WELCOME to our monthly series called Bible School Business School (BSBS).

Report by Brett Chulu

BSBS takes insights from the historical culture of the ancient Near East as depicted in the Bible, applying them to business, leadership and personal development.

The instalment, a sequel to last months BSBS article, looks at the role of gathering performance evidence and tying together performance and reward management. Our key thought is that performance management is a leadership imperative.

The parable of talents recorded in Matthew 25:14-30 illustrates the principles of effective performance management within the context of integrated leadership roles.

Two critical lessons for business leaders who want to build an above-average strategy-execution or performance management culture that outlives individual talent and individual leaders are considered.

The New King James Version (NKJV) renders Matthew 25:19 this way: After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. Here is a nugget of wisdom that is often taken as commonsense but is rarely practised.

The lord, who in an organisational setting is a metaphor for the supervisor or leader, must set aside time to settle accounts. It is from this idea of settling accounts that we get the idea of accountability. An effective performance management system leads to a strong accountability culture. Of interest is the manner in which the accounts were settled.

In sharp contrast to prevailing practice in Zimbabwe where the supervisor is the one who normally dominates the performance appraisal conversation, (which in all honesty is more of an interrogation session than a dialogue) the leader in the parable used what we can refer to as the hear the account approach. Matthew 25:20 (NKJV) brings to view this performance appraisal approach: So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them. This pattern is repeated with all servants, showing that this was an established performance appraisal practice in the organisation.

Two key components of the hear the account approach emerge. First, it is the supervisee, who must narrate how they have performed. The supervisors key role is to carefully listen to the supervisee narrating the account of his/her performance. This narrative is not an unfocused monologue. The servants in the parable knew the standards on which to report. The pattern of their narratives is consistent: They began by restating the inputs or resources that were made available to them. This was followed by stating the tangible results they brought.

Here is the original post:
Performance management a leadership imperative