Overview
One of the world’s largest corporate travel management companies has a robust performance management process designed to inspire employees at all levels to reach their highest potential. Powered by a state-of-the-art human capital platform and the exceptional support of a world class Human Resources (HR) team, the process ensures organizational alignment around paying for performance while promoting ongoing coaching conversations as a cornerstone of employee development.

The organization’s people leaders have access to detailed communication materials – like job aids and toolkits – to guide them through the process and ensure critical deadlines are met. In addition, the HR team hosts numerous educational webinars, Q&A forums and open door sessions. They also oversee a multi-channel communication campaign with instructions and reminders delivered via email, the company intranet site and prompts from the HR platform. Finally, HR team members stationed across the organization provide information and resources to people leaders to help them successfully manage this important annual process.

Opportunity
In spite of the comprehensive support provided, people leaders were confused about what they needed to do, when they needed to do it and what was coming next. They were overwhelmed by the very documentation and communications designed to help them and didn’t have a clear sense of how it was all connected since several teams within HR managed communications for different tasks. Most critically, the organization had unknowingly created a sense of learned helpless. Deadlines were being missed and the HR team often stepped up to perform key tasks to avoid errors and keep the process on track.

Solution
MiddleWay was engaged to help streamline the communication process, simplify the messaging and materials, and empower people leaders while fostering a greater sense of accountability. After reviewing the process and materials, we came back with three guiding principles and executed a host of recommended tactics:

1. Connect the dots & communicate the “why” – The organization had an opportunity to more effectively brand the performance management process, tie all of the elements together and provide managers with an end-to-end view so they knew what to expect, how the different tasks build on one another and why they were important. MiddleWay created an “at a glance” themed graphic with key dates and steps that people leaders could print or post on their desktops, as well as a handbook with more detail on each step so they would have everything in one place. Both assets were delivered before the process kicked off with an email from the chief human resources officer conveying how critical the process is to the business and the importance of the people leader role. Finally, MiddleWay created a series of prompts for senior leaders (e.g., the best coaching advice I ever received) so the HR team could post inspirational stories illustrating the performance management process in motion on the company intranet instead of repeating updates and reminders.
2. Simplify, restage & restructure content – After streamlining the content and simplifying the language, MiddleWay created a visually simple and directive framework for all email messages to make them easily scannable, allowing people leaders to quickly see what they needed to do and when, why it was important and what would happen if a deadline was missed. More detailed material was shared via links to supporting documents and toolkits, including new step-by-step job aids based on a template we created to make these tools consistent and accessible. We also developed a new cadence for communications that was shared at the outset, reducing the number of messages and reminders sent, and giving people leaders less opportunity to put off completing tasks.
3. Promote ownership & foster culture of accountability – Based on change management best practices, MiddleWay developed a series of tactics the organization could implement to promote accountability, which included: inviting the CEO to champion the process; engaging senior leaders to reinforce key messages and hold their teams accountable for meeting deadlines; and reinforcing the role of the HR team members to drive the desired behaviors and inspire people leaders to take ownership of the process.

“MiddleWay did a great job recreating our materials, streamlining our content, and making it more thoughtful and easier to understand,” said one of the project leads. “Before they revamped things, you practically needed a Ph.D. to understand our job aids even if you’d been with the company for a long time. The new templates helped us share the steps in a user-friendly format.”

Results
The organization fully embraced the new approach and materials, and feedback from senior leadership, the HR team, people leaders and individual contributors was universally enthusiastic. The project lead explained, “We set out to make things simple, connected and user-friendly, and we got feedback that says, yes you guys really did it.” She adds that MiddleWay immediately understood what she and her team were looking for in the very first meeting. “They came back with a vision and an approach, and then executed very quickly with fast turnarounds on deliverables to achieve the goal.”

While the organization does not have a way to track an uptick in deadlines being met more effectively or the percentage of tasks wholly completed by people leaders, there is anecdotal evidence these improvements occurred as a result of the new approach. Most importantly, the HR team began to move the needle on fostering a stronger culture of accountability for the process and empowering people leaders to own it. “There is a sense now that HR is not the police,” the project lead explains. “The new approach to communications allowed us to demystify things and pivot from a tactical process owner to a trusted advisor.”