves on the Board of Advisors / Board of Directors for 20 HR technology startups. William is a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a BA in Art History. He also earned an MA in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.

Connect with him via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

What is currently missing in the way overall employee performance is being managed?

I think performance management is fundamentally flawed as it isn’t really for and/or about the employee. Essentially the main reason businesses invest in performance management software is to get more out of employees under the guise of helping them. But, it’s not really about helping employees, that’s a nice thought, it’s more about making the employees better, more efficient employees. That’s the bad news. The good news is that people under 30 see that con for what it is. They demand real career pathing and training that makes them better. Notice the change, they drive and it’s about what they want NOT about what the company wants. The performance management of the future employee-centric, built for them, about them. They set goals, they learn, the business gets the best version of them while they are employed there.

Given that a company’s workforce now has a significant proportion of virtual and freelance workers, how should performance management include them? 

Work is work. Work gets done differently now than it was done 20 years ago but its still work. IMO, treat everyone the same as they are the same, they’re doing work for the company. These historical terms (full time, part time, seasonal, freelancer, virtual) are fundamentally divisive so drop them from your vocabulary and start using team members (or something like team members). Work needs to be done, outcomes must be met but the “how” is changing and will continue to change. The sooner we create parity in our mind as to how the work gets done the better.

What are employees, managers and decision makers looking to make performance management more effective?

I’m not sure it is a game of effectiveness as it is a game of personalization. I believe it needs to move from being management-centric to employee-centric and thusly highly personalized to each and every employee. Think of it like this, if we really want employees to be better, we can continue to beat them with a stick or we can try something different. I think different is making it all about them. The irony here is that by doing so employees will be more effective and thus the business will ultimately be served.

What are some of the new things being introduced in Performance Management that are working/not working?

I like the trend in goal setting where employees set their own goals – I think that’s healthy for both employees and managers. Even if the goals are outside the interest of the business, I still think it is healthy for employees to be goal driven and again let them drive.