Trust must be built for managers to have influence with their people.

1. The first step is to eliminate performance appraisals and reviews. This type of bold move is needed to send a message to employees that real change is happening within the organization, not just a "re-labeling" of what managers are currently doing.

2. The second step is to fundamentally shift how managers see their role. A disabling factor in coaching programs sited above was that, despite receiving training on coaching, managers did not fundamentally change how they behaved.

A powerful focus of our development programs for managers is that they learn to "help (their) people succeed within the organization.? This is the essence of talent management, succession planning, and building management bench strength. When managers help their people succeed, managers also succeed. They don?t need to be a "coach" to do this, but they do need to be capable of providing real value to their direct reports.

3. Create the Performance Management Systems for Performers, not Managers.

If you want employees to buy into Performance Management, provide them with systems, approaches, and tools that are of value to them in improving performance. If an employee has clear expectations and standards for their work and access to a real-time performance metrics and qualitative 360 feedback, Performance Appraisals would only be needed on an exception basis. That should be the goal of a Performance Management system. The goal of the Manager is to have their people value the time they have with their manager because it is truly useful. The Manager's role should be to facilitate and support individual and group performance improvement, individual development, and pursue cross-organizational performance opportunities.

4. Expect Performance Congruency between Managers and Reports If a manager's primary role is to help their people succeed in the organization, they should be held accountable if their reports are not being successful. The problem with holding employees themselves solely responsible for their performance is that there are many factors over which employees have little control. Managers? and their direct reports? goals should correlate. If managers are hitting their performance objectives but they have direct reports who are not, or if the manager's direct reports are hitting their goals but the manager is not, the performance system is not functioning properly.

5. Emphasize Intrinsic Motivation and Deemphasize Compensation and Reword An extensive body of research on Motivation theory shows that people who are intrinsically motivated consistently perform at higher and more sustained levels than when they are externally motivated. Yet, most managers' perspectives on motivation can be characterized by the carrot and stick. While most performance management systems are fueled by reward and punishment, few managers understand what really motivates people or the long-term consequences of external incentives and rewards. Managers who are skilled in effective motivation practices will generate what more and more organizations and executives recognize as the Holy Grail of performance--employee engagement, discretionary effort and ?passion--because their employees perform at significantly higher levels.

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