Performance evaluations let employees know where they stand, including pinpointing skills they might need to work on. While these assessments are critical feedback tools for managers, they're also opportunities to create open dialogues with direct reports. Perhaps a staff member is performing below the team average because certain processes aren't clear to them. Another employee might be bored with their role and wish to take on additional stretch projects.
Transparent communication like this doesn't always come easy. It depends on whether trust exists, and supervisors may be unsure how to objectively evaluate performance. Also, discovering ways to help direct reports modify unproductive behaviors can be challenging. But it doesn't have to be, since new technology advancements can help assess and improve workplace performance. Below we examine some of these emerging developments.
1. Artificial Intelligence Offers Useful Recommendations
An area many managers have difficulties with is providing good feedback. Some are uncomfortable giving constructive criticism, while others aren't sure how to communicate exactly what an employee needs to improve. Therefore, suggestions meant to enhance performance aren't straightforward. Direct reports don't find the feedback helpful, leaving them uncertain of how to measure up.
With performance analytics backed by artificial intelligence, leaders can give staff members understandable, actionable suggestions. AI takes prior performance results and looks for significant relationships among specific variables. Maybe top customer service reps ask clients more probing questions toward the beginning of their calls. Reps with less impressive stats, on the other hand, jump to conclusions.
Data-driven insights from AI identify the actual sources of poor performance. Supervisors can coach employees who need to improve while using techniques from high performers as examples. Managers might even pair less successful and top-performing staff members as part of a skills development plan. After all, most employees don't set out to do their jobs at substandard levels. Sometimes all they require is the right direction.
2. Digital Tools Streamline Communication
Bad communication can derail promising projects, alienate employees, and frustrate clients to the point of no return. Another negative effect is that the work environment becomes unpredictable. Chaotic workplaces are difficult for people to survive in because no one knows the objectives. This often leads to a drop in productivity and a lack of confidence.
When morale is low, employees may not believe their managers trust their abilities. What might start as fragmented communication gets worse as workers and employers stop exchanging information altogether. Data silos form and strengthen, directly impacting performance. This can happen at the individual or team level, including outright sabotage between departments.
Digital tools, such as collaboration software, reduce siloed information. Leaders have ways to centralize critical details, sync individual efforts, and clarify goals. With collaboration tools, managers also see who's meeting their milestones. It becomes more apparent where insufficient processes create obstacles to good execution.
3. Project Management Apps Optimize Efficiency
Anyone familiar with project management software knows these apps possess many capabilities. Project management solutions can be a blessing for teams that juggle a lot. Without them, the group must rely on email, phone calls, and spreadsheets. Although these tools can keep everyone's assignments moving, they don't always sync.
What ends up happening is too many staff members waste time trying to string all the details together. One person wonders if they saved the information from an email a manager sent weeks ago. Another employee wasn't part of a client discussion, so they don't know what tasks they're responsible for. And to make matters worse, only one employee can update the project's shared spreadsheet at any given time.
Poor organization and coordination lead to missed deadlines at best, client defections at worst. Employees can also find themselves in a constant state of stress as they scramble to pick up the pieces. The technology behind project management software organizes and coordinates the details for the team. Each initiative's info is in one place, allowing leaders to see where processes or communication are lacking. With this knowledge, managers can intervene to keep the ball rolling.
4. Online Onboarding Can Increase New Hires' Confidence
Every employee can develop the intention to leave an organization and follow through on it. But new hires are especially susceptible to sudden departures since they're just learning the ropes of a different position. A company's largely unknown culture also takes time to acclimate to. The chances of quitting are higher if there's a disconnect between expectations and reality.
Onboarding is a particularly vulnerable time when this disconnect can happen. A lack of a formal introduction to the company can quickly dampen a new hire's initial enthusiasm. Poor onboarding experiences also reduce an individual's confidence levels. They're not sure how to dive into their work or what leaders expect of them. Without sufficient structure, new hires won't be set up for success.
In contrast, formal onboarding programs can boost productivity by 62% while also increasing retention by 50% among new employees. Online onboarding, which can include self-study courses, makes those first few months less anxiety-ridden. With remote and hybrid teams especially, structured digital introductions give recruits the foundations they need to perform well. As their confidence goes up, they feel more prepared and less uncertain about whether the role is a good fit.
The Role of Technology in Workplace Performance
Technology changes how society functions. Work environments are no exception. For decades, management theories have sought to understand employee performance. Different applications of leadership also seek to optimize workers' efforts for all stakeholders' benefit.
From artificial intelligence to online onboarding, tech is transforming how managers influence individual and group performance. While technology won't replace the human factor, it can make up for what people lack. When leaders rely too much on subjective observations and uncoordinated activities, digital tools can balance the scales.
