What tools are available to manage your human investment portfolio?
There are several tools to actively manage assets, adjust the portfolio, spot trends and replace old processes. These include:
- Comparative values assessment, which assesses values and helps managers ensure alignment with the organization.
- Comparative performance grid, which compares and assesses the performance of assets on an ongoing basis so managers understand relative performance to expected return (goal performance versus actual performance).
- Ability grid, which is used to assess the key attributes of the assets and give managers a view of skill and ability on an ongoing basis.
- Performance return map, which compares the true performance of all assets in a manager’s portfolio against the expected performance and not just against other assets. Old performance management processes are about forced ranking and comparing people against one another, which is a mistake. Instead, managers need to compare assets against the expected performance (return) in ongoing market conditions.
- Asset allocation map, which is used to determine the optimum mix of assets in the manager’s portfolio and adjust for market changes.
What else do you need to consider?
There are several questions leaders should ask when looking to change their performance management process.
Are our processes forward or backward looking? How often do I complete these processes, and do my employees and managers find them valuable? How do people feel when we write and deliver them? Energized or drained? What kind of value do these processes provide? Do they make the company smarter, better and faster? Does our performance management approach generate a return?
What are the benefits of changing your management processes?
Doing so allows managers to actively manage their business risks and opportunities prospectively in a dynamic business environment. People are wired to look toward the future, and this approach leverages that for greater employee engagement, which minimizes risk and maximizes return, thereby making the business stronger.
Keith Robinson is director of leadership development in the department of accountancy at Northern Illinois University. Reach him at (815) 753-1592 or [email protected].
